HOUSTON (AP) — Lexi Thompson has some U.S. Open experience on her bag this week at Champions Golf Club, along with an entirely new set of metrics and vocabulary.
Air density. Ground force.
That comes from Tim Tucker, the caddie for U.S. Open champion Bryson DeChambeau.
Thompson is between caddies at the moment. Her brother, Curtis, worked her last event and will work next week at the LPGA Tour's season finale. She and DeChambeau have the same manager, and it worked out for Tucker to join her at the U.S. Women's Open.
DeChambeau brings a scientific approach to the game, and Tucker's job is to help calculate wind vector, air density and dew point, to name a few. Thompson doesn't carry a yardage book. She just wants the number.
“It's unbelievable what he calculates,” Thompson said. “I’m like truly amazed. I’m like, ‘Just keep it to yourself; just tell me what you think the shot will play.’ But like I said, very talented and just happy to have him out there helping me.”
Key to any new caddie is the relationship, and Thompson said they have hit it off. She says Tucker keeps a positive attitude and makes her laugh and provides the yardages. Still, nothing made her laugh — at least to herself — like that first day.
“The first day that we went out, he has all the green density, the air density, and has that all factored in,” she said. “The first two holes, he said, ‘It’s going to play this number.' And I trusted it and I hit it close, so it was a perfect number. But I'm like, ‘Maybe I should just have the actual pin number in my head just for my sanity.’ I'm truly amazed."
And no, she doesn't plan on drinking protein shakes that helped DeChambeau add so much mass to his muscle.
“Oh, no,” Thompson said. “Gosh, I wouldn't fit in my skirts.”
