Fred Klauk has watched the professional golf career of his son, Jeff, from a variety of vantage points. From the gallery. On television. From the maintenance facility at the TPC Sawgrass, a course where he served as superintendent for 25 years before retiring last year.
But last week at the John Deere Classic at TPC Deere Run, carved into the hills along the Rock River in Silvis, Ill., Fred got a whole new perspective on Jeff's first season on the PGA Tour — from inside the ropes. For the first time in Jeff's professional career (four years on the Nationwide Tour in addition to this year's rookie run on the big tour), Fred served as Jeff's caddie during a professional tournament as Jeff's regular caddie, Tim Quinn, took a week off.
"I was on his bag for a few of his amateur events, things like that, but never anything on tour," Fred told me as we walked up the 13th hole at Deere Run during a Tuesday practice round, with Fred wearing his trademarked Panama hat. "It really just never fit in when I was still working. I was at my busiest (at Sawgrass) when he was at his busiest on the golf course."
"He's caddied for me before, although not in this setting, so it shouldn't be all that different," Jeff said later that same day. "We just want to go out and have fun, enjoy it and hopefully play well. It should be cool."
Clearly, carrying over a father-son dynamic into the relationship between a caddie and a player isn't the ideal recipe for success on the PGA Tour. But Fred had no plans to offer up any "eat-your-vegetables" advice during their time on the course.
"We're not going to do anything different. Jeff has his responsibilities on the course, and I have mine," Fred said. "He's working, and I'm here to help him work. Really, we just want to have a good time while we're out here."
"You know, my dad has enough experience around the game, watching me play that I don't think we'll have any father vs. son moments," Jeff said with a laugh. "He knows my mannerisms, I know his. It's a voice I've listened to my whole life, so I don't really anticipate we'll have any problems."
So how did the week play out for the Klauks? Well, it didn't last as long as they had hoped. After opening with a respectable 3-under-par 68 in the first round Thursday and then waiting out a downpour that pushed the second round into Saturday, Jeff missed the cut by two shots following a second-round 73. It was just his fifth missed cut in 19 starts this season, one that has seen him record one top 10 and four top 25 finishes. He currently ranks 59th (with 520 points) in the FedEx Cup standings and is 69th on the year-long money list.
Unfortunately, the father-son combo appears to be a one-act show, at least for this season. Quinn will be back on Jeff's bag this week when the U.S. Bank Championships tees off tomorrow at Brown Deer Park in Milwaukee and Fred will be back to enjoying his retirement in Jacksonville (he's still making appearances at Sawgrass a few times a week in his role as a consultant with the PGA Tour, he told me).
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