Golf Central

Ten Broek prepares the old 'distract with the flag before wedge to the head' trick 

Many caddies are frustrated golfers themselves, yearning to be the one taking the shots, rather than just calling them. Lance Ten Broeck has more reason than most to be frustrated as he has the skills to pay the bills but no card with which to pay them.

Ten Broek made 162 cuts out of 352 career starts in his 20 years on the PGA Tour before spending the last decade as a caddy. As he has made more than 150 cuts he retains some privileges and so commits to play every event for which he is eligible and occasionally brings his own clubs with him. If there are no other alternates or a last second withdrawal, 51 year old Lance will get his chance to become the first man to be both caddy and player in the same week on Tour.

Two weeks ago he came close to playing in The Turning Stone Resort Championship but hit a snag when it emerged that he would be playing at the same as Jesper Parnevik for whom he has spent the majority of his caddying career serving. Ironically, when he came close to featuring in the Byron Nelson Classic after Tommy Armour III pulled out, he would have been paired with Lee Janzen and Parnevik. Jesper even offered to caddy for Ten Broek himself when John Cook's sore shoulder nearly ruled him out of the Buick Open. Unfortunately Cook played through the pain and we were denied the sight of Parnevik's bespoke, diamante-studded caddy uniform (probably).

With field sizes cut due to less daylight hours, it's pretty unlikely that Ten Broek will get his chance to play this year, but when it does come, he promises not to disgrace himself, even if his supporters do - he predicts that the gallery will be full of drunken, cheering caddies; a sight we're all looking forward to here, especially if it coincides with Parnevik with bag in hand.