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‘It’s nuts’ – Former Coventry City captain in shock as he books place at US Open after switching sports.
Coventry City old boy news from CoventryLive as Sky Blues favourite Carl Baker achieves the unthinkable as caddy to Robert Rock
Former Coventry City skipper Carl Baker has achieved an incredible feat after qualifying for the US Open as caddy to Robert Rock.
The one-time Sky Blues favourite plays off six himself after starting playing golf regularly just 12 months ago, and offered to caddy for his golfing partner and mate, who retired as a pro a couple of years ago after 20 years of playing on the European Tour.
Rock, 47, a winner of the Italian open and the Abu Dhabi Championship in 2011 and 2012, is eligible to compete in the Open qualifiers every year and asked Baker, who has coached his son football skills, to caddy for him at Walton Heath in Surrey on Monday.
A good caddy is worth their weight in gold to a golfer, seen as their right-hand man with crucial advice on shots, club selection and the course. And Baker helped Rock finish joint fourth and among nine players to qualify for the prestigious major tournament at Pinehurst in North Carolina in August.
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“It’s the most random thing ever,” said Baker, still coming to terms with the acheivement. “I am mates with Rocky and have played with him most weeks over the last year and coached his son. He played on the European tour for the last 20 years and retired two years ago, but still goes in to the qualifiers for the major events.
“He’s played at Walton Heath in Surrey for the last ten/eleven years and never qualified, but the field is ridiculous. I think 95 percent of the 150-160 in the field are all tour pros, all massive names and millionaires who do it as a full-time job. Obviously Rocky doesn’t play much anymore, just once a week socially, so he hasn’t got a caddy.
“So I said to him that if he’s thinking of playing in the US Open qualifier to let me know because I’d caddy for him. He said that would be great so we went down on Monday and played two 18 holes on the same day. We went there with zero expectations and I was just buzzing to be on a top golf course in this country and inside the ropes with all these players I am used to watching on the telly, so it felt a bit surreal being in the clubhouse with all these top golfers everywhere.”
He added: “Rocky turned up and didn’t even have a practice round, he was so unprepared. Every player had yardage books so they know how far the flag is and where the bunkers are etc. They are something like £70 each for these books so we were just winging it.
