I'll Carry Your Bag

Raquel arrived about five minutes later and Sean couldn't believe how gorgeous she looked. He smiled to himself thinking if she looks this good in her "golf wear" he could only imagine how "hot" she'd look in an evening dress.

From Raquel's point of view, she liked to dress "comfortable" yet attempt to stay stylish. In this case she had decided on a pair of yellow skorts and a black collared golf shirt. She ended the combination with a yellow golf visor. If he had to guess, she would complete the ensemble with a pair of black golf shoes. In Sean's humble opinion, she succeeded on both fronts, comfort and style.

Sean smiled, "Good morning Raquel."

She smiled back, "Good morning Sean." But she was thinking, don't get started Raquel. His muscles and baby blue eyes must not distract you today. I hope no ones notices any wet spots.

Raquel suggested they eat brunch at the hotel and then head over to the club. After they ordered, Sean remarked how thorough Mark's notebook had been. He continued by heaping praise after praise as he talked about specific notations. Raquel just sat there and smiled. She could listen to that deep voice all day and never get bored.

Then it dawned on her, "You really miss this don't you?"

Sean smiled, "I really do. I don't regret retiring when I did or having a second career as a lawyer. But, last night, as I was reading Mark's notebook and recalling walking the course, it hit me that I really enjoyed that life."

The waiter brought each a cup of the "nectar of the gods," or to mere mortals... coffee. As they drank their coffee, they just talked about whatever came up. It was easy for both of them and they each, privately, made note.

The talk eventually got around to the tournament. Raquel noted her 69, yesterday, put her in a tie for third place. She lamented that one of the players, in the lead, was the number one player in the world. Once she held a lead, she rarely surrendered it.

Sean listened to Raquel's hero worshiping the leader. The more she talked, the more concerned he became. For the next ten minutes she only talked about how great J.T. Lee was. Sean was only half listening.

Finally, "Raquel, can I ask you a question?"

She paused and responded, "Of course you can."

Sean asked, "Raquel, do you want a caddy or just someone carry your bag?"

Raquel looked at Sean like he had three heads, "I beg your pardon?"

Sean repeated the question, "Do you want me to leave you alone this week, carry your bag, clean your clubs, rake your traps and pull your pin...or... do you want a partner on the course? Do you want me to help you manage your way around 18 holes, keep you in-check when you get mad, help manage the pressure?"

She actually thought about it for a moment. "I want a partner," she responded.

Sean replied, "Then you have to trust me."

Raquel was confused, "What does that mean?"

Sean continued, "You have to quit looking at the leaderboard and focusing on J.T., or anyone else that may be ahead of you or behind you. You have to be solely focused on the golf course and not on your competitors. You're not playing against them...your playing against the golf course."

Raquel asked, "How do I do that?"

Sean smiled, "That's where the partnership comes in and the trust. We block everything out and only focus on each shot, each hole...how to make 18 birdies at the same time making sure we don't make any big numbers. At the end of the week we either win...or we don't. But I guarantee you that if you keep thinking about how indestructible the number player in the world is...you'll lose every time."

Raquel finally understood. "I have been talking about her a lot."

Sean smiled, "Want to give "us" a try?"

Raquel briefly thought about another version of "us" she'd like to try.

She mentally slapped herself and smiled back at him, "Absolutely partner."

Sean beamed, "Outstanding, now let's go warm up and then kick this course's ass."

They arrived at the course. Sean went off to retrieve Raquel's clubs and make sure she had a good supply of golf balls. Raquel went in another direction to check in. She seemed to be constantly stopped, by other players and asked how Mark was doing and how lucky she was to get to work with Sean Connors. Sean, on the other hand was constantly being stopped by the other caddies, shaking hands and being told how great it was to meet him. He was even asked to give an autograph to a number of them.

It took them a little longer than anticipated to meet back up at the driving range.

Raquel went through her normal warm-up routine. This routine wasn't designed to work on her swing, but only to loosen her muscles up and get into a positive groove. Sean stood by, dropping the next practice ball to be hit. The more he watched her, the more he was impressed with her. Her swing was technically perfect, he couldn't identify one flaw. Almost as equally important, it was a powerful and balanced swing. He loved the sound her swing made when the club head made contact with the ball. If she could get in the right "head space" she would be a force to be reckoned with.

Maybe she didn't need a swing coach.

After she felt her swing was ready to go, they moved over to the practice green. Sean continued to feed her golf balls while she hit a variety of chip, pitch and sand shots. Sean was starting to think this had the possibility of being a very good day.

Finally, she moved to the practice putting green. By this time, there were a number of eyes watching them work as a team. She spent time getting a feel for the speed of the greens. The putts were running somewhat faster than yesterday. Sean pointed out a couple of things about the grass and how it could impact a putt.

As she was going through her routine, Sean noticed a TV crew approaching. He tried to stop them from speaking with Raquel, he didn't want anything to disturb her concentration. But she told him it was ok. The on the course reporter, John Garrison, first congratulated Raquel on her first round. Then he asked how Mark was recovering and the extent of his injuries.

Finally, he asked, "How does it feel to have the only caddy in the history of the game to be inducted into the Pro Golf Hall of Fame carrying your bag this week?"

Raquel was stunned, "I'm sorry...Hall of Fame?"

John was equally stunned, "You didn't know?"

Sean interceded, "Ok guys that's enough, Raquel needs to get ready for her tee time." He gently grabbed his shell-shocked player by the arm and moved her to a place they could talk privately.

He turned her face to him, "Raquel, it's just me, Sean. I'm with you, you're my player."

Raquel was looking through him and said to herself, "No wonder everyone has been stopping me and telling me how lucky I am to have you on my bag. You're a freaking legend!"

Sean sighed, "I'm just a guy. I was good at what I did, like you are good at what you do. Together we're going to be great."

He made her focus on him, "Do you trust me, partner?"

Finally, she came back to Earth, "Yes...yes, I trust you."

"Ok, you've got five minutes before your tee time. Let's go spank this golf course and make it cry for its mommy."

Raquel looked at him, "Don't ever use that metaphor again." Then broke out in laughter.

Sean smiled, "Sorry boss."

They reached the first tee. Raquel would be playing with Rosa and Stacy again. They warmly greeted each other and Sean. Idol worshiping time was over. Now it was time to play golf. Each had their own goals. Rosa needed to play better to even make the cut. Stacy was still in it, but already four strokes behind the leaders.

Raquel had honors today. She retrieved her driver from Sean, took her three deep breaths, tee'd her ball, stood behind, lightly gripping her club and took two practice swings, imagining the ball sailing through the air. She took her stance, found her target, made two waggles and then took the club back. The results were almost identical as the day before, except she hit the ball five yards farther. She picked up her tee and handed her driver back to Sean.

"Great drive!"

"Thanks, one down."

Her approach shot to the green was also better than the day before. She stuck her ball about a foot from the hole, making for an easy birdie.

They reached the second tee box. "Great job Raquel, remember fairways and greens."

Raquel repeated, "Fairways and greens."

The two were completely focused on each other and the golf course. They weren't mean to their fellow competitors, but there was no "idle chit chat" between players. For 18 holes they were in total sync with each other. Sean noticed pretty quick that Raquel was "in the zone." He knew his job was just to stay out of her way.

She stayed that way until a miss-hit drive on the 16^th hole. Almost immediately she was "out of the zone." She was trying to cut the corner of the right dog leg and her drive didn't quite make it over the trees. It hit the last tree and dropped straight down into the deep rough. They walked up to her ball to determine if she even had a shot to the green. Even so, she was still over 200 yards from the green. Sean looked at the lie. It wasn't great, but it wasn't terrible.

Sean looked at the Raquel, "Remember those low burners you were hitting yesterday afternoon, on the range?"

Raquel, "Yea?"

"What do you think about a low four iron with a fade?"

Raquel examined what she thought the shot would look like. "If I don't get it to the fairway, I'm screwed."

Sean replied, "But if you do and carry it to about 50 to 80 yards from the green, it has a good chance of rolling onto the surface. Worst case a chip and a putt for par."

She walked around a bit, looked to see if there were any other options and finally, "Well, it's either we give it a try or I just chip out to the fairway and try to get the next shot close to make par."

Sean replied, "I'm with you, whichever way you want to go."

Raquel thought about it for another moment, then, "What the hell, let's see what happens."

Sean said as he handed her the four iron, "I believe in you Raquel. You can pull this off."

She went through her normal pre-shot routine, took a slightly open stance with her hands ahead of the ball. When she swung, she made sure she made contact, with the ball first and held the face of the club for as long as possible. The ball took off in a very low trajectory. It probably only got six feet above the grass, but she hit it as pure as she could, considering the lie. Both of them watched as the ball flight veered to the right, flew past the rough and landed on the fairway about 60 yards from the green. The ball then began rolling towards the green, straight at the flag. Her line was perfect, but her speed had some heat to it. Luckily, the ball hit the flag stick dead on and dropped into the hole for an eagle two.

Raquel and Sean initially stood, stiff, in shock. The gallery went berserk and started screaming and yelling. Then Raquel and Sean looked at each other and jumped into a huge hug. As they walked up to the green Rosa and Stacy both gave Raquel a "high five." Raquel walked up to the pin and took her ball out of the hole and acknowledged the enthusiastic applause from the gallery. It was then that she noticed it had grown considerably. Yesterday they may have had 20 people following them. Today it was more like a 100.

The 17^th hole was a routine par. The 18^th was a great finishing hole, par 4, 420 yards, dogleg right. The lake that was behind the 9^th green, hugged the right side of the 18^th all the way to the green. It had already claimed a large number of balls in the first two days. Two large fairway bunkers guarded the left side. The green was protected by the lake on the right and a large sand trap on the left. To make matters worse, shots hit too deep into the green rolled off the back side into the secondary cut. All in all, it was a monster of a hole. Sean liked slaying monsters.

Raquel had two choices. She could hit a fairway metal off the tee and take the fairway bunkers out of play. But that would result in a long iron or hybrid to the green. The second choice was to hit her driver at the first bunker with a fade back to the fairway. The risk was not getting the fade and ending up in the bunker or too much fade and ending up in the lake. Both would result in a bogey or worse.

Where Sean wanted to gamble on the 16^th hole, he had enough confidence in Raquel's long irons to play this one conservatively.

Raquel spoke first, "I think there is too much that can go wrong if I hit driver. What do you think about me hitting a 3 metal and then a long iron into the green?"

Sean smiled, "I was thinking exactly the same thing. You're hitting your long irons so good, that's not much of a gamble."

He handed her the 3 metal. She hit it straight as an arrow about 245 yards from the tee, leaving her 200 yards to the hole. She then hit a 4 iron to the middle of the green, leaving herself about a 30-foot putt for birdie. Her birdie putt missed the cup, just on the high side of the hole, leaving Raquel a tap-in for her par.

For the first time today, Sean and Raquel looked at the leaderboard. J.T. Lee played in the morning and was -10 for the tournament. Raquel had a two shot lead at -12 under par.

She looked at Sean, "I shot 63 today?"

Sean, "Yep, check your scorecard."

She was still in shock, "I'm playing in the final group tomorrow?"

Sean, "You earned that spot. Embrace it."

Rosa and Stacy finished their putts. Unfortunately, this would be the end of Rosa's tournament. She gave Raquel a huge hug, congratulated her on a great round of golf and wished her the best over the weekend. Raquel, told her there would be other tournaments and that she just had some bad luck.

Stacy shot a 71 again and was -2 for the tournament. She made the cut by one stroke. She and Raquel gave each other a "professional" hug and wished each other luck. Fist bumps around for the caddies...except. Rosa gave Sean a huge hug and told him to take care of "her girl." He promised he would.

As Sean and Raquel walked off the 18^th green, the TV crew appeared. John Garrison had followed her all day. But this time he walked up to Sean.

"Sean, do you have a moment?"

Sean was stunned. Caddies don't get interviewed. "John, you should be talking to Raquel."

John was persistent, "But we want to talk to you."

Now Sean was irritated, "John, Raquel just shot a nine under par 63. It's the lowest score she's ever had in a professional tournament. Hell, it's the lowest score of this tournament. Don't you want to ask her about it?"

John responded, "We want to know how a Hall of Fame caddy got that round out of her."

Now Sean was getting pissed, but knew he couldn't show it. "John, I didn't get anything out that wasn't already there. Raquel Simmons is an amazing young talent and an incredible human being. Maybe you should get to know her, instead of talking to an old retired caddy."

Sean started to walk away, then stopped and turned around, "You want a forecast from a quote Hall of Famer? She's going to be the best player in the world, someday."

With that Sean walked off. What he didn't realize is Raquel heard every word.

The TV crew tried to pivot to Raquel, but she was already chasing after her caddy. She caught him heading towards the club storage area.

"Sean...wait."

Sean stopped and faced Raquel, "I'm sorry that happened. They should have..." He didn't finish the sentence because Raquel had her arms around him and was passionately kissing him. Although very surprised, he enjoyed the hell out of it. He couldn't really hug her like he wanted because he was still carrying her bag. But, he did kiss her back, just as passionately.

She finally let go of him. She was embarrassed, "Oh Sean, I am so sorry. I should have never...but the things you said...I just couldn't help it. Did I fuck things up between us?"

Sean smiled, "Raquel relax, you didn't screw anything up between us. I'm sorry I got pissed at John, but he should have talked to you."

Raquel and Sean split up, Raquel went to sign her scorecard and Sean, to put her clubs to bed. When he got back to the clubhouse, he saw John having a private moment with Raquel. She didn't appear to be under any stress, so he just waited. Eventually, John walked away. Raquel still didn't see Sean and walked over to a group of young fans. She chatted amicably with each, laughing and signing autographs. This was one aspect Sean loved about the ladies tour versus the men's. All the professional golfers are encouraged to "mingle" with the fans, especially the young ones. The vast majority seem to embrace it. Personally, Sean thought it kept them "grounded." Anyway, the intimacy between the player and the fan also tugged at his heart. Sean quietly hoped they never lose it.

Sean walked a little closer and eventually she saw him and waved him over. She was talking to a couple of young girls and their parents.

Raquel introduced Sean to the group. She then put her hand on one of the young girl's shoulder, "This is Emily. She's 11 and already has a 9 handicap."

Sean laughed and said, "Well then, you'd better win as much as you can before she gets out here."

The group joined him in laughter.

One of the fathers stepped forward and extended his hand to Sean. "Mr. Connors, my name is Wayne and I was a huge admirer when you caddied on the tour."

Sean shook his hand, "Well thank you Wayne, I really appreciate that. Which one of these young future pros is yours?"

Emily smiled, "That's my daddy!"

Sean smiled back, "You seem to be doing a great job with this one Dad. Keep at it. I look forward to seeing her out here tearing it up like Raquel did today."

The group all agreed, Raquel did in fact "tear it up" today.

They said goodbye and headed to the parking lot.

As they walked to the parking lot, Raquel told Sean about her conversation with John Garrison. He apologized for not talking to her after her great round. He also asked her to extend his apologies to Sean. Raquel thought he was sincere.

Once in the rental, Sean asked, "What do you say we go change and then go out for a nice dinner? And don't worry about your budget, it's on the sports apparel company."

Raquel answered, " Well in that case, I would love too."

During the drive, Raquel called Mark, on speaker phone, to see how he was doing. Mark just went on and on about Raquel's round. At one point he suggested it was because of Sean.

Mark stopped and got quiet. Then he asked, "Shit sis, does this mean I'm fired?"

Sean laughed, "I was only able to contribute because of the great job you did with the notebook. Don't worry Mark, your job is safe."

Raquel added, " I think that's the drugs talking. You're not going to get rid of me that easily bro."

Eventually, Raquel told Mark to get some rest and she would call him tomorrow.

Once at the hotel, they agreed to meet in the lobby in 30 minutes and went to their separate rooms. Sean knew he was juggling a lot of balls and the kiss had complicated things. He decided the best thing was to complete the primary mission and why he originally came to the tournament. Sean, took a quick shower, brushed his teeth, put on some deodorant, cologne and drug a brush through his hair. He changed into a pair of dress pants, light blue button down shirt and dress shoes. He grabbed a folder off the desk and made his way down to the lobby.

Raquel was still thinking about the kiss when she changed clothes. She removed her golf shirt and sports bra. Her large breasts finally had a chance to breathe. Then she removed her shoes, skorts and compression underwear. She wore them to keep cool. Raquel stood before the mirror and critically examined herself. She was a healthy, vibrant 24 year old female. He was a handsome, likable, but older man. With her hands on her hips, she decided if he was interested in pursuing a more intimate relationship, she was as well. Screw the age difference. Sean said a "nice dinner," she did have that little black party dress.