Bagman Bruce dug deep on the fairway to heaven

Author John Feinstein learned a little about golf and a lot about life in his new book on the late Bruce Edwards. Michael Moynihan finds out how.

CADDY FOR LIFE is the story of the late Bruce Edwards, who was well-known in professional golf circles as Tom Watson's caddy.

Author John Feinstein, famous for books like A Good Walk Spoiled, had other projects in the offing when Edwards approached him about writing the book and was initially reticent about chronicling Edwards' life, particularly as the caddy had been diagnosed with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis - Lou Gehrig's disease - a progressively debilitating illness which killed Edwards in April 2004.

However, Feinstein would find the experience a rewarding one, as he recalled in an exchange of emails: "On the day Bruce died (April 8) one of my first thoughts was, 'Thank God I did the book.'

"The reason I thought that is simple: how would I have felt that morning if I hadn't done the book and it either hadn't been done (likely) or someone else had stepped in and done it? As painful as it was to watch Bruce go downhill during that year, it was also a learning experience for me; watching someone deal with the ultimate unfair hand and never once complain about it. Plus, I got to know his family members and Tom Watson in ways I never would have had I not done the book.

"In a very real sense, I treasure the experience, even if I cried a lot throughout."

However, it wasn't all tears. Edwards gave Feinstein a glimpse of the barnstorming 1970s on the professional tour, when he literally walked up to Watson one bright morning and offered to carry his bag.

"Yes, it was great fun to talk not only to Bruce but to many of his caddying buddies from the 70s and hear their stories about those days. Interestingly, they are a very bright, fun group of guys, most of whom got out of caddying and went on to great success in other professions, all the while kind of admiring and envying Bruce a bit for being able to remain so happy doing what he was doing."

Edwards was happy with his job, but there were stresses as well. The unique relationship between caddy and golfer can be a difficult one, and while Edwards and Watson were like brothers, the cut-throat world of professional sport meant even a caddy as dedicated and meticulous in his approach as Edwards came in for his share of pressure.

"I sincerely doubt most golf fans can understand the pressure on the caddy at crucial moments," says Feinstein. "Caddies have become much better known to the public - a lot of it through Bruce; a good deal of it, unfortunately because of Steve Williams consistently unspeakable behaviour - but in the end the focus is on the player and, most good caddies, Bruce, included, would tell you that's how it should be."

Feinstein has also written widely on basketball, and the book he published prior to Caddy for Life was The Punch, the account of a fight during an NBA game in 1977 between Kermit Washington and Rudy Tomjanovich; Washington struck Tomjanovich so hard the lower half of his face was driven out of alignment with the top half. What was the main difference in writing about those two pairs of sportsmen? "The difference between Bruce and Tom vs Rudy and Kermit is simple: Bruce and Tom chose to become a part of one another's lives and both clearly benefited from the relationship. Rudy and Kermit fell into one another's lives through an awful circumstance that, in many ways, haunts both today. I guess the only good news is that, after the book, the two of them did hook up and talk and seem to have made peace with one another."

The book is an uplifting read, and Watson's 65 in the opening round of the 2003 US Open gave a fairytale twist, but the end of the story was never in doubt. Edwards was deteriorating through the spring of 2004, and Feinstein received the bad news early in April.

"On the morning of April 8th, I woke up at 6:26 - this is important because I had to do a 6:30 radio show (I had tried to set the alarm for 6:25, but went one too far when I was setting the digital and just left it). The alarm never went off. I woke up at 7, panicked and called the producer to abjectly apologise. "He said, 'John, don't you remember, we rescheduled you for tomorrow.' I hung up, very relieved (this was a big-time national show) and my cell rang - it was Marsha (Edwards' wife) calling to tell me Bruce had died.

"I asked - why I don't know - what had happened and she said she had gone into the bedroom at 6:20 to wake him because he had said he wanted to listen to me at 6:30. She couldn't rouse him, so she called in the hospice nurse who was there who said Bruce had a very faint heartbeat. They sat with him for a few minutes and at 6:26 she told Marsha he had died. I really don't believe in any of that fate stuff, but my wife - who's more religious than me - has decided that Bruce knew I needed to sleep and turned off the alarm as he was departing earth. Either way, it is kind of eerie.

"Needless to say, that was a long day; I really kind of wanted to just be alone and mourn the loss of my friend, but I had an obligation to do the interviews that had been set up and, of course, talk to guys at the golf course who wanted to talk to me. When I went to the funeral, Marsha gave me a copy of the book that Bruce had signed for me before he died. He did the same for Tom and his family members."

Feinstein has been in touch with the Edwards family since, and Tom Watson.

Driving4life is the web page and focal point for their fundraising efforts to aid ALS research, and there's one natural option for fundraising that Feinstein is concentrating on.

"Tom and I, along with several of Bruce's old caddying buddies, are trying to set up a very big-time golf outing/fundraiser for ALS for next fall. My goal - which I think is not unrealistic if we can get the guys I think we can get - is to raise at least $500,000 the first year and go from there."