By Nick Masuda, Golfweek
ARDMORE, PA. - LaRue Temple has caddie for tastes Dr. J, Mike Quick, Samuel L. Jackson, Greg Maddux and John Smoltz.
But it took 19 years from California to make him famous.
Amateur Michael Kim had loaded the table of standings on Saturday in the United States, at a time of climbing inside of two blows of the head open after a birdie at no. 15 and rewarded to the caddie of Merion club long ago with long face on television and in front of his hometown crowd.
"LaRue! LaRue!"from the galleries around the front nine, shouted the crowd giving the North Philadelphia native love.
"Hey, I'm playing," Kim recalled thinking with a wide smile on his face.
Kim did not hesitate to put focus on himself with a birdie at no. 10 And then another at no. 12 And no. 13. A 10 footer not. 15, sent him to 3 under his par round and even for the tournament.
He took a look at the table of positions to the right of the Green just before that last putt, but not to check your score.
"It was super cool to see my name on the leaderboard next to names like Schwartzel and Mickelson and Donald," said Kim, top-ranked collegiate golfer in Golfweek who will be a junior at Cal in the fall.
But in the midst of the "Michael! Michael! "and the" Cal! Chase bears!"his final birdie, there was even more "LaRue! LaRue!"
Schwartzel, Kim and Mickelson already shared the point of view with a celebrity, a local version at that.
Both could not help but smile upset until the t 16 - the beginning of the fall of end of Kim that saw him slip T-3 only 10 at the end of the day, carded on 1 71 sit five shots of the initiative.
But despite the finishing bogey double bogey-bogey, Kim was swarmed by dozens of members of the media after his return, while the temple was bombarded with a flurry of questions about how he came to take Kim bag.
"I never expected this, I thought it might be cool to my friends might see me in the background on television," said Temple.
Temple met Kim by telephone on Monday night and in person on Tuesday.
Not bad for a guy who had planned to take the week.
"(It was) be in the right place at the right time." "I do not want to work outdoors or work trucks or the bag room or any of me done the job", said the temple, which has worked in Merion since the summer of 1997 and works six days a week.
"I had tickets for the week. (I told them) "No, I'll see, I'll see a tiger, I'm going to hang out and have fun". I have a friend of mine, we have tickets last August. "But I rescued (in) him a bag".
Your phone has not stopped buzzing since, especially his mother, who enjoys seeing his child on television and in photos. While he handles his new fame with grace, that has a simple mission: represent Merion well.
' Walking through the first "t", Mike as, 'Wow, get more cheers than me.' It means a lot. In addition I bartend at a bar and a lot of people who are of the bar are here, ", said Temple. "I've seen a lot of new faces. Much of the old caddies. It is very sweet. "But I want to represent to Merion."
It was not the only one that represents, as Kim saw yellow lime shirts and hats with the large "C" on them, and those who didn't know that it was lime got a good lesson in how the golf gold bear has grown.
"There were a lot of bears to go out there and was impressive to hear," said Kim, who won four times individually during the season 2012-13, with Cal College, winning a record of NCAA 11 times. He also won the Haskins Award and award of Jack Nicklaus in the process.
"I'm doing my best, simply trying to make work of trainer a little easier Desimone (recruit)".
It will play the final round on Sunday with another interest of old school - the State of Oklahoma Rickie Fowler golf - at 2:36 p.m. EDT.
Isn't bad for a 19 year old with zero expectations, but it will have a task on Sunday - helping "LaRue!" chants drown to shrieks of the Fowler young fan base.
After all, the Temple now considered Michael Kim to become the biggest name in that list.
