Thompson returns to Carnoustie as caddie

Martyn Thompson turned the clock back 19 years when he returned to the famous links at Carnoustie for this year’s Open.

His previous visit was as a player and, unlike his first Open experience at St Andrews in 2015, he survived the cut to play in all four rounds in 1999.

The 48-year-old Parkstone Golf Club head professional also spent four days there this year as caddy for Rhys Enoch. The 30-year-old Welsh-qualified Truro Golf Club protégé is attached as a professional to the Celtic Manor Resort.

Thompson is a family friend and travels to Cornwall each year to play in the Truro pro-am which ends the club’s festival week.

He said: “I have played with Rhys’s dad many times in the pro-am. Rhys used to caddy for me when he was about 10. He used to walk round and watch us play and now I have been caddying for him at The Open.

“I have watched his progress over the years and he has done well. I have been trying to mentor him with his course management over the past year or so.

“I guess with my experience of playing in a major, he knew I had been there and done it so it just seemed the natural thing for me to be the person on his bag.”

Thompson finished in a tie for 72nd when winner Paul Lawrie took advantage of Jean van de Velde’s collapse. Fellow Bournemouth PGA professional Lee Thompson (Dudsbury) also qualified that year and finished 67^th.

Enoch, who plays on the Challenge Tour, tied 67th on seven-over-par 291, winning his biggest cheque for £18,000. The highlight was playing with Masters champion Patrick Reed when he shot level par 71 in the third round.

Enoch added: “I made a poor end to a really good week by shooting five-over but I shall remember the experience as I knuckle down to secure my Challenge Tour card. Then I can think about getting onto the European Tour.”

Thompson, whose next engagement was playing in the PGA Championship at Little Aston, is an experienced caddy.

His early caddying experience was for Lee James, the Dorset county star from the East Dorset club, who won the British Amateur championship and played at Augusta in the Masters in 1995. 

He said: “It was the first time I had been back to Carnoustie in 19 years and it was great to see it again. “It was very different, very green with very thick rough. This year it was incredibly brown, bouncy and the fairways ran 70 or 80 yards.

“The whole event is much bigger and better. It was an incredible atmosphere on the range and all around the tournament. It was great being inside the ropes at such a huge event.”