The Man Behind Norman's Finest Hour

Pete Bender never minds recounting what happened between him and Greg Norman along the dramatic dunes of Turnberry at the 1986 British Open.

Caddies devote entire careers to finding the actions and words that will inspire the best from players under pressure, and perhaps no caddie has found them more often than Bender. Turnberry is where he most notably achieved the caddie trifecta: The right thing at the right time in the right way.

Norman, then 31, was leading by three strokes through six holes of the final round. For three days he had demonstrated some of the most majestic driving ever seen in major-championship golf. But on the par-5 seventh hole, Norman made a quick swing and sniped a low hook into a deep hollow of rough.

The shot seemed portentous because that year Norman had led entering the final round of the Masters and the U.S. Open at Shinnecock but had been unable to hold on. (It would happen again at the PGA Championship at Inverness, where Norman completed the ill-fated Saturday Slam.) Bender, who had been on Norman's bag for two seasons, knew the criticism and scrutiny from those failures were making it that much harder for Norman to win his first major.

"Greg had started walking faster and talking faster, and that drive was a warning light," says Bender, now 60. "It was like I felt this click, and I knew I had to do something. I got up beside him as we left the tee and said, 'Greg, do me a favor: Let's slow down a little and enjoy it.' "

But Norman barely nodded and resumed his hurried stride. That's when Bender decided that Norman needed a firm hand, caddie deference be damned. "I caught up to him and pulled on the back of his sweater," Bender says. "Greg stopped and looked at me, and I said, 'Easy. Just walk at my pace. I'm here to help.' "

Norman saved par and re-established control with a 4-iron to five feet at the eighth. Still, when Norman got to the 17th green with a five-foot birdie putt that would have given him a six-stroke lead, Bender remembers him saying, "Pete, I'm too nervous to see the line. Tell me where to hit it, and how hard." Norman knocked the putt four feet past the hole but managed par. On the final tee, Norman reached for the driver, but Bender kept his hand on the headcover, handing Norman a 1-iron. He got no argument, and Norman won his first major.

Did Bender's cashmere clutch matter? The clutchee says it did. "Pete read me right," says Norman, who will be returning to Turnberry a year after his tie for third place (and 54-hole lead) at Royal Birkdale. "That's what a good caddie does: He identifies what the player needs psychologically. He sees a situation that sometimes the player doesn't see, and he has the courage to say so."

It has been that way for 40 years -- the time Bender and close friend Andy Martinez have had regular bags on the PGA Tour, making them the deans of tour caddies. They've caddied for Hall of Famers, and they've shouldered bags when there was no money in it. To Martinez, what happened at Turnberry in 1986 is simply an example of what Bender does.

"Pete is extremely intuitive with really high emotional intelligence," says Martinez. "On the fly and in the moment, on the golf course and off, he makes the right decision. I've seen him do it consistently for 40 years."

In that time, Bender has had regular stints on the bags of Hall of Famers Jack Nicklaus, Raymond Floyd and Lanny Wadkins as well as Norman. Bender has 28 official career wins, and though that number is surpassed by Steve Williams (Tiger Woods) and Jim Mackay (Phil Mickelson), what's more significant to Bender's peers is that he has won with seven players: Jerry Heard, Wadkins, Norman, Floyd, Ian Baker-Finch (the 1991 British Open), Rocco Mediate and Aaron Baddeley, for whom he has looped since 2004. It's a number believed to be unmatched in the history of the PGA Tour.

"Pete always fills the void," says veteran caddie John Sullivan. "He knew Greg needed that tug at Turnberry, but maybe another player he would have left alone. The point is, he can adapt and improve anybody. That's why he's won with so many different players. That's what makes him the best ever."

Bender might not possess the kind of evocative nickname that is part of caddie romance -- handles like Reptile, The Piddler, Psychological Bob, Reefer Ray -- but his Pistol Pete is descriptive and on point.

"I always want to read the putt, pull the club, discuss the shot, whatever, especially in the heat on Sunday," says Bender, his voice still raspy from chemotherapy and radiation treatments he endured last year to combat tonsil cancer. "That's what I'm there for. Under pressure, it should be easier for a caddie to make a good decision than for the player. The caddie isn't the one on the spot. We should be able to see things as they are and present them as normal as possible. The only thing that messes that up is when a caddie is afraid of saying something he thinks could get him fired. That's when a caddie chokes -- when he becomes a 'yes' caddie. You've got to be willing to be fired for what you believe."

Adds longtime tour caddie Steve Kay: "You get paid for your reputation for being right, and nobody's reputation is better than Pete's."

Bender is proudly old school -- he has never worn shorts to caddie, never used a range finder to get yardages, never employed a digital green reader -- and he has always stayed with the single strap. "I trust my eyes and my feet," he says. He also bemoans changes in technology that have made today's players less inclined to attempt different shots. "These guys just want to bang everything hard, high and straight," he says. "The guys in the '70s and '80s had a lot more shots. I'll admit it's taken some of the fun out of caddieing." At the same time, Bender is well known for encouraging younger caddies, and for his enthusiasm.