This Is MAJOR
PGA Tour caddie makes over/under bet on his round at Oak Hill, live tweets all 18 holes in hilarious fashion
It's already been a big year for Geno Bonnalie, but it was avoiding a big number at Oak Hill that had the PGA Tour caddie's full focus on Monday. Well, almost all of his focus. As he's known to do, the looper kept everyone in the loop on Twitter in entertaining fashion.
Bonnalie, whose boss, Joel Dahmen, finished T-69, had an opportunity to play the 2023 PGA Championship venue the morning after the final round and he took advantage of it. He also used the opportunity to set up an over/under bet for his score.
That was also Geno's clever way of letting us know that in addition to being a Twitter star, a Netflix star and a blossoming underwear model, he's also a scratch golfer. We won't act like we're not impressed, Geno.
But 84.5 as the line? Really? We already heard opinions of how 18-handicappers would fare here from Jordan Spieth and other tour pros, but how about for a guy with a (barely) plus-handicap? Could this MAJOR test really be that hard? We soon found out with Geno live tweeting hole-by-hole (and sometimes shot-by-shot) updates. Below are some highlights of his difficult—but fun—day in Rochester.
As you can imagine, a beautiful day began with plenty of optimism (He also said to "hammer the under" after a Sunday evening trip to the range):
But things quickly went south on No. 1:
There was finally a glimmer of hope on No. 4:
But alas:
After a few more bogeys, Geno was ready to turn it around:
But. . . yep, you guessed it, another three-putt:
Tough. By the way, here's a look at Geno's swing:
The dude can stripe it. But an eighth consecutive bogey (Talk about riding the bogey train!) saw him make the turn at 10 over. Among my friends, we call that one over THE STANDARD, AKA bogey golf. But then it finally happened. A par!
And another!
Geno was really starting to cook. Until the 12th hole cooked him for a second double bogey.
Ouch. After a bounceback par on 13, a disappointing bogey on the drivable (at least, for the tour pros) par-4 14th, and two more pars on 15 and 16, Bonnalie was at 13 over through 16 (three under THE STANDARD), leaving the under very much in play.
Another bogey set up more drama on 18 than we saw on Sunday!
That 84.5 number was perfect! And Geno only added to the suspense waiting and waiting and waiting to finally share the final result. He made followers—and anyone who actually wagered on this—sweat it out for nearly an hour. So . . . the final tally . . .
Damn. So close. Don't beat yourself up over it, Geno. Even your boss shot 78 on Saturday. And that back-nine 40 was pretty strong, although those closing two bogeys might haunt you for a while . . . Anyway, some final thoughts on Monday's round.
In other words, these guys are good. But great stuff, Geno. And if you ever get tired of caddying, it seems like you could move to Vegas and become a sports handicapper.