www.vancouversun.com/sports/golf/sister+Lydia+counting+caddie+Brian+Alexander+Women+Open/11299536/story.htmlKim, not ‘sister’ Ko, now counting on caddie Alexander at CP Women’s Open
By Brad Ziemer, Vancouver Sun August 18, 2015
METRO VANCOUVER — Lydia Ko didn’t need Brian Alexander’s help this week, but knew someone she thought could benefit from his services.
It was Ko who told Langley’s Sue Kim that she should consider hiring Alexander to caddie for her this week during the CP Women’s Open at Vancouver Golf Club.
After all, things worked out pretty well for a then 15-year-old Ko and a then 63-year-old Alexander three years ago at Vancouver Golf Club.
“Sue is a great friend of mine, like a sister,” Ko, now the world’s No.2-ranked player, said Tuesday as she headed out for a practice round. “Hopefully, they will have a great week.”
Kim, who is an Orlando neighbour of Ko’s, took her advice. Alexander will be carrying her bag as she tries to kick-start what has been a disappointing year on the LPGA Tour. Right about now, she could use a great week and would settle for a very good one. She’s going to need some of those to retain her status for 2016.
“It’s going to start this week,” Alexander said before the two of them headed out for their practice round.
“Brian and Lydia had a good run and I thought it’s my turn to have a good run here,” Kim said.
Alexander, of course, helped guide Ko to her historic win at Vancouver Golf Club in 2012. He hasn’t lost his sense of humour in the ensuing three years.
“I think Sue’s biggest concern is trying to make the bag lighter for me,” he said. “She is concerned that I am not going to make it around. And so am I.”
Alexander is 66 now. “A year younger than Fluff Cowan,” he joked.
He is a three-time senior club champion at Vancouver Golf Club, but currently is without a title.
“I lost this year,” he said. “I have had a sloppy year and I am out of everything now. I have got lots of free time.”
He decided quite some time ago to try and land another bag this week and is delighted to be working for Kim, a former B.C. Junior champion.
“At my age,” he said, “I am anxious to do anything.”
On Tuesday, Alexander said the two were still in the getting-to-know-one-another stage. It’s safe to say Alexander is the talker in the twosome.
“I have had the pleasure of packing for her for a couple of nines the last two days and there are a lot of similarities between her game and Lydia’s,” Alexander said. “Very fluid, on-plane swing, nice short game. Very accurate. I don’t expect to be looking for any balls or raking any bunkers.”
Kim, 24, arrives here having made just three of nine cuts and stands 140th on the money list with earnings of $15,129. She is running out of time. Kim will play this week and next and, barring a big finish, could then be done for the year. She may be forced to return to play on the Symetra Tour, where she won earlier this year, to try and move into the top 10 on that money list and regain her LPGA Tour status for 2016.
“It’s nearly the end of the season for me, but hopefully it’s not going to be the end,” she said.
For now, the focus is on playing well this week and Kim thinks Alexander will be a big help.
“Especially on the greens, knowing where to miss and stuff,” Kim said. “The front nine is a little bit tricky so I think Brian is going to be a lot of help this week.”
Alexander joked that he can draw on years of missed putts to help Kim on the greens this week.
“Tee to green it doesn’t take very long for a player to learn where to hit it and where not to,” he said. “But on these greens there can be some diabolical putts, especially on the front where you could swear it goes one way and it goes the other. You only get that over decades of making mistakes.”
Alexander, who obviously had a blast with Ko three years ago, is hoping the next few days can be as much fun. He was looking directly at Kim when he said he expected “a repeat performance” this week.
