Wellesley Native Was in Thick of PGA Championship

Most folks likely will remember this year's PGA Championship for the man who missed the playoff – with a one-shot lead on the 72^nd hole, Dustin Johnson incurred a two-stroke penalty by grounding his club in a bunker – but Wellesley residents might be more interested in one of the men who made the playoff. Or, more accurately, the man who carried the bag of one of the men who made the playoff.

Mark Carens, 40, who grew up here and starred on the golf teams at Wellesley High and St. Sebastian's, caddied for runner-up Bubba Watson at Whistling Straits Aug. 12-15.

Carens typically totes clubs for PGA Tour pro James Driscoll, whom he met when both were promising young players at Charles River Country Club in Newton. But Driscoll failed to qualify for the PGA Championship, and Watson's usual caddie, Ted Scott, couldn't make the trip to Wisconsin because his wife had just delivered a baby.

Watson needed a caddie, and Carens needed a golfer.

"Ted is my best friend out on tour," Carens said by phone Saturday evening from Greensboro, N.C., hours after he and Driscoll completed the third round of the Wyndham Championship. "If we're at a tournament and Bubba rents a house, he lets me stay with them. We all hang out a lot. So it was a good fit."

It was indeed. Watson shot 4-under-par 68 and led after the PGA's fog-delayed first day. He remained in contention throughout the tournament and on Sunday afternoon was the leader in the clubhouse, after posting an 11-under 277.

Germany's Martin Kaymer matched him by holing a 15-foot birdie putt on the 18^th; Johnson slipped out of the playoff when his final-hole bogey became a triple bogey because of his sand snafu.

Carens was with Watson on the practice range and didn't witness Johnson's gaffe in person. He actually saw it for the first time when a friendly CBS cameraman let him watch a replay on the camera's preview monitor.

Johnson later said he didn't realize the sand on which he stood – which was outside the ropes and had been trampled by the gallery – was, in fact, a hazard, a claim that has inspired constant debate in the week since.

Carens' take, from a caddie's perspective?

"If I were the caddie in that situation, I would feel responsible [for not reminding Johnson about Whistling Straits' bunker rules]," he said. "I can understand the confusion – I mean there were people standing in the sand – and I would never want to blame another caddie and say it was his fault. But if it were me, I'd feel responsible."

Kaymer went on to hoist the Wannamaker Trophy, after Watson's bold approach shot on the third playoff hole found water.

The ending was disappointing, but Carens nevertheless calls his week at the PGA "the most fun I've ever had on a golf course," a meaningful status, given Carens' extensive golf experience.

He was a multi-sport athlete as a boy, according to his father, Ed Carens, but took a serious interest in golf at 12 or 13. Ed, a prodigious golfer in his own right, said he didn't want to push Mark into the sport but was happy to foster his son's desire to play.

Ed Carens points to a 10-day trip to Ireland as a significant moment in the development of Mark's game.

"He was probably 16 at the time, I think he'd broken 90 once," Ed Carens said. "We went on the trip, and I said, 'We can play golf, but we don't have to play golf.' But he wanted to play. And by the time we got back, he was shooting mid-80s."

A year later, at 17, Mark Carens won the club championship at Charles River, a place that isn't exactly full of duffers.

He turned pro right after high school and played in Asia. But, of course, Carens' dream was to play on the PGA Tour. He went to Q School three times, he said, but never earned his card.

Today, the father of two living in Port St. Lucie, Fla. invests his golf energy in Driscoll, who has four career top-10 finishes. Naturally, there are moments when he'd like to be the one holding the clubs, not the bag.

"There are days when I'll shoot 65 and think, 'I could do this,'" Carens said. "But the next day will be a 78, and it's just that consistency you need to be one of the top 150 players in the world."

Consistency is what Carens helps Driscoll pursue. The 32-year-old Boston native was tied for 29^th, at 9 under par, through three rounds of the Wyndham, the last tournament before the FedEx Cup playoffs. He needed a top-five finish to qualify, and Carens, fresh off a near triumph with Watson, was confident his guy would get it.

"Talk to us after we shoot 59 to win," Carens said.