Hair Splitting Time For The Time Being Lpga Caddy Envisions Playing On Pga Tour

There’s a new name to follow in the small type.

When looking at the LPGA golf results, check out the dollar figure adjacent Tina Tombs - it’s directly related to Nate Hair’s paycheck.

Hair’s road to the PGA took a slight detour. He’s now a caddy on the LPGA tour.

“I have no regrets,” Hair said while on a playing vacation in last weekend’s Washington Trust Bank Lilac Invitational at The Fairways. “I’ve learned so much about how to play golf. What’s fun is putting what I’ve learned the last few months into play now.”

Hair, an assistant pro at Painted Hills a year ago, left town during the winter with plans of playing in Las Vegas and Arizona. That didn’t work out and he landed a bag in Phoenix while visiting with friend and LPGA rookie Tracy Hanson of Rathdrum.

He then planned to play the Gold Coast Tour in Florida, but that fizzled out and, via contacts made through Hanson, eventually led to the LPGA.

“It’s been a great experience,” Hair, 27, said. “It’s hard to do; there’s 160 guys out there looking for work.”

His playing career is on hold, but he’s practicing and learning the mental part of the game.

“Tina’s kind of demanding,” he said. “It’s tough to get out and play. If I have to get up at 6 in the morning and practice, I do… . I find myself working hard at getting out there at those odd times.”

Tombs is struggling. She missed the cut at Toledo, Ohio, during the weekend while her caddy was playing at The Fairways. He’s also skipping the LPGA Open this weekend to make his visit home a real vacation.

“I don’t have a lot of bills is how I get by,” said Hair, a Medical Lake native, who didn’t play in high school. “As for me giving input (into shots), I can’t really say she’s asked me. It’s more moral support … they want to hear good things.”

When Tombs takes a week off, Hair has been able to land a job “looping” for other players. No matter how much he enjoys his work, he hopes it’s a one-year break from his goal of playing pro full time. He wants to live and play out of Orlando, Fla.

“I love it,” said Hair, who has put 40,000 miles on his car in four months. “I grew up in Deep Creek, out in the middle of nowhere, and here I am caddying in a group with Nancy Lopez. How many people get to do that? … The things you get out there are great. It broadens your horizons.”

Hair also reported that Hanson was doing well, about two points out of leading for rookie of the year.

“She has a great head on her shoulders. She’s going to be a real competitor out there. It’s just a matter of time until she breaks the ice,” Hair said of Hanson.

Hair reacted straightforwardly to the recent controversy surrounding comments attributed to CBS golf analyst Ben Wright - that LPGA sponsorship is threatened by lesbianism on the tour, and that women golfers are handicapped by breast size.

“What people do away from the course is none of my business,” he said. “The girls are really good athletes and that (breast size) has nothing to do with it.”

Hair shot even-par 288 at the Lilac, one stroke out of the money.

The lion

Indian Canyon pro Gary Lindeblad took a lot of flak at The Fairways for a local golf magazine article, in a preview of this week’s Rosauers Open at Indian Canyon, that, among other things, said he had the charisma of Clint Eastwood and the heart of a lion.

It is hard to find the right words to describe Lindeblad, 44. Actions, however, speak louder than words.”I’m looking for a stone to skip,” Lindeblad replied. “It’s hard to walk past a pond without skipping a rock.”

On the second day of the Lilac, Lindeblad arrived at the 18th green without his hat. Someone noticed, and remarked about Lindeblad’s graying hair. Moments earlier, as Lindeblad passed the driving range that borders the 18th fairway, the pro heard a golfer complain about forgetting his hat. Lindeblad offered his trademark Indian Canyon cap, and putted out hatless.

And during the usual final-round jam at the No. 12 tee, Lindeblad watched as leader and eventual winner Michael Combs hooked his tee shot on No. 11 into the water.

Lindeblad pointed out where it went into the water, and Combs began searching for a line-of-flight spot in the weeds to take a drop. Lindeblad pointed out that in a lateral hazard, Combs could take his drop on the other side of the water, putting him in the rough instead of the taller weeds.

Others in contention knew the rule and hoped Combs would drop in the weeds, tightening the race if he had difficulty getting out.

Lindeblad told Combs’ playing partners that, if it were his call, he would tell Combs of the better drop. As Craig Gronning, a playing partner who would be in contention until the next hole, told Combs he could have the better drop, some contenders were upset.

“It’s his (Combs) job to know the rules,” one said.Dad’s explanation was, “There’s a difference between winning and just beating somebody.”

Lindeblad won, even if he was six strokes behind Combs in the end.

As host pro at the Rosauers, Lindeblad will be looking to take the $12,000 winner’s check. He won the event in 1990. Winners of the previous seven Rosauers are expected to be in the field when the 54-hole tournament gets under way Friday.

Action at the Canyon gets going today with the first of two rounds of Rosauers Pro-Am play.

Combs honored

Winning the Lilac was special to Combs.

He heard plenty about the tournament when he was a professional at Sham-Na-Pum in Richland, where the head pro is Pat Welch, the 1968 and ‘76 winner.

Welch’s father Frank was a longtime pro at Indian Canyon.

, DataTimes ILLUSTRATION: Photo