My fourth event caddying for Tyce took us to Minchinhampton, where two eagles and a level-par opening round produced a remarkable statistic: he was the lowest on the par-5 holes.
Event: Chrome Tour Open Series 2026 – Open Series
Course: Minchinhampton Golf Club – Cherington Course
Date: 6–7 May 2026
Player: Chris “Tyce” Tyson PGA
Caddie: Steve King
Format: 36-hole stroke play
Course Setup: Par 71
Score: 71 (E), 76 (+5) – 147 (+5)
Result: T112
Events Together: 4
Tournament Rounds Together: 6
Official Results: Final Leaderboard
Before the First Tee
A week after Cotswold Hills, Tyce and I were back out again, this time at Minchinhampton Golf Club for another two-day PGA Open Series event.
Unlike some of the courses we’d visited, Minchinhampton was already very familiar to me. I’ve played there many times, most recently with my friend Joe Bains, who will soon be Club Captain.
Joe and I have played together in a couple of doubles competitions there, so I already knew my way around the courses reasonably well.
I’d also spent time at Minchinhampton watching my good friend Matt Mumford playing in Open Qualifying on several occasions.
That was where some of my expectations for the Cherington Course came from. It had previously hosted Open Qualifying events, where I’d seen winning scores around five under par, so I’d seen first-hand how much of a test the course could become under a competition setup.
My assessment before we arrived was fairly straightforward:
“It’s a tough course under competition set-up so should be a good test.”
This PGA event was different, of course, because we were playing 36 holes over two days rather than an 18-hole qualifier. But this wasn’t simply another tournament venue I’d arrived at carrying Tyce’s bag. I’d played it myself, watched good golfers competing on it and had a reasonable idea of what we were walking into.
A Level-Par Opening Round
After the cold and strong winds we’d experienced at Cotswold Hills, Minchinhampton gave us something rather more pleasant. It was a beautiful sunny day with very little wind, and Tyce was off at 1:40pm alongside Chris Benians and Zak Robinson.
By this point we’d completed four tournament rounds together. I was becoming more comfortable with the routine of tournament caddying and, more importantly, beginning to understand what Tyce wanted from me.
There was still plenty to learn, but it no longer felt quite as unfamiliar as that first wet afternoon at High Post. Knowing Minchinhampton also meant I had some useful course knowledge to draw on.
Tyce put together a good opening round. There were mistakes mixed in, but plenty of good golf too. Birdies at the 1st and 9th helped him turn in 37 (+1) before he played the back nine in 34.
The highlight was an eagle at the par-5 13th, where Tyce chipped in from off the green. Fortunately, I managed to capture it on video, so this is one shot from the tournament I can actually share rather than simply describe.
With another birdie at the 17th, Tyce finished with 71, level par, and our first level-par tournament round together.
My note immediately afterwards was considerably less detailed:
“Solid day today. Level par 71 🍻”
That summed it up pretty well.
One of the other things I remember from the opening round was watching Zak Robinson play. By now I’d spent quite a few hours walking alongside PGA Professionals, and I was beginning to realise that even at this level there are levels.
Zak was beautiful to watch. His power looked effortless and the quality of his ball striking seemed another level again. He shot 69 (-2), but from what I’d seen walking alongside him for 18 holes, I thought it could easily have been six or seven shots better. There were times when the score simply didn’t seem to reflect the quality of golf I’d watched.
He was also a really nice guy. I was the bloke carrying somebody else’s bag, but Zak was perfectly happy to chat with me as we went around. That’s something I’ve appreciated at quite a few of these tournaments. Everyone is there competing, but most of the professionals I’ve met have been very approachable.
Zak went out the following day and shot 65 (-6) to finish the tournament at eight under par. Having watched him the day before, that didn’t particularly surprise me.
Round Two
The following morning was dry and a little colder, but again there wasn’t much wind. Unlike some of our previous events, the weather wasn’t going to provide much of an excuse for whatever ended up on the scorecard.
We also had the Round 2 pin positions. By now I’d developed a habit of keeping these things. They’re useful during the tournament because they tell us exactly where the holes are cut; afterwards, apparently, they become souvenirs.
Round two couldn’t have started much better. The first is a 527-yard par 5, and Tyce hit the green in two before converting the putt for an eagle 3.
We were two under after one hole and off to a flying start. Golf being golf, Tyce then made double bogey at the second and was immediately back to level par for the day.
The eventual 76 (+5) was actually an interesting scorecard because there was plenty of solid golf in it. Tyce made ten pars, an eagle and a birdie, but four bogeys and two double bogeys proved expensive.
After the eagle-double start he settled down with three consecutive pars before dropping a shot at the 6th and making another double at the 7th. There was another run of pars after that, followed by a bogey at 11, a birdie at the par-5 13th and three more pars from 14 through 16. Bogeys at the final two holes completed the 76.
My note afterwards was simply:
“Today’s score +5.”
Combined with the opening 71, Tyce had finished the two rounds at 147 (+5).
The Best Par-5 Player in the Field
This is where Minchinhampton becomes much more interesting to me than the final leaderboard suggests.
Across the two rounds, Tyce played six par 5s. He made one par, three birdies and two eagles, playing those six holes in seven under par with a scoring average of 3.8.
According to the official tournament statistics, Tyce ranked number one in the entire field for par-5 scoring.
That’s a fairly remarkable statistic in a field of around 140 PGA Professionals, particularly when you put it alongside his eventual finishing position.
It also fitted something I was beginning to notice from watching these tournaments at close quarters. Zak’s opening 69 hadn’t really reflected how impressive his golf looked to me.
At Cotswold Hills I’d watched other professionals hit the ball beautifully without producing the scores I expected. Now Tyce had finished well down the Minchinhampton leaderboard while simultaneously being better than everybody in the field on one category of holes.
Playing good golf and producing a good score are related, but they’re not always the same thing.
What I Took From Minchinhampton
If you looked only at the final leaderboard, Minchinhampton probably wouldn’t jump out as one of Tyce’s better tournaments. He finished T112 at five over par.
But that’s exactly why the par-5 statistic interests me. One part of Tyce’s game was good enough to outperform everybody in the field, while enough shots were being lost elsewhere to leave him well down the overall leaderboard. Both things happened during exactly the same tournament.
That’s relevant to my own golf too. We weekend golfers can drive the ball brilliantly and putt badly, or play 15 perfectly decent holes and ruin the scorecard on the other three.
Sometimes we hit the ball beautifully and can’t understand how we’ve shot the number written at the bottom of the card.
On other days we scrape it around, hole a few putts and somehow finish with a score that looks considerably better than the golf felt.
The final number matters, but it doesn’t always tell you how you arrived at it.
Minchinhampton was a pretty good example.
The Result
Tyce opened with 71 (level par) and followed it with 76 (+5) for a total of 147 (+5) and a share of 112th place.
At the other end of the leaderboard, Corey Sheppard won in a playoff against Haydn McCullen and Matthew Cort after all three finished at 11 under par. Sheppard had opened with a 64 before following it with a 67.
Tyce did, however, leave Minchinhampton ranked first in the field for par-5 scoring after playing the six par 5s in seven under. For me, that’s the more interesting statistic from the two days.
The complete tournament results are available through the official PGA/BlueGolf link at the top of this post.
Final Thoughts
Minchinhampton took Tyce and me to four events and six tournament rounds together. By now, caddying was beginning to feel less like something I’d unexpectedly agreed to do after receiving a WhatsApp message and more like something we actually did together.
A routine was developing. I was getting more comfortable on the bag and gradually learning when I could contribute, when Tyce wanted another opinion and when the best thing I could do was say nothing and let him play.
I was also getting an increasingly close look at just how good professional golfers are and how difficult it is to turn that ability into a score every time. Minchinhampton summed that up rather nicely.
Caddying for Chris Series
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