By Colleen Kane
The Cincinnati Enquirer

Kyle Healey (left) got to fill in for Steve Williams (center) as Tiger Woods' caddy through the Evans Scholars Foundation. (For the Enquirer) | ZOOM |

For two shots at Cog Hill Golf and Country Club Wednesday, Kyle Healey was Tiger Woods.

Healey, a senior at Miami University, caddied for Woods at the Western Open Chick Evans Pro-Am in Lemont, Ill., when their tee group came to the par-4, 13th hole. After Woods laid his second shot in the deep rough about 25 yards from the green, he studied the ball.

"He said, 'I don't want to hit this,' " Healey recalled. . "(Woods' usual caddy Steve Williams) said, 'I don't want to play it either.' "

So Healey did.

"So Tiger takes the bag off my shoulder," Healey said. "And he was cleaning the clubs for me. It was a total change of roles. It was pretty funny."

The trio jokingly bet $10 that Healey could "get this up and down." He chipped the third shot about 12 feet from the hole but missed the putt for par.

Woods still finished 4-under in his practice round for this weekend's 100th Western Open. Healey finished with a number of photos, Woods' autographed Nike glove, and a story his friends still don't quite believe.

Healey, a 2000 graduate of Oak Hills High School, got the opportunity to caddy for Woods through the Evans Scholars Foundation, which provides more than 800 college scholarships a year to caddies that meet high academic standards. Healey is the president of his Miami chapter house and was named the President of the National Committee for Evans Scholars in mid-March.

Healey was told then he would caddy for a former Western Open champion. When he recently found out it would be Woods, the 1997 and '99 champion, he didn't argue. Other than local stars, the only notable person he'd caddied for in his 10-year career at Maketewah Country Club was a roommate of Justin Leonard.

Woods was paired with four amateurs who paid $4,500 apiece to golf in the Pro-Am. The amateurs, Healey said, "really struggled," and Woods did "nothing more spectacular than I've already seen him do."

He was more impressed by Woods' media presence.

"The thing that shocked me the most was how the fans and people just hound him for autographs, and he has the patience of a saint as he's trying to prepare for the Western Open," Healey said. "(The fan craze) was sickening to me. I don't know how he does it. You could tell it bothered him a little ... but he was so nice and cordial."

Woods spent plenty of time chatting with Healey and found a few common interests - economics, the Navy and carrying golf bags. Both were economics majors, though Woods "got out before he had to take any real economics classes," Healey joked. Healey's brother is in the Navy, which Woods had once thought about joining. And while Healey caddies to make money, Woods said he was forced to carry golf bags for the upperclassmen at Stanford, no matter how good he was his freshman year.

Woods also told him stories about people on the PGA Tour, such as John Daly eating M&M's while golfing, but didn't mention the complaints he has made to the media about illegal drivers used on the Tour.

"He didn't talk about it, and I don't want to bring it up, either," Healey said.

Along with the donations the professionals made to the Evans Scholars for the day's caddies, Healey also accepted on behalf of the organization a $100,000 check from the PGA Tour.