It was easy to find Savannah Grewal on the course at last week's Blue Bay LPGA. All you had to do was follow the sound of her laughter.
Grewal's brother, Jordan Grewal, caddied for her for the first time ever at the event and needled her the way only a younger sibling can. The banter worked, with Savannah Grewal tying for fourth with New Zealand's Lydia Ko and Australia's Minjee Lee — two of the best women's golfers in the world — for her first top 10 finish on the LPGA Tour.
"We've been arguing about that because he says he needs a pay raise," laughed the 22-year-old Savannah Grewal. "But he definitely deserves a lot of credit. He was awesome.
"It was his first time ever caddying and he was amazing."
Jordan Grewal, 20, said that for him, caddying was just a natural extension of their sibling relationship.
"Me and Savannah have like a fairly friendly, like joking relationship," he said. "We're always constantly making jokes and making each other laugh.
"No matter the situation if it's serious or just for fun."
A good sense of humour isn't the only tool at Jordan Grewal's disposal as a caddy. An elite table tennis player who could represent Canada at this summer's Paris Olympics, he said he enjoys the process of analyzing great athletes, strategies or greens.
"No matter what sport I'm playing, I love to just sit down on YouTube and really get in depth and analyze how the world's best play," he said from his home in Mississauga, Ont. "I love to take notes and, in my own practice, try things that I see the world's best do."
Savannah Grewal is now ranked No. 29 on the Race to CME Globe standings after only two events in her rookie LPGA Tour season. She said that part of her success at Jian Lake Blue Bay Golf Club in China's Hainan province was that she actually practised less.
"A big difference between professional and NCAA golf is that you only get one practice round (at the collegiate level) and that's it," she said. "Going into professional golf, I realized that maybe at the (season-opening Drive On Championship) I'd played almost too much to where I started to overthink things and then started to search for trouble.
"So I played just one practice round when I got to China and then just took it easy on Wednesday."
Her third round carried her to the top of the leaderboard, with 10 birdies earning her a 9-under 64 on the day.
"Honestly, I couldn't have even told you how many birdies I had that round," said Savannah Grewal. "By the time I finished. it was just one of those things where I felt like I was hitting it really solid and I was giving myself a lot of really good birdie opportunities.
"I was just going into every hole saying 'this is a birdie opportunity' and just trying my best to hit some good shots in there and set myself up."
Jordan Grewal will now turn his attention to qualifying for the Paris Olympics. He will be competing at Table Tennis Canada's qualification trials at St. Leonard, Que., on March 29 and 30. If he wins, he will get to compete at the Summer Games.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published March 15, 2024.
John Chidley-Hill, The Canadian Press
