Editor’s note: Tom Caron, a member of the NEWS advertising staff and an avid Maine golfer, is the caddie for Mike Baker during the PGA Championship at Medinah Country Club.

Caron shares his observations on Baker’s first round on Thursday when he carded an 8-over-par 80. Baker is an assistant pro at Bangor Municipal Golf Course.

MEDINAH, Ill. – Mike started great.

On the first hole in front of hundreds of seated fans, he confidently addressed the ball and ripped a 1-iron right down the middle. We were off and running.

He then proceeded to hit a nice 8-iron to about 25 feet and just missed his birdie putt about 1 1/2 inches, but made a solid par.

On the second hole he showed some real touch by getting up and down from a tricky lie on this long par 3 over water. The rough is about five or six inches thick so sometimes it’s hard to find your ball just off the fairway.

We found his ball in the knarly rough to the right of the green and he hit a beautiful 60-degree wedge down the slope to about three feet and promptly made the putt.

On three, he hit his tee shot into the right rough and poked a 6-iron about 180 yards to the front fringe of the green, then chipped up to about two feet and made a nice scrambling par.

So he was even par after three and we were happy.

The fourth hole is a 447-yard par 4 to a very elevated green. Mike hit a great tee shot and stuck an 8-iron to about 12 feet below the hole. There was no doubt about his putt as it rattled the bottom of the cup and he went to 1-under.

Mike was very relaxed. The fifth hole is the shortest par 5 on the course but Mike made it longer by hitting 3-wood into the left rough. He hacked out with a 6-iron into the right rough so he still had 215 yards to the green for his third shot out of the rough.

I suggested that he play for a bogey 6 at this juncture but he insisted on going with the long iron out of the deep rough. He hit it decent to about 45 yards short of the hole and was adamant about making par.

He then lobbed a wedge to about 15 feet below the hole and his par attempt struck several spike marks, hopped in the air and rolled into the center of the cup, a nice par.

On the sixth, a very difficult par 4 up the hill, he drove his tee shot dead center of the fairway and struck a solid 3-iron 200 yards to about 30 feet below the cup. His birdie attempt brushed the hole on the low side and he tapped in for a very good par.

As we walked to the seventh, he was 1-under par and we both felt great.

On this par 5, Mike hit a perfect drive and great 3-iron to about 100 yards, our favorite distance. He then proceeded to stick a 52-degree wedge 10 feet above the cup and it spun back to about five feet; his putt was in all the way.

He’s 2-under through seven and on the leader board with Hal Sutton. It was awesome.

On the eighth, his tee shot ended up about 30 feet above the cup on this 214-yard par 3, so now he’s putting to go 3-under par through eight. His first putt came up about five feet short, leaving him with a difficult right-to-left downhill putt for par which he lipped out on the right side of the hole, his first bogey of the day and back to 1-under.

On the ninth, his tee shot found the left rough on this dogleg-left par 4 and his second shot ended up in the right rough. His chip shot hooked left coming out of thick rough, leaving him with about 30 feet for par and two putts later he was back to even par for the day.

It was a truly great start for Mike in this last major championship of the millennium.

However, bogeys on 10, 11, and 12 put him at 3-over. But pars at 13 and 14 put him at 3-over through 14 and we were hoping for a strong finish.

A double bogey on 15 really took the wind from our sails, going from 3-over to 5-over in one hole. The struggle continued with a bogey on 16; then on 17, a tee shot into the stands, free drop and a failed up and down probogey.

Finally, on 18, Mike missed an 8-foot putt for par to finish at 80. The final number might not reveal a great scoring round, but for about seven holes Mike was on top and he’s eager to return for the second round.