An obituary on Brampton caddie Steve Duplantis — the first I’ve written in my career — appears in this morning’s Globe and Mail.
You can read it here, and here is a taste:
There was always a dichotomy to the life of Steve Duplantis.
On one hand, the PGA Tour caddie from Brampton, Ont., was known as one of the best at his trade, a man who could elicit top performances from the players whose bags he carried. He worked with several of the best and brightest on golf’s premier stage for 15 years, working for players such as Jim Furyk, Rich Beem, Daniel Chopra and Tommy Armour III. Through his guidance, leadership and sheer determination, Mr. Duplantis led several players to the top performances of their careers.
“He was one of the better caddies,” said Mr. Armour, who used the Canadian’s services when he set the tour’s 72-hole scoring record in 2003. “That’s why he kept getting hired. He was very confident with what he said.”
On the other hand, although Mr. Duplantis was all focus on the course, his life away from golf was anything but. He married his first wife, an exotic dancer, in 1995 after knowing her for just 19 days. He proposed to another woman while still married to his first wife, and his predilection for a good time often led him to turn up late for tee times – then have to search for a new job.
RT,
generally, i enjoy your writing. as difficult as it must be to write and obit, (i commend you for the effort), was it really necessary to add the “titty dancer” part? we already had the picture from your (much more proper) “exotic dancer” earlier in the piece.
lets try to keep some class, even if the newspaper you work for has little.
(yes, a dig at the post… unwarranted perhaps, but too good to resist).
Well, the use of “titty dancer” actually appeared in the Globe, not the Post. And since a good couple of paragraphs in Alan Shipnuck’s book on Duplantis discusses his ex-wife Vicki’s much enlarged “fake boobs,” I thought it was fair. Frankly I didn’t think the paper would print it, but if you read the book you’ll find that the titties in question have implications for Duplantis later on.
Mr. Thompson, if you think the use of the term you used to describe Vicki is fair, then please remember that she is the woman who gave Mr. Duplantis happiness in their short marriage, and the mother of Sierra, their very talented daughter. Says Vicki: I do not appreciate the degrading insults. That was my job and I have a heart. Im sure you have been to a gentlemens club before. When I married Stephen that lifestyle ended .