Phil tabs cancer doc to caddie a few holes

Phil Mickelson pulled a special guest out of the gallery at the Houston Open Sunday to carry his bag for three holes.

Dr. Tom Buchholz, a radiation oncologist at the M.D. Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, is treating Mickelson's wife and mother, Amy and Mary, who were both diagnosed with breast cancer last summer.

Mickelson left tournament passes for Buchholz and other hospital staff. Mickelson asked Buchholz to take the bag from regular caddie Jim "Bones" Mackay on the 14th tee.

"This man has helped us through some of the toughest times that we've gone through," Mickelson said. "He's the best at what he does." Buchholz wasn't totally inexperienced as a looper. He was working in the pro shop at Westchester Country Club after college in 1984 when he caddied for Allen Miller in the PGA's Westchester Classic.

- AP