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By Lauren Deason
PGATOUR.com Editorial Coordinator

HAVEN, Wis. -- Jim Woodward's player biography includes this interesting tidbit: "lives on a 600-acre duck hunting club in Chandler, Okla., called the Drunken Duck Hunting Club." He admits it may sound strange, but he loves it there.

Jim Woodward started Saturday's play tied for seventh at the U.S. Senior Open.

HE SAID ...

"(The hunting lodge) is so peaceful and I think it's part of the reason I'm having so much fun this week and just hitting it. I just line up to hit it and I figure if it's going where it's going, that's great and if it doesn't, well, what the hell. At least I'm alive."

About a year and a half ago, Woodward was going through a rough divorce and didn't have anywhere to go. His best friend, Tom McCaskill, owned a hunting lodge in "Middle-of-Nowhere", Okla. and offered Woodward to place to collect his thoughts and live for a while at the "Double D."

McCaskill, a loud guy with a wealth of personality, and Woodward, a former PGA TOUR pro with a big laugh, had plenty of fun there, hunting to their heart's content from November to January.

Until June 24, 2007, when that all changed.

Woodward was about to play the final round of the PGA Professional National Championship in Sunriver, Ore. when he got the call -- McCaskill had been killed in a car wreck.

"That was a hard round, the fourth round," admitted Woodward, who managed to shoot 73 that day amidst his grief to finish tied for 31st. "It was tough when I flew back after the Club Pro. To walk in the lodge, it was real quiet. But it's just one of those deals - it's sad, but I don't know how to explain death. I wish I did, but it was just his time.

"I guess, in a way, it puts a real perspective on it, hitting golf shots, missing putts."

Woodward, who turned 50 on June 5, has turned again to golf this week at the U.S. Senior Open at Whistling Straits. He had qualified for the tournament 11 days before his friend's death, and he knew that McCaskill -- who was more excited about Woodward turning 50 and trying to make it on the Champions Tour than anyone else -- would still want him to play.

A first-round 67 and a follow-up of 73 put Woodward in a tie for seventh at the start of the third round of the Senior Open. At times during his first two rounds, Woodward caught himself thinking about his friend, but he knows that McCaskill was his caddy in heaven.

"He was a great guy and he was with me out there today. He's (mad) at me right now for missing those putts," said Woodward, who had two bogeys and several missed birdie opportunities in his second round.

"There's times where you look out there and wish he was in the gallery but sometimes things happen for a reason. And God wanted him, so..."

As Woodward's voice trails off, it's obvious he still gets choked up thinking about his friend. But McCaskill's invaluable presence in his life and well-timed offer to stay at the Drunken Duck when he needed it most helped him in so many ways, including on the golf course.

"(The hunting lodge) is so peaceful and I think it's part of the reason I'm having so much fun this week and just hitting it," Woodward said. "I just line up to hit it and I figure if it's going where it's going, that's great and if it doesn't, well, what the hell. At least I'm alive."

Woodward competed on the PGA TOUR from 1990-95, but a fluke injury sidelined the Oklahoma State alum, robbing him of his desire to play. At the 1993 Shell Houston Open, Woodward was attempting a hard wedge shot from an awkward, lakeside lie on No. 17 at TPC Woodlands when he heard a loud pop -- he'd broken his right kneecap.

"I just never felt good on my right side again, and I was playing bad golf. You lose interest if you aren't playing good," said Woodward. "The knee never really healed. It just bothered me. Now, I didn't know Tiger Woods was going to come along and we were going to play for $5 million. If I had, I probably would have stayed but I went back and was a club pro for a while and kind of lost interest.

"Now, as I turn 50, I feel like I'm healthy again and felt like playing and decided what the heck? I feel like I've got a few years to go see if I can make [the Champions Tour] and hopefully it will work."

And Woodward, the man who's been through too much, has found that he's got nothing to lose.

"I missed the competition (of professional golf)," he said. "I'm not sure that I missed the travel that much. But my girls are grown up now, with one in college, one's out of college. I went through a divorce and to be honest with you, I've got nothing else to do. I miss the camaraderie. I miss the guys. I miss playing. It's fun to get out there and get the juices flowing again."