CPR given to caddie at Pebble Beach Pro-Am, 2 pros go to locker room

A caddie for an amateur player at the Pebble Beach Pro-Am is reportedly recovering after the caddie collapsed midway through Friday’s second round and was given CPR before being taken away by ambulance to a nearby hospital. 

In a statement, the PGA Tour said the caddie was working for one of the amateurs in the Max McGreevy-Beau Hossler pairing, while ESPN reporter Paolo Uggetti, who was at the event, wrote that the caddie was paired with businessman Geoff Couch. According to Uggetti, the incident happened on the fairway on the 11th hole at Pebble Beach, and play was stopped for nearly an hour. 

As of Friday night, there was no immediate update on the caddie’s condition, though Golf Channel’s Todd Lewis, who was also at the tournament, twice reported during the network’s coverage that the caddie was going to be OK. ESPN’s Uggetti also wrote that Lukas Nelson, a musician and the other amateur in the group, told him that the caddie was “doing better.”

According to Golf Channel’s Lewis and ESPN’s Uggetti, Hossler and McGreevy talked with Tour officials after the incident, and Lewis said the players first moved to the side, then were allowed to go back to the locker room and finish play after the last groups were through. Hossler, Uggetti wrote, questioned the official during the conversation, saying: “I can’t say that I’m real comfortable at the moment to resume play.” 

ESPN’s Uggetti reported that the Hossler and McGreevy group returned after a two-hour break. 

At 5:01 p.m., the Tour shared this statement:

“During the second round of the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am, there was a medical emergency at No. 11 at Pebble Beach involving an amateur’s caddie. The caddie has been rushed to Montage Health for evaluation. At the direction of the PGA Tour Rules Committee, the players in that group — Max McGreevy and Beau Hossler — paused play during the medical emergency and will be allowed to warm up and resume their round shortly.”

After his round, Harry Higgs, who was two groups behind Hossler and McGreevy, said that other players were shaken. A reporter asked him if was reminded of an incident last month in the NFL, where player Damar Hamlin collapsed and received CPR during a game. 

“Yeah. I mean, it had some shades of that,” Higgs said. “I was standing on the tee. They looked like they were 250 yards away, maybe even less, 200 yards away, and they were hammering away CPR on the gentleman. So, yeah, in a way.

“It was weird. We teed off on 11, and once I got up there and saw the group that the caddie was in, they were off to the side and they were obviously very emotional. Hugging each other. I called a rules official over and just wanted to like, Is this OK? I don’t want to be rude and keep going. It’s like golf doesn’t matter at all now, right?

“And I guess, fortunately, it didn’t happen in our group that we didn’t really — and then at the time that I had asked that it was also voiced to us that things have improved. The gentleman is most likely going to recover. So that obviously takes a weight off your shoulders.

“But yeah, I mean, it’s — I mean, we’ve, none of us have ever had to deal with that. No one in the NFL had ever had to deal with what happened, what, six, seven weeks ago. So there is no playbook. There is nothing to do.

“In a way, I was worried that we were still going, but then at the same time, it’s like, all right, well, soldier on, keep going. I hope he’s OK. Fortunately, we did get some good news while we were on 11, which helped. I mean it was …”

A reporter then asked Higgs if a rules official talked to him. 

“Yeah, I had seen one,” he said. “I saw the group off to the left and I saw tees in the fairway. So clearly they had marked their balls and they were waiting. I had seen a rules official on the rope line and I wanted to call him over and be like, Hey, man, I’m fine stopping if this is — like this is a very delicate, weird situation.

“The group in front of us had played the hole and gotten back to 12 tee. So it seemed like they were OK to continue on. It was just — I don’t want to say weird to, like, take any gravity away from the situation, but it was just a weird situation. Everybody, I think everybody on property knew what had happened and everybody was flat. There was no energy, no juice on any of the holes coming in.

“And again, fortunately — it was just awkward too. Walking right through that group and continuing to play and, fortunately, I mean, me personally, selfishly, it kept my mind at ease that we had gotten some good news as I played through that group basically.

“I don’t know. Maybe if it was not so good news — it was uncomfortable enough in a way that I could have seen myself being, like I’m not going to do this. Like it didn’t happen in my group, I didn’t get a firsthand account of anything, but this doesn’t feel right. I’m not going to keep going.

“Fortunately, we got some good news and kept going. I hope there’s more good news in the coming hours and days. Just a very difficult and kind of a first. Hopefully a last.”