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PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. — On Wednesday in Northeast Florida, the PGA Tour readied its headquarters for a Hall-of-Fame ceremony. Four longstanding members of the golf community were scheduled to be inducted that evening.

But only one of those four is plotting a PGA Tour comeback.

Tiger Woods’ caddie Joe LaCava — who will be at the ceremony on Wednesday — spoke to SiriusXM PGA Tour Radio on Wednesday and explained how he sees Woods’ potential comeback.

Host Taylor Zarzour pointed out that the last time we saw Woods and LaCava in individual stroke-play competition was at the 2020 Masters, when Woods birdied five of the final six holes, including the last four.

“That’s a pretty cool last moment we’ve seen, but I know he wants more moments on the golf course in the future with you,” Zarzour said.

“Yeah, 100 percent,” LaCava agreed. “I mean, he realizes, like he’s said, and you’ve heard all the press conferences, he may not be able to play as much as he’d like to, obviously.”

Woods has made it clear that he’ll never return to playing a full PGA Tour schedule. But LaCava recognized with a laugh that to Woods, a “full-time” schedule meant something different than it did to other pros.

“He never played a lot anyways, so I jokingly say full-time and you talk about full-time, full-time for him was 11 or 12 tournaments.”

Woods fans have been eagerly awaiting news on his progress after an encouraging showing at the PNC Championship in December. LaCava was optimistic but realistic in describing his boss’ next steps.

“He takes it one day at a time, but he’s certainly hoping to get back.  He loves to do this more than anything, like all the guys,” LaCava said. “And same thing I tell people, listen, I said, ‘How many times can this guy work his butt off?’

“When I say work his butt off, not just chipping and putting in the backyard and hitting balls.  I mean, he’s gotta work his butt off every single day rehabbing and stuff like that in order to get back and be able to walk and be able to walk a golf course, then obviously try to play at that level.  So I think he’s willing to give it one more hard go on, you know, the work that he’s gotta put into it.”

LaCava saw firsthand the effort it took for Woods to stage his previous comeback from back fusion surgery, which culminated in his victory at the 2019 Masters. He knows that this time around will be even more demanding. Woods is older — he turned 46 in December — and he’s never faced a recovery from injuries like this; he suffered comminuted open fractures to both the tibia and the fibula in his right leg after a horrific wreck last February.

“I think it’s gonna be even more work than it was coming back from the fusion surgery with the back and stuff like that, but I think he’s willing, at this age, to do it.  And, like you said, maybe that father-son tournament gave him a little more motivation because, as most people saw if they watched it he hasn’t lost much in the golf. He may not be quite as long as he once was but he can still hit the ball and still can putt and chip. So, I mean, if he can get around a golf course, he could still be dangerous, if that happens.”

In other words, LaCava is saying what golf fans have learned again and again: You’d be unwise to count out Tiger Woods.

LaCava will be in attendance when Tiger’s daughter Sam Woods introduces her father on Wednesday night. The other three inductees are former PGA Tour Commissioner Tim Finchem, 74, and women’s golf legends Susie Maxwell Berning, 80, and the late Marion Hollins. Maxwell Berning will be introduced by Judy Rankin, while Finchem will be introduced by Davis Love III.

“You know Tiger, very humble and stuff like that, I know he is pumped about it as well,” LaCava said. “I realize that I’m a tail-end guy, but I also feel like I’m a part of his career, so I’m psyched that he asked me and my wife to come down and be a part of it. That’s the kind of person he is. Just the greatest player to ever play the game getting inducted tonight.”

The ceremony will air live Wednesday at 7 p.m. ET on Golf Channel.

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The post The Caddie House: Why four top loopers are crashing together at the PGA Championship appeared first on Golf.

John Wood got to pick the house.

“Being the NorCal guy, I was assigned the rental for the week,” he said.

Wood caddies for Matt Kuchar, the No. 22 player in the world. Of the four caddies sharing a roof this week in San Francisco, Wood’s looping for (by far) the least famous player.

“Yeah, I’m definitely the minor leaguer of the group,” he added.

In this case, that’s nothing to be ashamed of. That’s because the loopers’ lair is filled out by three legends of the craft: Joe LaCava, Michael Greller and Jim “Bones” Mackay.

Wood insists that this is nothing unusual during big events.

“It’s honestly not that unique! We’ve stayed together in rental homes at majors a bunch over the years,” he said.

Unique or not, there’s something notable about four men at the absolute peak of the caddying profession settling into the living room to shoot the breeze — and provide off-the-record analysis — after a day’s work.

“Suffice it to say when golf is on and we are all there, it’s like Mystery Science Theater 3000, PGA version,” Wood said.

The house falls somewhat short of the glamorous rentals that have housed gaggles of top pros at the Open Championship in recent years, like the Portrush abode that Rickie Fowler, Jordan Spieth, Justin Thomas, Kevin Kisner, Zach Johnson and Jimmy Walker called home last summer. But it’s a step above the rental that Joel Dahmen’s caddie Geno Bonnalie proposed as a U.S. Open stay to Aaron Flener.

“Lol Geno it’s 100 square feet,” Flener wrote back in a text exchange he posted to Twitter. “I like you but not ‘enclosed in 100 square feet with you‘ like you.”

Wood has been off to a typically busy schedule since the PGA Tour’s restart, as Kuchar has made five cuts in six starts — though he hasn’t finished higher than T25. For a guy who spends that much time on the road, some high-wattage roommates are an exciting change of pace.

The roommate under the most scrutiny, Joe LaCava, has had the lightest schedule of the group. His guy, Tiger Woods, has logged just four competitive rounds in the last six months.

“Everyone always says, ‘How’s Tiger doing? How’s he feeling?’” LaCava told GolfTV at the Memorial. “I say, ‘No idea. They’re like, ‘Seriously?’ I say, ‘Yeah, he’s off the grid. I don’t text him and he doesn’t text me.’

“I think I got one, which was a nice one on Father’s Day and that’s it. Other than that, we didn’t exchange anything.”

So what does a caddie do when his player isn’t playing?

“Good question. Not much,” LaCava said in the same interview. “I did some walking around the track down at the high school, to keep busy more than anything, but not much otherwise.”

While LaCava owns a pair of majors — a Masters with Fred Couples in 1992 and then one you may recall with Woods in 2019 — Roommate No. 3, Michael Greller, has three to his name, each on the bag of Jordan Spieth.

That hardly means things have been easy of late. After a meteoric rise to world No. 1, the tandem has struggled to find form in the last few years. Spieth — and Greller — have arguably the most to gain this week, gunning for a career grand slam (Spieth won the 2015 Masters, 2015 U.S. Open and 2017 Open).

On Tuesday, Spieth talked about golf and how the game has been testing him of late.

“Where I used to hit a tree and go in the fairway, it’ll hit a tree and go off the cart path out-of-bounds,” he said on Tuesday.

He added that he’s been trying to adjust his mental game, shifting away from complaining and being upset to rolling with the punches.

“I’ve done a really good job of that the last really three tournaments that I’ve played as opposed to any previously, and Michael would attest to that, and my attitude has been phenomenal,” he said.

Caddies don’t typically do pre-tournament press conferences, so Greller didn’t have the opportunity to attest to nor dispute Spieth’s account. Still, the duo looked plenty happy alongside Justin Thomas and his caddie during a practice round at Harding Park. On Tuesdays and Wednedsays, optimism reigns supreme.

Speaking of Justin Thomas’ caddie — he’s having a heck of a couple weeks. Jim “Bones” Mackay’s full-time gig these days is working for NBC Sports and Golf Channel as an on-course analyst. But he got forced into action a month ago as a super-looper fill-in for Matt Fitzpatrick, who finished solo 3rd at the Memorial. Then he got an even more last-minute call for the WGC-Memphis last week to tote the bag of Justin Thomas.

When Mackay arrived on the range at TPC Southwind, he ran into Fitzpatrick for the first time since their Memorial finish earned Bones some percentage of Fitzpatrick’s $642,000 third-place check. Nearby pros got a kick out of their reuniting.

“Everyone goes, ‘did the check clear? Did the check clear?'” Mackay said with a laugh on Fred Couples’ SiriusXM radio show after the win.

The exchange with Fitzpatrick was just the beginning of the week’s check-collecting. Whatever Mackay told Thomas (“nothing, really!” he insisted) seemed to work, as he charged from behind to a Sunday 66, a three-shot victory and a $1.82 million first-place check.

“I’d say this if I was commentating or caddying or having a hot dog on the sideline,” Mackay told Couples. “He is a really, really good golfer.”

While a bunch of Tour pros and caddies flew out on a charter flight from Memphis Monday morning, Mackay was able to catch a ride in style.

“A lot of these guys now are in a position to fly privately and so they split planes with each other,” Mackay said. “Justin was one of them. And, you know, I basically said, ‘Hey, man, can I sit in the bathroom in the back?’ And he said, ‘Sure.'”

After the Sunday night flight, Thomas and Mackay were ready to go Monday morning, back in preparation mode. They played nine that afternoon alongside Woods and LaCava, who Mackay said was still smarting from a New York Rangers loss. Tuesday, Thomas and Mackay played with Spieth and Greller.

Kuchar and Wood played some practice holes alongside Patrick Reed and his caddie Kessler Karain.

All four pro bagmen ended up back at the rental eventually. Commence golf commentary.

“It’s unbelievably funny,” Wood said of the living-room banter.

This leads to more questions than answers. Do Joe and Bones talk Tiger and Phil? Do they break down Brandel Chamblee’s Live From breakdowns? When the food order arrives, who pays? But what happens in the caddie chateau stays there, Wood says, by rule.

“I can’t be more specific.”

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The post How Joe LaCava messed with Vijay Singh’s ‘caddie rule’ at the Masters appeared first on Golf.

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Among PGA Tour caddies, Joe LaCava held some legendary status long before he started looping for Tiger Woods. That came from professionalism, success, confidence, and for picking his spots with a sharp sense of humor.

So when several of LaCava’s caddie peers got together earlier this week to talk shop on SiriusXM, it was inevitable that his name would come up. John Wood (caddie for Matt Kuchar), Joe Skovron (caddie for Rickie Fowler), Michael Greller (caddie for Jordan Spieth) and Paul Tesori (caddie for Webb Simpson) sat in with with SiriusXM’s Carl Paulson and Dennis Paulson as part of a series called Sports from the Sidelines.

Egged on by Tesori — who insisted he had his former boss’ permission to tell the story — Wood launched into a story harkening back to the early 2000s. At the time, Tesori was caddying for Vijay Singh, while LaCava was still on the bag for Fred Couples.

Irons

Tesori started working for Singh in 2000. “Obviously he’s known for work ethic and, y’know, maybe some sketchy personality traits at times, he was always pretty good to me outside the ropes, inside the ropes he could be tough.”

He lets Wood take it from there; we’ll do the same.

John Wood: “Vijay had a rule, y’know, he was No. 1 in the world and he had a couple rules for his caddie at the time, who was Paul [Tesori]. You couldn’t eat on the course, you couldn’t talk to other people and what was the third — you couldn’t use the restroom?”

Paul Tesori: “I could use the restroom and eat at the turn, between 9 and 10, that was it.”

Wood: “Big thing was you couldn’t talk to the other caddies and players — you were with Vijay. So of course Joe LaCava, who, if anyone knows anything about Joe, there’s more good stories about Joe than the rest of us combined. We’re on the first hole at Augusta, and of course Joe knows this rule so as soon as they both tee off, where’s Joe? Shoulder-to-shoulder with Paul, walking up the fairway.

“‘Hey, where ya staying, Paul? Where’d ya eat last night, Paul? Hey, you been practicing late, Paul? Hey, how’s the family, Paul?’

“Paul’s, y’know, sunglasses on, walking straight forward, not even looking. Just doing his job. So they both get to their balls, Fred hits up on the green, Vijay hits up on the green, soon as they replace their divots, there’s Joe again.

“‘Hey, what’d you guys hit there? What do you got that wind doing, Paul?’ Just right in his ear, trying to get him to talk and trying to get him in trouble. So they get up on the green and Fred’s putting and Vijay kinda sidles up to Joe, says, ‘What’re you doing, bro? Trying to get my man in trouble? He’s not supposed to talk to anybody, leave him alone!’

“And Joe, y’know, Oakleys on, staring straight ahead, doesn’t even acknowledge Vijay’s walked up to him and looking straight forward, Joe just says, ‘Bro, if you don’t get away from me, I’m gonna drop you right here on the 1st green.’

“And I think Vijay had so much respect for that he just backed off and laughed.”

Tesori: “Yeah, he did. True story. And Vijay really liked Joe after that, too. He liked guys that would kinda go right to the edge with him.”

The entirety of the exchange is worth a listen on SiriusXM PGA Tour Radio here.

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Earlier this month, we saw Tiger Woods make his public reappearance during what would have been Masters Week when Woods joined Jim Nantz on CBS. Now, Woods’ caddie Joe LaCava is back in the public eye on a different platform: the Country Club of Darien’s Instagram page.

These are strange times, where everyone’s home and everyone’s a media outlet. That certainly includes Darien’s head pro, Cory Muller, who was able to wrangle LaCava and coaxed some behind-the-scenes stories from some of golf’s greatest moments in recent memory. LaCava talked about the 12th hole at the 2019 Masters (and the 12th hole at the 1992 Masters!). He talked about the possibility of a fan-free return to the PGA Tour and of the prospects of a September U.S. Open and a November Masters.

What stuck out first and foremost to me was his description of the 2018 Tour Championship, Woods’ first win in five years and one of the most unforgettable scenes in sports. Here’s how LaCava remembers the moment walking up the 18th fairway:

Joe LaCava on the 2018 Tour Championship:

“Very, very cool and special moment. I tell people, you know, we always have Tour security with us. And then at each tournament we have the local cops, or retired guys or FBI guys, some guys on the job, some guys not. So I get to know those guys. Because when I go to a tournament, I usually meet Tiger in the parking lot and the cops are always there early. So I hang out with these guys. So it becomes kind of friendly with them. They share stories, I share stories.

“In that particular year, after Tiger teed off on 18, the 72nd hole, we tee off and I can sense a couple of people kind of coming under the ropes behind me, but not thinking much about it. And then I’m kind of the furthest behind after Tiger hits his second shot into the green. And now once he’s hit in that bunker with a couple-shot lead, we know he’s going to win the tournament, but it’s not done. And more and more people kind of come under the ropes, and I can sense that.

“And so as I’m walking down the fairway, the cops are walking towards the green also, but backwards, kind of just making sure everything’s okay. And they looked at me like, ‘What do you think?’ As if to say, you know, ‘Is Tiger going to be okay with this?’ I don’t think they could have done much at that point, there’s only a couple of them. And at that point, it was a couple hundred people coming under the ropes. And I said, ‘Eh, why not, let ’em under the ropes, it’ll be fun, we’ll have a great time with that.’ You know what I mean? Just be cool.”

“And then, next thing I know, you know, it went from, you know, 20 to 50 to 200 to a couple thousand. And then Tiger looked back because, you know, when he’s gonna win a tournament, I try to kind of stay back a little bit. And he’s looking back at me and I’m, y’know, 25 years behind him, he goes, ‘What are you doing?’

“I says, I’m going to the green like you are,’ like, what do you think I’m doing?

He goes, ‘You better get your butt up here.’ It’s getting kind of crazy and dangerous and stuff. So then I kind of sensed it. And I look behind me and now it was getting crazy. Now they’re all passing me. So I kind of hustle up with the bag. My first thought is, ‘Don’t trip and fall. A. You’ll embarrass yourself and number two maybe someday will break the putter and we can’t finish this tournament off if they step on the clubs.’

“So I hustle up, get up in front. And it was really, really cool. I mean, it was one of the best moments for me and I think Tiger really loved it, too. You know, it can be a little bit dangerous, but it worked out great. Everyone was fine. It was a blast.”

Here were some of my favorite moments from the rest of the LaCava interview:

On Tiger playing No. 12 en route to winning the Masters:

“Y’know, we’re coming down at 11 and usually what I do is Thursday through Sunday, once my guy hits it on 11, I’m all about the 12th hole. If he calls me to read the putt on 11, I’m gonna be ready. But if not, I’m concentrating on 12 and checking out what’s going on over there and trying to get an early sense of the wind over there because it can be pretty tricky. But I didn’t feel that much wind in 2019, when Tiger won, when we’re coming down 11.

Tournaments

“But I look over there and I see Poulter and Brooks dropping and I see Webb Simpson over the green. And I’m thinking to myself that you’ve got three world- class players. Brooks is playing better than anybody. Something funny must be going on up there. They’re not mis-clubbing. And Brooks Koepka doesn’t mis-hit many shots. So I think that actually helped us when we got to the 12th tee, and I sensed Tiger looking over there as well. I knew he was taking a peek.”

(After Molinari hits his tee shot in the water):

“It’s tough to get up there and hit a shot knowing the guy in front of you just hit one more club and hit it short in the water. But Tiger, to his credit, we didn’t have much conversation after that. And I just basically said to him just hit a solid 9-iron left-center and he said, ‘You got it.’

“He’s always told me — and so has Fred — that the key to that hole, they feel like, is just commit to what you’re hitting and make sure you hit it solid, more than anything. I don’t think, at the time anyways, we were thinking we had to hit it that hard. And so we saw Molinari come up short and we saw Brooks in front of us come up short. We figured Brooks had a 9-iron. So it helped seeing all that.

“And what happened was Tiger went hit it really solid. I mean, he always hits it solid but he hit it really hard and he hit it basically probably 10 feet left of where he was looking. And then as the ball’s up in the air, we notice it kind of getting knocked down a little bit and moving a little bit left, even though you don’t feel that breeze on the tee. So that’s, I think, what happened to the other guys. They took it on a line a little further right, they didn’t realize that wind was up there and it was coming from right to left and knocking them all down.

“So had we gone first on the hole, it might have been a different story, but it worked out very well.”

On Fred Couples’ ball hanging up on the bank on No. 12:

“We get up to the green and, I’m up on the green, probably 15 feet from the ball. And he says to me, y’know, ‘What are you doing? I need my lob wedge!’ And I said, ‘Well, yeah, you need your lob wedge, I know that. But you gotta come up here and get it.’ I said, ‘My 210 pounds is going to make that ball go back into the creek. I’m not going anywhere near that golf ball. That was hanging on a thread, basically.

“But we got a break. The day before was a bunch of storms and we didn’t actually finish Saturday’s round until Sunday morning. So much rain, the storms were that bad. So we got a break in the fact that I don’t think they mowed the bank that morning, and it was very, very soft. And then, like I tell people, I said, yeah, it was a break. But at the same time, [the chip] is an easy shot to hit the week after the Masters, a week before the Masters, a practice round. But considering the circumstances, it’s not that easy a chip. And, you know, Fred hit it like this [holds up arms], which was awesome, made a basic 3 and then went on to win. Great hole, it’s been good to us. So I’ve got no complaints there.”

On the possibility of playing without fans:

“It’ll be different for sure, obviously. And you made a good point, I worked for Fred in his heyday, when he had the biggest crowds. And now, working for Tiger, obviously he has the biggest crowds as well. So I love that. I mean, I love the people cheering him on. And I feed off that energy and I think Tiger does, too, and I think Fred did as well.

“But having said all that, it’ll be different. I think it’ll be, you know, they’re talking about the Ryder Cup possibly without crowds. I think that’ll be tough because that’s kind of what makes that tournament. But I think the guys at this point, after being off for three or four months or whatever it’s going to be, they’ll be happy to play without anyone around, just to get out and play and be competitive again.

“So it’ll be strange for us because like I said, Tiger has the biggest crowd … but we can do without crowds for the first few weeks. I think that’s fine.”

On a Fall Masters:

“As far as Augusta goes, when I worked for Fred, for some reason, he went there one time in the fall. And I remember him telling me how tough it played, how long it played. Because I think it had been raining, cold, you know, icy cold, 40s and rain. So I think potentially if they get that kind of weather, obviously it’ll play much longer, even though they have the sub-air. I just think Mother Nature that time of year will make it play a lot longer. Which again, I think Tiger’s got the length, so if that is the case, we’ll be fine. Again, I’d rather play a little firmer and faster, because I think that’s to our advantage. But regardless, we’re playing in November. I’m just happy they’re getting it in. And it’ll be great to have that No. 1 on your bib, meaning defending champ.

Travel

“It certainly won’t be the same without the stuff blooming and all that. But I think they’ll still it set up where it’s going to look great and be a lot of fun.”

You can check out the entire interview below.

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Every week (pretty much) GOLF senior writer Michael Bamberger identifies — and ranks — the absolute, undeniable, very best* things in golf right now. This week, it’s all about Joe — Joe LaCava — who was inducted into the caddie Hall of Fame Wednesday night. *or at least mildly interesting

7. Stay!

At the 1989 Masters, Seve Ballesteros, near the height of his powers as the most charismatic force in the game, was paired with Ken Green in the fourth round. Ken’s caddie was his cousin, Joe LaCava. Their mothers were sisters. It was Ken who brought Joe out on Tour, taught him how to do yardages and, as Joe would say, “the whole nine yards.” On the 10th hole, the par-4 down the hill, Ken hit his tee shot down the right and Seve hit his down the left, near a ditch, in a muddy area. He was contending, he wanted ground-under-repair relief and the first official he conferred with granted him it. Ken and Joe were apoplectic. It was pure rub of the green, a wet spot. Ken called in a second rules official and told Joe, “You stay over there.” That is, far from the action. “Joe was like me, he was emotional, and I couldn’t know what he might do.” The second guy, an R&A legend named Michael Bonallock, denied Seve relief. For Joe and Ken, it was a master class in what they already knew: stand up for what you believe. As Tiger says of him, “He’s so competitive. He’s very fiery. He wants to win.” When Woods won the Masters in April, he slammed his palms hard into LaCava’s chest and said, “We did it.”

Tiger Woods and Joe LaCava after Woods won the 2019 Masters.

Getty Images

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6. The Perfect F-Bomb

The induction ceremony took place in a big white elevated tent on the right side of the 18th green at Medinah’s Course 3. An arctic wind was blowing from the air-conditioning vents, there was a metallic blue BMW convertible on display (an 850i, whatever that means) and the room was populated by a group of men, and some women — the BMW Championship pro-am participants — who likely would not know what it means to sneak into a hotel pool on a Sunday night, post-tournament, near the Phoenix airport, before boarding a red-eye to Fort Lauderdale. And in this setting, Joe, at the mic and in front of the room, described getting a call from Tiger nine years ago, asking if he would be interested in working for him. “F— yeah,” Joe said, recounting his response. The house roared, as did Tiger, standing toward the back of the tent, looking completely at ease.

5. Tiger’s Review

After shooting 71, one under par, on Thursday, Woods talked to reporters for a few minutes, as he nearly always does. Karen Crouse of the New York Times asked, “Was last night the most nervous you’ve ever seen Joey?” “More like uncomfortable,” Woods said. “Because he doesn’t like to be part of the spotlight. He’ll do Q&A’s and have fun with that but for him to be recognized for what he does, he’s very uncomfortable with that. He’s done this for 30 years. [Caddying] is his life.”

4. Ken, Fred, Dustin, Tiger

The golfers on the Mount Rushmore of Joe’s career are a most unlikely foursome: Ken Green, Fred Couples, Dustin Johnson and Tiger Woods. You really couldn’t have four more different personalities. But Green had a great insight into Joe the other day: “Caddying the way he does it is about reading people. He says what the player needs to hear. The caddies now are all about the numbers, but that’s not Joe. If the player says, `I’m between a hard 8 or a soft 7,’ Joe can figure out what the player actually wants to hit and give him a little more confidence over it.” It’s funny, because Joe was a finance major in college. Joe is a numbers guy.

Joe LaCava and Tiger Woods at the Caddie Hall of Fame induction Wednesday evening.

Courtesy Evans Scholar Foundation

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3. Author, Author!

Joe’s notes for his Thursday remarks were written in pencil — a caddie always has a pencil — on a single piece of paper. He was funny, moving, warm, grateful. Afterward, a guy came up to him and said, “I write books. You’re good at this. You should write a book.” And he was off. “Who was that?” Joe asked. James Patterson, the co-author of Miracle at Augusta and scores of other bestsellers, was the answer. “I’m not the biggest reader,” Joe said. “I’m more of a New York Post guy.”

2. Standup Guy

Joe and I were once walking off an empty course together. This was at a senior event, in Savannah, about 10 years ago. Another caddie ambled up, a guy who has been around for decades, old-school and not in a good way. He was talking about whatever and he was right on the verge of saying something demeaning of Jewish women. All I can say is that Joe shot the guy a look and the guy stopped cold. There are a hundred Joe stories like that.

1. Lifer

I first saw Joe in action in 1988, while writing about his cousin and boss, Ken Green. Ken did things his own way and Joe had good hands. Their routine was to flip clubs to each other, more than occasionally. Joe and I remembered the time Green tossed his putter to Joe missing Payne Stewart’s nose by, in the retelling, two inches. We both remembered what Payne said: “If it had hit me, it would have gone back to him in two pieces.” Just a snapshot in time. Who would have guessed then how those three lives unfolded from there? Tiger was just a kid, starting his own path in his own Hall of Fame career, and to Joe.

Michael Bamberger may be reached at Michael_Bamberger@golf.com

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Tiger Woods and caddie Joe LaCava played a nine-hole practice round at Liberty National on Tuesday to prepare for this week’s Northern Trust, but afterwards they sat down to answer some of their fans’ most pressing questions.

In a GolfTV video, Woods and LaCava traded questions for each other that were submitted by fans, and there was plenty we learned.

Woods, surprisingly, hasn’t played GOLF’s Top 100 course in the world, LaCava celebrated their Masters victory with “about 100 beers that night,” and Henrik Stenson, Woods says, isn’t really as funny as he might think he is.

Gear

Pack smart: 23 essentials you should always keep in your golf bag

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The post The text Tiger Woods sent to his caddie Joe LaCava after their Masters win appeared first on Golf.

The post The text Tiger Woods sent to his caddie Joe LaCava after their Masters win appeared first on Golf.

No one had a better view of Tiger Woods’ triumphant victory at the 2019 Masters than Joe LaCava. As Tiger’s caddie, LaCava had a big impact on the win and, of course, was right by his side for the entire tournament

That’s a familiar position for the veteran Tour caddie. He and Tiger have grown close over the years as LaCava continued to stand by Tiger’s side through all of the devastating lows Woods endured since LaCava took the job in 2011.

And while Woods has won 15 majors, the 2019 Masters was his first with LaCava on the bag. Given all of that, the victory at Augusta was a much-deserved payoff for the caddie. And the loyalty he’s displayed has not gone unnoticed by his boss.

After sinking his winning putt on the 18th green, Tiger embraced LaCava, screaming “We did it” into his ear. But the chaos that ensued prevented the two men from having a proper heart-to-heart.

So when LaCava checked his phone later that night, among the hundreds of text messages he received from well-wishers was one from Tiger.

“We did it, appreciate you hanging in there with me, I love you like a brother,” read the message on LaCava’s phone, according to a report by Garrett Johnston for The Caddie Network.

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But that’s not the only congratulatory text LaCava received from a well-known figure. After his win, he also received praise from New York Giants Senior VP of Player Personnel Chris Mara, former New York Rangers players Martin St. Louis and Brad Richards, ESPN’s Chris Berman and more.

But perhaps the best message sent to LaCava’s phone came from his former boss, World Golf Hall of Fame member Fred Couples. While the 2019 Masters was LaCava’s first major win with Tiger, it was not the first time he caddied during a Masters victory. LaCava was carrying Couples’ clubs for his lone Masters win in 1992.

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Masters 2019: Fred Couples, Mayor of Augusta, missed the Masters cut — but he’s anything but finished

According to Johnston’s report, Couples could hardly contain his excitement when he texted LaCava Sunday night: “I’m just so excited for you. If not more excited than when I won in ’92.”

Tiger and LaCava’s next gig will likely be in two weeks at the Wells Fargo Championship. From there they’ll head to the second major of the year, the PGA Championship at Bethpage Black, to continue their major pursuit.

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The post Tiger’s caddie Joe LaCava once heckled Bill Belichick at the Pebble Beach Pro-Am appeared first on Golf.

The post Tiger’s caddie Joe LaCava once heckled Bill Belichick at the Pebble Beach Pro-Am appeared first on Golf.

New England Patriots head coach Bill Belichick does not have many hobbies outside of coaching football, but he does enjoy playing golf. He frequently plays in the Pebble Beach Pro-Am every February, one of which came after the Patriots lost to the New York Giants for the second time in four years in Super Bowl XLVI in 2012. And Tiger Woods’ caddie, Joe LaCava, made sure at the event that Belichick hadn’t forgotten about what had taken place just one week before in Indianapolis.

After being denied his fourth Super Bowl ring as a head coach and sixth overall, Belichick was out in Pebble Beach decompressing from the season. He was scheduled to play in the annual Pebble Beach Pro-Am with PGA Tour pro Ricky Barnes. The event was also set to feature both Tiger and Phil Mickelson.

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According to sportswriter and author Ian O’Connor in his latest book titled “Belichick: The Making of the Greatest Football Coach of All Time”, Belichick was on the driving range hitting balls next to Lefty when LaCava approached. LaCava, who hails from Connecticut, is a huge Giants fan.

LaCava saw Belichick and Phil with Mickelson’s former caddie, Jim “Bones” Mackay. As LaCava walked up to Mickelson and Mackay, he saw Belichick and said out loud, “How about those G-Men kicking the Patriots ass?! A second time! How great was that?!”

Belichick, standing five feet away, completely ignored LaCava. He never lifted up his head and just kept hitting balls on the driving range as LaCava tried desperately to get his attention. Like on the football field, Belichick was super focused at the driving range before his round of golf.

Belichick is going for his sixth Super Bowl title as head coach of the Patriots and eight overall as a coach. No head coach in NFL history has won more Super Bowl rings than the 66-year-old Belichick, and no franchise has appeared in more Super Bowls than the Patriots.

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A win for New England would tie it with the Pittsburgh Steelers for the most Super Bowl championships in NFL history with six titles. Super Bowl LIII between the Patriots and Los Angeles Rams from the Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta kicks off on Sunday at 6:30 p.m. ET on CBS.

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The post Dustin Johnson: 5 Things To Know appeared first on Golf.

The 2016 U.S. Open winner held the #1 ranking for the 5th-longest streak ever.

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The post WATCH: Tiger Woods denied pizza slice during pro-am at Torrey Pines appeared first on Golf.

The post WATCH: Tiger Woods denied pizza slice during pro-am at Torrey Pines appeared first on Golf.

Talk about a slice problem. During Wednesday’s Farmers Insurance Pro-Am, Tiger Woods headed to a concession tent operated by Dang Brother Pizza in search of a snack. The 80-time Tour winner crossed Torrey Pines’s 13th tee box to get to the tent…and got rejected.

“They aren’t letting us serve right now,” the attendant, Daniel Johnston, told Woods sheepishly. Woods laughed off the incident, which Brandon Stone of KUSI News captured on video. Stone later tweeted that the PGA Tour asked him to take down the video, but you can still view it in his original story.

Thanks to the 232K that enjoyed this. Sadly, the PGA Tour isn't one of those, so it's got to go goodbye. But you can see it in my story if you like: https://t.co/eTSoz7GG1t https://t.co/CEolHEhdoB

— Brandon Stone (@BStoneKUSI) January 24, 2019

“No comment,” Johnson said later with a smile. Stone reported that the rejection came from bad timing: the health inspector was conducting a status check.

But Woods got his food fix later. After his tee shot ended up in the edge of another concession tent, this one offering chili, Woods scored himself a bowl. No toppings, though. You can see the complete news report here.

It’s not Woods’s first collision with pizza. Scott Van Pelt recounted a hilarious story from the 2002 U.S. Open at Bethpage Black. When Woods came in to do post-round interviews after his win, Van Pelt greeted him with the dish he’d requested earlier in the week: a sausage and pepperoni pizza. “We just start smashing pizza,” van Pelt recounts. “And the guy from the USGA wants to murder me.”

What's on Tiger Woods' mind after winning a major? Pizza.

Just ask @notthefakeSVP. pic.twitter.com/IG5bVWx4Rk

— SportsCenter (@SportsCenter) December 8, 2016

Woods is making the first start of his 2019 campaign at Torrey Pines, where he is an eight-time winner and hopes to contend again. He teed off in the first group in Wednesday’s pro-am, getting underway at 6:40 a.m. alongside several Farmers employees. He says he’s ready for the year after a rigorous offseason training regime.

“This offseason I spent a lot of time in the gym and I’ve gotten a lot stronger,” he said. “I feel like my legs are where they need to be, which they weren’t at the end of the season.”

Woods tees off at 1:40 p.m. Thursday alongside Xander Schauffele and Tony Finau. You can see a complete list of tee times and a viewer’s guide here.

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