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The post This caddie says he’s protective of his rising superstar pro. Here’s why appeared first on Golf.

Joe Skovron is no stranger to looping for the next up-and-coming superstars of the PGA Tour.

Skovron is best known for caddying for Rickie Fowler for the first 13 years of his pro career. During that time, Fowler quickly became one of the biggest names in the sport thanks to his marketability and play.

When the partnership ultimately ended in 2022, Skovron picked up the bag of another young star in Tom Kim and the pair quickly picked up a win at that year’s Shriners Children’s Open. To start this season, Skovron picked up yet another of the PGA Tour’s elite crop of 20-somethings in Ludvig Aberg.

All of those players are in demand when comes to people wanting to be in their orbit on the PGA Tour. As their caddie at different points, Skovron said he feels protective of the young superstars while they’re on Tour.

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“There’s so much more to playing golf out here than just showing up at the golf course and playing, right,” Skovron told GOLF Supar co-hosts Colt Knost and Drew Stoltz on this week’s episode. “Your home life, family, friends, you know, the outside stuff, fame, commercials, all these different things that they take away from what you’re trying to do or to distract you or anything there. And the simpler you can keep it, the better it’s going to be.”

Luckily, Skovron has had plenty of experience, with Aberg now his third boss whose stock seemingly has nowhere to go but up.

But he also admires other players for how they handle the stardom, like World No. 1 Scottie Scheffler.

Skovron said Scheffler’s ability to keep his off-course life simple, and not be a distraction, is one of his best strengths.

“I don’t think it can be overstated what his off-the-course life does for his golf,” he said.

For more from Skovron, you can check out the full episode of Subpar below.

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The post Scottie Scheffler is dominating the PGA Tour. This rising star is chasing him appeared first on Golf.

The post Scottie Scheffler is dominating the PGA Tour. This rising star is chasing him appeared first on Golf.

Ludvig Aberg’s (still newish) veteran PGA Tour caddie, Joe Skovron, has seen plenty of Scottie Scheffler over the years while looping for Rickie Fowler, Tom Kim and now Aberg. And Skovron said what he saw Scheffler do at the Masters just further reiterated his dominance in the game.

“He really made me a believer, just the way he does things,” said Skovron, who was the guest on this week’s GOLF Subpar podcast. “The way he operates his program, and when you watch him day after day after day and continue to hit those golf shots and continue to play like that, I mean, what he’s done these last 2 1/2 years or whatever it’s been, it’s just mind-blowing stuff. It’s gotta be the biggest gap since Tiger I guess, the gap between him and whoever No. 2 is.”

He’s right, co-host Colt Knost reminded him. Scheffler’s lead over Rory McIlroy, the World No. 2 in the Official World Golf Ranking, is a ridiculous 7.65 points, which was further inflated by Scheffler’s RBC Heritage victory the week after the Masters.

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“How can you argue with it, everything he’s doing,” Skovron said. “The way he plays. Even (at the Masters), over time you kind of thought you had a chance but he just responds and stuffs it and stuffs it. And it’s just really impressive what he’s doing. I don’t know if people appreciate how hard it is to do that. I know I didn’t watching Tiger back in the day until I got out here, how hard it really was to do that. What he’s doing and how consistent he’s playing is really amazing, it really is.”

Although Skovron’s guy, Aberg, has major upside too. In college, he won the Ben Hogan Award twice, and he also won the Haskins Award and Jack Nicklaus Award. When he turned pro last year, he won once on each the PGA Tour and DP World Tour and qualified for the Ryder Cup team. The Masters was his first major appearance, and he birdied the 9th hole in the final round to grab a share of the lead. Even though his round was derailed by a double bogey on 11, he made back-to-back birdies on 13 and 14 to easily take the runner-up spot.

He’s ranked sixth in the world, and he’s yet to miss a cut in his 10 events this season. He’s finished top 25 in eight of them.

“We are hoping to close the gap on (Scheffler),” Skovron said. “Lud is still young and he’s still learning, but you feel like he’s got that kind of talent, he’s got that kind of mind, he’s got everything it takes. You just kind of take the steps day by day and don’t get ahead of yourself and close that gap, and hopefully we’ll have many battles with him in the future.”

You can listen to Skovron’s complete Subpar episode here, or watch it on YouTube below.

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The post A caddie override and a laser: Tom Kim’s mic’d up hole was everything you wanted appeared first on Golf.

The post A caddie override and a laser: Tom Kim’s mic’d up hole was everything you wanted appeared first on Golf.

You could say CBS’ new segment to mic up players for one hole is off to a good start.

After Max Homa’s ruling at the Farmers and Keith Mitchell’s caddie backing his player off a shot, CBS handed a set of AirPods to spunky 20-year-old Tom Kim for the 13th hole Saturday at the WM Phoenix Open.

And the PGA Tour’s rising star did not disappoint.

Kim was in the midst of a flat round through his first 12 holes. He entered the third round at five under, five back of leader Scottie Scheffler, but had only mustered one bogey and 11 pars thus far.

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He striped his tee shot down the par-5 and then plugged into the broadcast to speak with Jim Nantz and Trevor Immelman who immediately tried to make light of Kim’s play so far.

“We’re going to bring you a birdie,” Nantz said to greet the World No. 14. Neither Homa nor Mitchell made birdie during their mic’d up holes so perhaps Nantz was also rooting for the new bit.

Immelmann then started interviewing Kim about his place on the leaderboard as he walked down the fairway. Then analyst Ian Baker-Finch asked Kim about his caddie Joe Skovron and his experience at the course.

Skovron was the long-time caddie for Rickie Fowler, winning in Phoenix with his previous employer in 2019. Kim and Skovron linked up at the Presidents Cup last September and have already developed serious chemistry whenever mics catch their discussions.

“It’s kind of my first year on Tour, so to have someone like him with all the experience in major championships and all the courses I haven’t played and he’s seen it all, It takes all the pressure off the practice rounds,” Kim said. “It saves you a lot of shots per week. It’s special. I got lucky.”

The experience paid off with his second shot.

Kim removed the earbuds to hit his shot, but the mics stayed close as he sized up his second shot from 223 yards.

The pair talked through trying to fly the ball around 212 to 215 in the air. Kim grabbed a 4-iron from the bag, but Skovron immediately overrode his man.

“That’s too much,” Skovron said. “That’s landing like five to 10 [yards] on the green.”

Skovron said he only wanted the ball to land just a few yards short of the green and chase back to the hole.

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“I was on mid-5 [iron] to almost hard 6, bud,” Skovron said. “A good 5 is landing on. There’s at least 10 yards of help there.”

The veteran looper successfully pleaded his case and the already two-time PGA Tour winner went back to the bag for the 5-iron.

“What are you going with number-wise?” Skovron asked.

“215, 220?” Kim said.

“It’s 217 front. I like landing it 212 to 215,” Skovron corrected.

“It is downwind, I think it’s a 205 shot,” Kim said.

“I would say 200 shot,” Skovron said as he stepped away. But Kim still wanted one more assurance.

“Short’s fine?” Kim asked.

“Short is fine,” Skovron replied with authority.

Kim stepped up to the ball and pured it.

The shot tracer was straight as an arrow before just falling a little right against the wind. The ball landed a couple of yards short of the green, just as Skovron and Kim talked about, rolled over the crest of the ridge in front of the pin and settled about five feet from the hole for eagle.

It was the closest approach shot on 13 all day.

Kim ended up getting a vicious lip out for the eagle try, but he tapped in for the first birdie for any of CBS’ guinea pigs for the new mic’d up segment.

The irony was all of this took place with Fowler, Skovron’s employer for more than a dozen years, having a front-row seat, playing alongside Kim and Jim Herman.

If there was any concern left about the potential of the interviews to distract the player, the first three examples are quickly dispelling it.

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The post ‘I’ll take the blame’: Tom Kim and Joe Skovron are quickly becoming TV gold appeared first on Golf.

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It might not have looked like it Saturday, but this week is just the second time Tom Kim and caddie Joe Skovron have worked together.

Golf Channel cameras and mics caught a pretty interesting exchange between the pair as Kim was getting ready to play his second shot on the par-5 9th during the third round of the Shriners Children’s Open.

Kim was debating between a 2-iron and a 3-iron from the right rough. From 266 to a front-left pin, the 20-year-old was worried about hitting his approach too far and leaving a more difficult third shot. Skovron was not.

“I would rather [hit the 2], because the 3-iron, if it comes out soft and right, it brings the short-right bunker into play,” Skovron said to Kim. “I’m not worried about this thing getting us into any trouble long.”

Skovron was certain 2-iron was the play. So certain, he offered to take responsibility for Kim’s shot.

“If it does [get into trouble], I’ll take the blame,” Skovron said.

Kim still wasn’t convinced. He said he was confident he could hit the 3-iron and still wind up safe.

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The veteran looper handed Kim the 3-iron.

“If you don’t feel like you can get [the 2] full, let’s hit the 3 and go ahead and hit it hard. It’s fine,” Skovron said.

After a couple of practice swings, Kim asked for the 2-iron once again.

“I love the 2, I don’t think you have to worry about anything. You can hit the 2, OK?” Skovron said. “That’s the one I’ve liked the whole time.”

Kim pulled the trigger and left his ball just inside 30 yards from the pin, nowhere near either of the greenside bunkers.

“Good call, Joe. Great call,” Kim said.

Kim would get the pitch up-and-down for birdie on the hole, then play his inward nine in six under. He would go on to post a 62 and tie Patrick Cantlay for the 54-hole lead in Vegas at 19 under.

It’s been a strong start for the new tandem, who jumped out to quick success even before this week’s Shriners. In just a short time, Skovron looks like he’s earned a fast education into the nuances of Kim’s game, and both sides of the duo are better for it.

Skovron, the longtime caddie for Rickie Fowler, linked up with Kim at the Presidents Cup, where the latter burst on to the international stage with the moment of the tournament, unleashing a huge fist pump and celebration after the winning putt of his fourth match Saturday evening.

Ironically, Skovron split with Fowler, who he had worked with for more than 12 years, after the Wyndham Championship in August, the same event where Kim fired a final-round 61 to claim his first PGA Tour title.

Player-caddie relationships can often begin and end on a whim with little notice. But if there’s any doubt as to whether Skrovron and Kim are in it for the long haul, they seem to be quickly erasing it.

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On Tuesday of Presidents Cup week, Max Homa was asked if there’s anybody on the International team he’d relish the chance to play against.

“Joe Skovron is one of my best friends and he’s caddying for Tom [Kim] this week,” he said. “I’d love to be the in that group, because Joe bleeds the red, white and blue, and he’s on the International team now.”

“We can give him grief about that,” Homa continued. “He’s been on all these teams so many times; it’s funny giving him a little bit because he’s wearing different clothes.”

It was a week of firsts for Skovron. The first time he’d donned the black-and-yellow of the International team, for one thing. The first time he’d caddied since splitting with Rickie Fowler after more than a dozen years on his bag. And the first time looping for 20-year-old Tom Kim, the Energizer Bunny who became the Internationals’ emotional leader by week’s end.

You may have done a double take when you saw Skovron on the weekend broadcast; he’s among the most recognizable caddies in the business thanks to his tenure on Fowler’s bag. Their partnership lasted from 2009 through this year’s Wyndham Championship and included five PGA Tour wins. “It wasn’t what either of us wanted,” Fowler said of the split, which the pair have described as mutual and amicable. It was fitting that Kim was the winner at the same event that was the Fowler-Skovron swan song, earning his way onto the PGA Tour — and the Presidents Cup team — in the process.

Kim and Skovron played every match. And while Kim was disappointed in their 2-3 record, he delivered arguably the moment of the tournament when he holed the winning putt on the 18th green Saturday evening to take down Patrick Cantlay and Xander Schauffele.

Skovron was more effusive about Kim’s play than Kim himself.

“I was so impressed,” Skovron said post-round. “He loved it. He loved the big moments and I loved how he responded. That putt on 18, that whole thing, the energy and feeling like we’re back in it, him doing that and finishing off that match against those guys, they’re such good players, that’s the one I’ll remember.”

As for the strangeness of joining the Internationals and playing against his buddies on Team USA?

“It was definitely different, but y’know what, great group of guys,” Skovron said. “I think once you get on a team, it’s not really about what country you’re from, it’s more about what team you’re with and representing that team and being all in, trying to win.”

Asked about his future with Kim, Skovron stuck to caddie code and played it cool.

“You’d have to ask Tom about that,” he said.

But it was clear from watching that the two were a comfortable pair. Kim wasn’t afraid to rely on his guidance; Skovron joined him before every tee shot, they talked through every decision and congregated afterward to celebrate or commiserate. More than once, Kim would end up with his arm or head on Skovron’s shoulder. In other words, all signs suggest this won’t be a one-and-done.

Kim spoke briefly about his new looper’s success post-round.

“It was the first week and we had some success,” he said. “But even in a week, he’s become a really good friend of mine. So I think we’ll be working together for a while.”

Kim’s win came with Jacob Fleck on the bag; the two were a team for most of 2022. But two starts later he had veteran caddie James Edmondson on the bag at the BMW Championship before Skovron took over at the Presidents Cup. (For his part, Fowler’s next start came with veteran looper Ricky Romano.)

On the PGA Tour, no player-caddie pairing is ever set in stone. But it sounds like these two will be running it back.

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