“Much like a marriage, the player-caddie relationship in professional golf has its fair share of ups and downs, requires give and take, push and pull, insert another cliché about being married here.“
The following written content by Christopher Powers
Much like a marriage, the player-caddie relationship in professional golf has its fair share of ups and downs, requires give and take, push and pull, insert another cliché about being married here. The key difference between real marriage and the player-caddie marriage, though, is that the latter isn’t ‘til death do us part.
Which is why, no matter how good the relationship seems to us outsiders, player-caddie breakups are not only very normal, but very common. In the last week alone, we’ve seen a pair of prominent splits between a player and his longtime looper, with Justin Thomas and Jimmy Johnson parting ways and one of the longest-tenured player-caddie duos in golf, Bubba Watson and Ted Scott, “ending their on-course partnership.” Neither tandem would be mistaken for having the legendary partnership of Phil Mickelson and Jim “Bones” Mackay—who ironically enough will replace Johnson on Thomas’ bag—but each had an inordinate amount of success together, making these amicable parting of ways semi-shocking.
With those two breakups in mind, we racked our brains for some equally stunning player-caddie splits in recent memory.
Bryson DeChambeau and Tim Tucker
In one of the more mysterious player-caddie splits ever, Tucker was rumored to have “quit” on the eve of the Rocket Mortgage Classic this past July. Tucker, who had caddied for DeChambeau in practice rounds in Detroit that week, later said on Golf’s Supbar podcast that he regretted the timing of his decision and noted how fortunate he was to loop for DeChambeau as long as he did. Tucker had been on the bag for all eight of DeChambeau’s PGA Tour victories, including the 2020 U.S. Open at Winged Foot. DeChambeau went on to say that their split had been in the works for some time, and that there was no “falling out.” Nine days after he and Tucker parted ways, DeChambeau announced that Bryan Ziegler, a former instructor at Dallas National Golf Club where DeChambeau is a member, would be taking over as his full-time caddie.
Tony Finau and Greg Bodine
While Greg Bodine is not a household caddie name, his recognizable face was noticeably missing from Tony Finau’s bag at the 3M Open in July 2020. A week earlier, Finau had a prime chance to win the Memorial Tournament at Muirfield Village, but he collapsed late in his third round on Saturday and then shot a final-round 78 to finish seven back. Finau decided it was time to move on from Bodine, who had been on the bag since Finau’s rookie season on the PGA Tour in 2014-15, which included 16 top-25 finishes and more than $2 million in earnings. The next year, Bodine was also by Finau’s side for his first tour win at the Puerto Rico Open. After the split, Finau’s swing coach Boyd Summerhays took over caddieing duties temporarily before Mark Urbanek grabbed the bag for good at the 2020 PGA Championship. Read more from Golf Digest.
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