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AUGUSTA, Ga. — Caddies are supposed to show up, keep up and shut up. But they contribute way more than that to their bosses. At Augusta National Golf Club, a caddie is essentially the only other person inside the ropes with the players. It's a big responsibility, but over the years we've seen the likes of Ted Scott, Jim "Bones" Mackay and Steve Williams be part of the story of some of the great Masters. Along the way, caddies are part of the story of the Masters and these are some of pros' favorite stories involving their caddies.
My buddy caddied for me in the Par 3 Contest and while he was changing into the overalls and stuff we loaded the front pocket of the golf bag with like 200 range balls and my buddy carried that heavy bag around for the entire nine holes without figuring it out.
Scotty Vail. He had a certain amount of cash in his jumpsuit from one day and let's just say it was a considerable amount. It just wasn't like a couple dollars. It was more than a couple hundred dollars. And he goes into the caddie area the next day and he doesn't have it. He lost it. He forgot to take it out of the caddie bib. My caddie Micah had just put his jumpsuit on and he's hearing Scottie talk about it and he happened to reach into one of the pockets and there was Scotty's wad of cash. Micah goes, 'Is this your money here?' There was his wad of cash. That was pretty funny.
I remember my first time, my caddie tried to skip it at 16 and didn’t get much water. He hit a laser over the green.
When I arrived in 1978, my caddie Eddie McCoy said, “Gary, you got to win, man, I need a roof on my house.” I said, “Eddie, consider it done.” And when I hit my second shot on 17 to 6 inches from the hole, you should have seen the look on his face. Still makes me smile to this day.
Probably how I got Willie Peterson. You know that one, right? It was 1960, and the caddiemaster was asking who wanted to caddie for me. Pond, who caddied for me in 1959, said, “I don’t want Mr. Jack.” He went on to say, “Mr. Jack works too hard.” So, then he asked, “Does anybody here want to take him?” And Willie says, “I'll take him!” Willie took me and went on to win five Masters Tournaments with me. Willie was a character. He was a good man, and he became a good friend. When I found out in 2020 that Willie’s grave site in Augusta didn’t have a headstone – which sadly was the case for many Augusta caddies through the years – we made sure to right that wrong.
I took my dad with me before the first time I played there and we both showed up in shorts. That doesn’t fly there. We were both in the pro shop buying pants.
Last year, we were on 13, I hit it in the rough through the fairway and it was one of those areas where you could maybe go for it, maybe not. I had a 2- or 3-shot lead at the time and I asked Teddy, Are we going for this? And he's like we're sticking with what we're good at. And I was like, OK. I think Teddy said something along the lines of if it was somebody else, he would consider laying up, but he said you’re the best long-iron player in the world, so just hit the shot at the green. At that point in the final round, I had a lead, so you don’t want to play defensively and we don’t want to change how we approach the round. That was a moment there on the back nine where we could have changed the way we usually played and maybe tried to limp in, but I remember asking Teddy to see where his thoughts were, and that’s when he said “You’re a great iron player, hit the ball on the green.” I remember hitting a good shot to the middle of the green, nice two-putt, and making another key birdie there on the next hole.
A caddie who will remain nameless was holding the flag on the 12th green. He pulled a camera – this was before there were iPhones – and took a picture looking back at 13th fairway. I couldn’t believe he would do that.
In 2019, I played with Tiger in the final round and at 16, he hits it to 2 feet. He hadn’t called in Joey LaCava all day. I don’t know if he was nervous or whatever, but he ended up asking Joey what does the putt do? Joey’s like, 'You’re Tiger F’ing Woods. Put it in the hole and let’s go.'
We had a rain delay at the 2020 November Masters and so we ate during the couple hour break. We got back out to the 10th hole early before they blew the horn. I’m standing there and I have food in my teeth so I got the floss out of the golf bag and started flossing right there on the green. When Paul saw this, he wanted to floss as well. So we’re both standing there flossing and I looked at him and asked if he thought anyone in the history of playing the Masters had flossed on the 10th green let alone the player and caddie together!
This article originally appeared on Golfweek: Masters 2025: Caddies stories are some of the best stories
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Adam Scott
My buddy caddied for me in the Par 3 Contest and while he was changing into the overalls and stuff we loaded the front pocket of the golf bag with like 200 range balls and my buddy carried that heavy bag around for the entire nine holes without figuring it out.
Billy Horschel
Scotty Vail. He had a certain amount of cash in his jumpsuit from one day and let's just say it was a considerable amount. It just wasn't like a couple dollars. It was more than a couple hundred dollars. And he goes into the caddie area the next day and he doesn't have it. He lost it. He forgot to take it out of the caddie bib. My caddie Micah had just put his jumpsuit on and he's hearing Scottie talk about it and he happened to reach into one of the pockets and there was Scotty's wad of cash. Micah goes, 'Is this your money here?' There was his wad of cash. That was pretty funny.
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Corey Conners
I remember my first time, my caddie tried to skip it at 16 and didn’t get much water. He hit a laser over the green.
Gary Player
When I arrived in 1978, my caddie Eddie McCoy said, “Gary, you got to win, man, I need a roof on my house.” I said, “Eddie, consider it done.” And when I hit my second shot on 17 to 6 inches from the hole, you should have seen the look on his face. Still makes me smile to this day.
Jack Nicklaus
Probably how I got Willie Peterson. You know that one, right? It was 1960, and the caddiemaster was asking who wanted to caddie for me. Pond, who caddied for me in 1959, said, “I don’t want Mr. Jack.” He went on to say, “Mr. Jack works too hard.” So, then he asked, “Does anybody here want to take him?” And Willie says, “I'll take him!” Willie took me and went on to win five Masters Tournaments with me. Willie was a character. He was a good man, and he became a good friend. When I found out in 2020 that Willie’s grave site in Augusta didn’t have a headstone – which sadly was the case for many Augusta caddies through the years – we made sure to right that wrong.
Gary Woodland
I took my dad with me before the first time I played there and we both showed up in shorts. That doesn’t fly there. We were both in the pro shop buying pants.
Scottie Scheffler
Last year, we were on 13, I hit it in the rough through the fairway and it was one of those areas where you could maybe go for it, maybe not. I had a 2- or 3-shot lead at the time and I asked Teddy, Are we going for this? And he's like we're sticking with what we're good at. And I was like, OK. I think Teddy said something along the lines of if it was somebody else, he would consider laying up, but he said you’re the best long-iron player in the world, so just hit the shot at the green. At that point in the final round, I had a lead, so you don’t want to play defensively and we don’t want to change how we approach the round. That was a moment there on the back nine where we could have changed the way we usually played and maybe tried to limp in, but I remember asking Teddy to see where his thoughts were, and that’s when he said “You’re a great iron player, hit the ball on the green.” I remember hitting a good shot to the middle of the green, nice two-putt, and making another key birdie there on the next hole.
Stewart Cink
A caddie who will remain nameless was holding the flag on the 12th green. He pulled a camera – this was before there were iPhones – and took a picture looking back at 13th fairway. I couldn’t believe he would do that.
Tony Finau
In 2019, I played with Tiger in the final round and at 16, he hits it to 2 feet. He hadn’t called in Joey LaCava all day. I don’t know if he was nervous or whatever, but he ended up asking Joey what does the putt do? Joey’s like, 'You’re Tiger F’ing Woods. Put it in the hole and let’s go.'
Webb Simpson
We had a rain delay at the 2020 November Masters and so we ate during the couple hour break. We got back out to the 10th hole early before they blew the horn. I’m standing there and I have food in my teeth so I got the floss out of the golf bag and started flossing right there on the green. When Paul saw this, he wanted to floss as well. So we’re both standing there flossing and I looked at him and asked if he thought anyone in the history of playing the Masters had flossed on the 10th green let alone the player and caddie together!
This article originally appeared on Golfweek: Masters 2025: Caddies stories are some of the best stories
Continue reading...
