Lindsey Weaver dusted off the old push cart from her AJGA days for this week’s LPGA Drive On Championship. Veterans like Jacqui Concolino and Alison Walshe chose to carry their bags. Caddies are optional on the LPGA for the first time, and a handful of players at Inverness Club opted out.
“We were getting a lot of jawin’ from some of the girls, asking if we were back in junior golf,” said 32-year-old Concolino, “asking what colleges we were looking at.”
Local caddies aren’t being used for the rest of the year on the LPGA. With mandatory COVID-19 testing in place for players, caddies and staff, the tour is working hard to keep the bubble tight and costs down.
Kris Tamulis planned on having a caddie this week but hers didn’t get tested in time so she’s carrying a pencil bag.
Linnea Strom’s caddie is in Sweden. She flew over to the U.S. to quarantine for two weeks but thought it best that her caddie stay back in Europe until the tour heads to Scotland in two weeks. He’ll catch up with her there.
Strom has only been a professional for 2 ½ years and said she didn’t always use a caddie when she competed on the Symetra Tour. (The developmental tour already allowed players to carry their own bags or use a push cart.)
“Basically last year was the first time I had a full-time caddie,” Strom said. “It’s not that long ago.”
Stacy Lewis was against making caddies optional from the get-go. The former No. 1 has had the same caddie, Travis Wilson, her entire career and considers him to be a crucial part of her success.
“I feel like we have a hard enough time getting good caddies out here, and I feel like doing something like that is going to push them away more and maybe make them feel like they’re not welcome or like they’re not needed,” said Lewis. “We’re a professional golf tour and I think we need to look like it.”
There are at least seven players in the field of 134 who aren’t taking a caddie this week.
“This temporary option is meant primarily to avoid the local caddie situation where a player may have health concerns working with someone who they don’t know,” said Kelly Schultz, VP of Communications for the LPGA. “We fully expect the overwhelming number of players to be using caddies and are encouraging them to do so. Caddies are a critical part of LPGA tournaments and competitions and we will resume our mandatory policy in 2021. This is not the beginning of a long-term plan to phase out caddies. Nothing could be further from the truth.”
Angela Stanford believes caddies will always be a vital part of the tour, but she still made sure to pack her small carry bag in the SUV in case her regular looper, Ryan Hilton, suddenly can’t work any given week.
She understands why Whan made the caddie rule flexible, noting that as a rookie she had to ask her sponsor for a cash advance so that she could even get started on the tour to compete. If going without a caddie financially allows a player to compete during a pandemic, she said, then so be it.
“We don’t make the money the PGA Tour does,” said Stanford, “and some of these girls haven’t made a dime in six months.”
Some players, like Walshe and Weaver, didn’t have a consistent caddie prior to the pandemic and felt it was simply easier to go without one for now.
While Inverness isn’t too difficult of a walk, it is demanding in nearly every other way. Most are seeing it for the first time too.
Walshe carries her bag all the time when she’s at home. For Thursday’s practice round she had a portable speaker strapped to her bag and a handful of golf balls to keep it light. She has a push cart in the car, just in case bad weather comes into play.
“I’m confident that I won’t exhaust my efforts by carrying,” she said.
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