Caddie Travis Perkins talks about Sam Burns’ playoff win at the 2022 Charles Schwab Challenge.
“Conversations with Champions, presented by Sentry” is a weekly series from Golfweek in collaboration with The Caddie Network, where we take you behind the scenes for a chat with the winning caddie from the most recent PGA Tour event. This week: Travis Perkins, caddie for Sam Burns at 2022 Charles Schwab Challenge.
It went to a playoff but it was over before you knew it. Sam Burns knocked out good buddy Scottie Scheffler with a winding 38-footer from off the green on the first extra hole to win the 2022 Charles Schwab Challenge in dramatic fashion.
According to Burns’ caddie Travis Perkins, getting the flat stick out of the bag is always key for this duo.
“If I can get the putter in his hands, anything is possible,” Perkins told John Rathouz from The Caddie Network. The Schwab win was the third of the season for Burns and fourth in his PGA Tour career.
“I’m not saying it becomes easier but you learn how to deal with the emotions and what you’re going through inside and how your body is going to react,” Perkins said. “So I think all these wins that Sam has done, they’ve all been different. This one, coming from behind the way he did … you just never know what’s going to happen. And when you get into a playoff — it’s hard to win out there — you just try to do everything you can to keep yourself in it and try not to make mistakes.”
Back to that putt that Burns buried from way downtown.
“We were only a couple of paces away in regulation from where that ball ended up in the playoff so he kinda had an idea of what it was doing,” Perkins said. “After he made it, he came over to me and he goes ‘I didn’t think that was going to get to the hole’ but the greens had picked up some speed because they dried out so much. He thought he left it short.”
TULSA, Okla. – Jim “Bones” Mackay received some help unscrewing the 18th-hole flag from the stick not long after his boss, Justin Thomas, had tapped in to beat Will Zalatoris in a playoff to win the 104th PGA Championship at Southern Hills.
It was for a moment such as this that Bones, 56, dropped the mic for NBC Sports and Golf Channel and returned to caddying for the one player he’d told his wife if he ever got the chance to work for, they’d be having a conversation.
When Thomas approached Bones shortly after the 2021 Ryder Cup and asked him to become his full-time caddie, it was an easy decision for Bones. Thomas wanted him on the bag for moments such as Saturday evening, when a dejected Thomas sensed that his 4-over 74 in the third round had cost him the tournament. Despite the fact that Thomas would be entering the final round trailing by seven strokes, Bones delivered the tough love that was necessary.
“I’m fully confident in saying that I wouldn’t be standing here if he didn’t give me that, wasn’t necessarily a speech, but a talk, if you will,” Thomas said. “I just needed to let some steam out. I didn’t need to bring my frustration and anger home with me. I didn’t need to leave the golf course in a negative frame of mind. I just went down, ‘I played pretty well yesterday for shooting 4-over, and I felt like I’d played terrible.’ And he was just like, ‘Dude, you’ve got to be stop being so hard on yourself. You’re in contention every single week we’re playing.’ ”
Bones continued: “It’s a major championship. You don’t have to be perfect. Just don’t be hard on yourself. Just kind of let stuff happen, and everything is trending in the right direction. So just keep staying positive so that good stuff can happen.”
“I left here in an awesome frame of mind,” Thomas said.
On Sunday, after taking a few last putts on the practice green, Thomas handed his putter back to Bones. No words were exchanged, but Thomas calmly took the fresh glove Bones had rested over an alignment stick and started walking towards the golf carts that were shuttling players and caddies to the first tee. Kids along a railing called out to him, but his mind was elsewhere. Instead, he slapped the glove against his right thigh. Hard. He did it again, and then a third time. He was in the frame mind to pounce if any of the inexperienced leaders faltered.
It didn’t look that way early when Thomas made two bogeys in his first six holes, including a shank off the tee at the par-3 sixth hole that Bones later joked was “a shanky, barkie, sandy.” Thomas found his stride and shot 67, the only player in the last seven groups Sunday to break par, and when he ended up in a three-hole playoff, he went for the kill.
“Bones did an unbelievable job of keeping me in the moment,” Thomas said.
Justin Thomas and Bones Mackay on the 11th hole during the final round of the 2022 PGA Championship at Southern Hills Country Club.. (Photo: Matt York/Associated Press)
Winning majors is old hat for Bones, who had won five previously during his 25 years on the bag for Phil Mickelson. But he didn’t have the caddie trophy to show for it.
As detailed in the new book, “Phil: The Rip-Roaring (and unauthorized) Biography of Golf’s Most Colorful Superstar,” Mickelson had a tradition where he gave his winning flag from 18 to his grandfather, a former Pebble Beach caddie, who hung them on his kitchen wall. Mickelson’s first major flag from the 2004 Masters went there, four months after his death.
“Mackay understood and respected that gesture, but 19 more Tour victories would follow, including four majors and he never got to keep a single flag,” Shipnuck wrote.
“That’s a giant f— you to a caddie,” Shipnuck quotes someone very close to Mackay. “When Phil wins the Masters, he gets the green jacket, the trophy, the big check, all the glory. He had to take the flags, too?… For Phil not to follow the tradition was hugely disrespectful.”
During the week of the WM Phoenix Open, Bones hosted a dinner party for players and caddies at his home and without fail he would be asked, “Where are the flags?”
Shortly after their break-up in the summer of 2017, Mickelson overnighted to Bones the major flags they had won together.
“But Phil autographed them in comically large letters, which Mackay felt disfigured the keepsakes,” Shipnuck reported and noted that Bones never displayed them in his home.
Bones didn’t participate in Shipnuck’s book, and when asked to confirm these details from Shipnuck’s book this week, he declined. But he also didn’t refute them.
It is rich with irony that Bones was on the bag for the winner at the PGA where Mickelson was supposed to be the defending champion and elected not to play. On Sunday, Bones tucked the 18th flag into the left pocket of his shorts. When asked if he knew where he would display it, he smiled wide.
“I’ve got a spot in mind,” he said, saying he’d have to get approval from his wife, “but somewhere that my friends can come around and see it.”
Jim “Bones” Mackay, Jeff Coston and Xander Schauffele dish three great Phil Mickelson stories you’ve got to hear about.
One of the great side effects of Phil Mickelson winning the 103rd PGA Championship is the fresh round of Phil stories that have emerged.
Everybody seemingly has one, and one is better than next.
Here are three great ones that shed further light into the many layers of Phil the Thrill.
‘That’s what your boss does, too’
Jim “Bones” Mackay, speaking on the No Laying Up podcast, offered a great one of how his 12-year-old son Oliver is responsible for bringing Phil and his current swing instructor Andrew Getson together. Getson was teaching at Grayhawk Golf Club in Scottsdale, Arizona, when Bones took his son for a lesson. So impressed with his demeanor and how he simplified the golf swing for his students, Bones signed up for a lesson for himself. When Bones hit a bad shot, Getson explained his mistake by saying, “That’s what your boss does, too.”
Turned out Getson watched plenty of golf on TV and had diagnosed a bad habit that Phil had developed.
A few weeks later on a PGA Tour range, Phil is struggling mightily and he’s complaining about his form. He had a hunch what might be wrong and shared it with Bones.
“That’s what Andrew told me you did wrong, too,” Bones said.
That stopped Phil in his tracks and he wanted to know what Bones’s son’s instructor had to say. Bones tried to change the subject and get him to drop it, but to no avail.
“You’ve got his number? I want to hear it from him,” Phil said to Bones.
Next thing you know, Getson is on a plane to San Diego.
“They’ve been together ever since,” Bones said. “The irony is it all started with my 12-year-old son Oliver.”
Phil Mickelson gives a thumbs up as he walks to the 18th green during the final round of the 2021 PGA Championship held at the Ocean Course of Kiawah Island Golf Resort. (Photo by Jamie Squire/Getty Images)
‘You don’t know who that kid is going to be’
Jeff Coston is a PGA teaching pro out of Washington. He played two seasons on the PGA Tour in 1985 and 1988. As he recounted on ESPN Radio’s Northwest Golf Show with Shon Crewe, his Tour debut at what is now known as the Farmers Insurance Open at Torrey Pines included a fresh-faced local as his standard bearer.
“When you meet a 14-year-old kid you don’t know who that kid is going to be,” Coston said.
That 14-year-old kid happened to be Phil Mickelson and when Phil was asked in the 1990s when did he know he wanted to play the PGA Tour, Phil responded that it was the day that he served as standard bearer for the group of Chris Perry, Steve Pate and Coston.
“He probably thought if Coston can do it anybody can do it,” Coston said with a laugh.
Fast-forward 11 or 12 years later and Coston is doing a clinic with Tom Lehman and Phil was there. Coston approached him and introduced himself and to his surprise, Phil said, “I know you, Mr. Coston.”
They hit balls and talked that day for an hour. In 2004, Coston qualified for the PGA Championship and bumped into Phil, who cut him off when he began to remind him of their first encounter.
“You’re never going to have to tell me who you are, Mr. Coston,” Phil said. “I’ll never forget you.”
At his Charles Schwab Challenge pre-tournament press conference last week, Phil detailed how playing with the likes of Rory McIlroy and Rickie Fowler at The Grove XXIII ahead of the PGA and money games back home in San Diego with Charley Hoffman and Xander Schauffele were critical to his success. That included getting taken behind the woodshed by Schauffele in a series of matches at The Farms Golf Club in Rancho Sante Fe, California.
“We started playing a lot over during quarantine. We didn’t really have anything else to do, it was the only way for us to get out of the house,” Schauffele said. “I was playing really good golf. To be completely honest, Phil was playing probably some of the worst golf he’s played. Obviously the course being narrow and sort of strategic didn’t really fit his eye. So I took full advantage of him not playing well and me playing really well during that time stretch.”
Schauffele already had dipped into Phil’s pocket twice – how much? “That’s not for me to say. They’re much larger than most games, I can tell you that,” Schauffele said – when he came back for more and was in danger of losing yet again. So, Phil being Phil he pressed early. Here Schauffele picks up the thread of the story of how he closed out Phil with an ace.
“The walk back to the 16th tee is like 80 yards or 100 yards or so and we were jawing each other on the 15th green. I won the hole, he pressed, and then he quickly went back to the tee to tee off and it’s one of the harder par-3s on the course. And he kind of wasn’t supposed to hit first (not his honor having lost the previous hole) and of course he hits first and hits it to four feet or so. I’m letting him know that I could make him re-hit, since it’s match play, but since he was getting his butt kicked, I figured I would let him hit it to four feet and not make him re-hit,” Schauffele said. “I kind of pulled a 6-iron toward the water a little bit, fell right in line with the pin and then trickled in. And Phil just sat – there’s a little mound behind the tee box – and he just sat there like this, looking down at the ground, shaking his head, he just didn’t really know what to do with himself. So, I found that pretty entertaining.
“But I think the big takeaway was, he’s always joking around, but to watch a five-time major champ ask me all these questions I was sort of taken back. And so what I learned from playing with him was that he’s really a student of the game and he’s never really stopped learning. And he’s probably – I thought I was near the top in terms of being the most obsessed of golf and not being able to get away from the game, but I got to tip my hat and give it to Phil. I think he’s probably, he’s so obsessive and so passionate about golf that it’s not really a surprise that he did win the PGA Championship because he’s been telling himself for the last 25 years that he’s still got it. So really cool to play with him and you can definitely learn a lot from what he’s done.”
Jim “Bones” Mackay, Jeff Coston and Xander Schauffele dish three great Phil Mickelson stories you’ve got to hear about.
One of the great side effects of Phil Mickelson winning the 103rd PGA Championship is the fresh round of Phil stories that have emerged.
Everybody seemingly has one, and one is better than next.
Here are three great ones that shed further light into the many layers of Phil the Thrill.
‘That’s what your boss does, too’
Jim “Bones” Mackay, speaking on the No Laying Up podcast, offered a great one of how his 12-year-old son Oliver is responsible for bringing Phil and his current swing instructor Andrew Getson together. Getson was teaching at Grayhawk Golf Club in Scottsdale, Arizona, when Bones took his son for a lesson. So impressed with his demeanor and how he simplified the golf swing for his students, Bones signed up for a lesson for himself. When Bones hit a bad shot, Getson explained his mistake by saying, “That’s what your boss does, too.”
Turned out Getson watched plenty of golf on TV and had diagnosed a bad habit that Phil had developed.
A few weeks later on a PGA Tour range, Phil is struggling mightily and he’s complaining about his form. He had a hunch what might be wrong and shared it with Bones.
“That’s what Andrew told me you did wrong, too,” Bones said.
That stopped Phil in his tracks and he wanted to know what Bones’s son’s instructor had to say. Bones tried to change the subject and get him to drop it, but to no avail.
“You’ve got his number? I want to hear it from him,” Phil said to Bones.
Next thing you know, Getson is on a plane to San Diego.
“They’ve been together ever since,” Bones said. “The irony is it all started with my 12-year-old son Oliver.”
Phil Mickelson gives a thumbs up as he walks to the 18th green during the final round of the 2021 PGA Championship held at the Ocean Course of Kiawah Island Golf Resort. (Photo by Jamie Squire/Getty Images)
‘You don’t know who that kid is going to be’
Jeff Coston is a PGA teaching pro out of Washington. He played two seasons on the PGA Tour in 1985 and 1988. As he recounted on ESPN Radio’s Northwest Golf Show with Shon Crewe, his Tour debut at what is now known as the Farmers Insurance Open at Torrey Pines included a fresh-faced local as his standard bearer.
“When you meet a 14-year-old kid you don’t know who that kid is going to be,” Coston said.
That 14-year-old kid happened to be Phil Mickelson and when Phil was asked in the 1990s when did he know he wanted to play the PGA Tour, Phil responded that it was the day that he served as standard bearer for the group of Chris Perry, Steve Pate and Coston.
“He probably thought if Coston can do it anybody can do it,” Coston said with a laugh.
Fast-forward 11 or 12 years later and Coston is doing a clinic with Tom Lehman and Phil was there. Coston approached him and introduced himself and to his surprise, Phil said, “I know you, Mr. Coston.”
They hit balls and talked that day for an hour. In 2004, Coston qualified for the PGA Championship and bumped into Phil, who cut him off when he began to remind him of their first encounter.
“You’re never going to have to tell me who you are, Mr. Coston,” Phil said. “I’ll never forget you.”
At his Charles Schwab Challenge pre-tournament press conference last week, Phil detailed how playing with the likes of Rory McIlroy and Rickie Fowler at The Grove XXIII ahead of the PGA and money games back home in San Diego with Charley Hoffman and Xander Schauffele were critical to his success. That included getting taken behind the woodshed by Schauffele in a series of matches at The Farms Golf Club in Rancho Sante Fe, California.
“We started playing a lot over during quarantine. We didn’t really have anything else to do, it was the only way for us to get out of the house,” Schauffele said. “I was playing really good golf. To be completely honest, Phil was playing probably some of the worst golf he’s played. Obviously the course being narrow and sort of strategic didn’t really fit his eye. So I took full advantage of him not playing well and me playing really well during that time stretch.”
Schauffele already had dipped into Phil’s pocket twice – how much? “That’s not for me to say. They’re much larger than most games, I can tell you that,” Schauffele said – when he came back for more and was in danger of losing yet again. So, Phil being Phil he pressed early. Here Schauffele picks up the thread of the story of how he closed out Phil with an ace.
“The walk back to the 16th tee is like 80 yards or 100 yards or so and we were jawing each other on the 15th green. I won the hole, he pressed, and then he quickly went back to the tee to tee off and it’s one of the harder par-3s on the course. And he kind of wasn’t supposed to hit first (not his honor having lost the previous hole) and of course he hits first and hits it to four feet or so. I’m letting him know that I could make him re-hit, since it’s match play, but since he was getting his butt kicked, I figured I would let him hit it to four feet and not make him re-hit,” Schauffele said. “I kind of pulled a 6-iron toward the water a little bit, fell right in line with the pin and then trickled in. And Phil just sat – there’s a little mound behind the tee box – and he just sat there like this, looking down at the ground, shaking his head, he just didn’t really know what to do with himself. So, I found that pretty entertaining.
“But I think the big takeaway was, he’s always joking around, but to watch a five-time major champ ask me all these questions I was sort of taken back. And so what I learned from playing with him was that he’s really a student of the game and he’s never really stopped learning. And he’s probably – I thought I was near the top in terms of being the most obsessed of golf and not being able to get away from the game, but I got to tip my hat and give it to Phil. I think he’s probably, he’s so obsessive and so passionate about golf that it’s not really a surprise that he did win the PGA Championship because he’s been telling himself for the last 25 years that he’s still got it. So really cool to play with him and you can definitely learn a lot from what he’s done.”
Killer, Gorgeous and Burnt Biscuits are just three of the colorful nicknames bestowed on some of the loopers to pass through the PGA Tour caddie yard over the years. Some are self-explanatory such as Squeaky or Growler or Bones while others require …
Killer, Gorgeous and Burnt Biscuits are just three of the colorful nicknames bestowed on some of the loopers to pass through the PGA Tour caddie yard over the years.
Some are self-explanatory such as Squeaky or Growler or Bones while others require a bit more backstory. Tommy Bennett was an Augusta National caddie who burned his leg as a kid trying to steal his grandma’s freshly baked biscuits while another ANGC caddie, Willie Poteat was known as Cemetery because he woke up in the morgue after surviving a knife fight in which his throat was slashed by a jealous rival.
“It’s almost like you haven’t made it in the caddie world until you’ve got a nickname,” says Mike “Fluff” Cowan, and he couldn’t be more right.
Here are some of our favorites:
Best caddie nicknames explained
James Anderson
Nickname: Tip.
Late caddie at St. Andrews’ Old Course, known for his expert “tips,” helped Arnold Palmer win twice there.
The logo on a caddies’ overalls during the final round of the Augusta National Women’s Amateur. (Michael Madrid-USA TODAY Sports)
Nathaniel Avery
Nickname: Iron Man.
Longtime Augusta National caddie, Avery was on the bag for Arnold Palmer during all four of his victories at the Masters and according to Ward Clayton’s book, “Men on the Bag,” Avery bought a new car the day after each Masters victory. With Palmer losing his grip on the lead late in the final round in 1960, Avery famously asked, “Mr. Palmer, are we choking?” The King answered with two birdies and walked off with another green jacket and a new car for his sidekick.
Andy Blaydon
Nickname: Rod Stewart.
Some say he’s a spitting image of the “Maggie May” singer, especially the hair.
Tommy Bennett
Nickname: Burnt Biscuits.
Augusta National caddie burned his leg as a kid trying to steal his grandma’s freshly baked biscuits.
Todd Blurch
Nickname: Top Gun.
Named for clubbing his player wrong and buzzing the TV tower.
Joe Bonica
Nickname: Einstein.
Move over, Bryson, this brainy LPGA caddie had the nickname first.
