Tiger Woods has chosen this veteran caddie to work for him at the Genesis Invitational

Golfweek has learned this veteran caddie has been chosen by Woods for the plum assignment at Riviera.

SANTA MONICA, Calif. – Tiger Woods is back in action this week as the playing host of the PGA Tour’s Genesis Invitational. That has been anticipated for some time. But who will be on the bag for Woods now that Joe LaCava has taken up permanent residence with Patrick Cantlay?

Golfweek has learned that veteran caddie Lance Bennett has been chosen by Woods for the plum assignment at Riviera. Woods knows Bennett well from his days caddying for Matt Kuchar, including a win alongside him at the 2012 Players, during his prime.

In recent years, Bennett has been on the bag for Sungjae Im and Davis Riley and he also spent time on the LPGA with Juli Inkster, Paula Creamer and Lorena Ochoa. This season, he’s working full-time for Tour rookie Adrien Dumont de Chassart, a Belgian golfer who competed at Illinois and won twice on the Korn Ferry Tour, earning KFT Player of the Year honors last season.

Dumont de Chassart (nicknamed ADDC for short) and Woods are managed by the same agency, and Dumont de Chassart isn’t in the field this week, which makes it easy for Bennett to jump to Tiger’s bag. It’s possible that Bennett could be on the bag for Tiger at the Players Championship and the Masters too, but sources say that Tiger may bounce around between some different caddies.

Photos: Tiger Woods through the years

Rob McNamara, Tiger’s longtime business partner and vice president of TGR Ventures, caddied for Tiger at the Hero World Challenge in December and could fill the role again and Woods didn’t shut down the possibility of son Charlie serving as his sidekick in the future when asked if he might tote his bag.

Woods is making his first official Tour start since withdrawing from the Masters after making the cut in April. How much Woods plays this season will depend on his health, but he’s made it very clear he expects to play a limited schedule focused around the majors.

Woods originally had Mike “Fluff” Cowan on the bag when he won the 1997 Masters, then won 13 majors and 72 Tour titles with Steve Williams, and joined up with LaCava in 2012.

Efforts to confirm Tiger’s caddie with his management team were not returned.

In other caddie news, Paul Tesori has moved to the bag of Tom Kim. Tesori spent 12 years on the bag of Webb Simpson before moving to Cameron Young last March. Tesori started the year with Brendon Todd but wasn’t on Todd’s bag in Phoenix. Kim had Joe Skovron last season until he was hired away by Ludvig Aberg. Kim began the year with Daniel Parratt. When asked about joining Kim, Tesori said, “I’m looking forward to what will hopefully be another long term relationship on the bag. Tom is obviously extremely talented but having faith as a common denominator is something that I believe will help when golf gets difficult, which it seems to always be!”

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PGA Tour caddie has hilarious interaction with fan, says be quiet in the most polite way possible

“We’re playing golf over here.”

Professional caddies have a nearly impossible job, even when done right.

Although they’re not the ones hitting the shots, they’re in charge of helping players dial in a yardage, figure out where the wind is coming from and how a certain slope is going to affect ball flight.

And sometimes, caddies have to perform crowd control.

Enter Aaron Flener, caddie for two-time PGA Tour winner J.T. Poston, who is in the field at this week’s 2024 American Express in La Quinta, California. Poston carded a 5-under 67 on Thursday, but on his final hole of the day at PGA West’s Pete Dye Stadium Course, he found the bunker on the par-4 18th.

As Poston lined up for his second shot, cameras panned to him waggling in the bunker, but a fan close by was having a phone conversation. That’s when Flener put a swift end to it in the most polite way possible.

“Sir, can you hang up the phone, please? We’re playing golf over here.”

The comments brought a chuckle from the announcers, and even Poston stepped off his ball and put his hand up to his ear, making a phone gesture with his fingers.

American ExpressPhotos | Friday tee times

No need to fret, however. Poston was able to get out of the bunker and make par to finish his day strong.

And for Flener, it was just another day on the job.

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Lexi Thompson hires new full-time caddie on verge of 2024 LPGA season

Thompson is hoping to carry momentum from late ’23 into the new season.

Last year was an interesting one for Lexi Thompson. In her first 10 events of 2023, Thompson missed eight cuts, including a stretch of five straight from the U.S. Women’s Open to the Portland Classic.

But something clicked after leaving the Pacific Northwest.

Thompson finished T-19 (Kroger Queen City Championship), T-8 (Walmart NW Arkansas Championship), 5th (The Ascendant LPGA) and T-7 (The Annika) over her final four official LPGA starts of the year. At the Solheim Cup, Thompson compiled a 3-1-0 record. She also teamed with Rickie Fowler at the inaugural Grant Thornton Invitational in December and tied for sixth.

Well, after a successful end to 2023, Thompson has hired a new full-time caddie for the upcoming ’24 season.

MORE: Longest-standing and successful player/caddie LPGA duos

Colton Heisey, who was on the bag for Thompson’s last three LPGA starts, will now be looping for the American star full-time.

“I’m super grateful for the opportunity to work with one of the best to ever do it,” Heisey wrote in a post to social media.

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Caddie carousel: Tom Kim hires new caddie, Cameron Young to have new bagman as Paul Tesori heads to a veteran pro

Plenty of players will have new caddies in 2024.

Tis the season to be jolly as well as for pro golfers to switch golf gear and change caddies.

The caddie carousel is the focus of this story. Ludvig Aberg, No. 30 in the Official World Golf Ranking, got the party started a few weeks ago by hiring Joe Skovron away from Tom Kim.

“For next year, all I’m looking for is more experience in these bigger tournaments,” he told Smylie Kaufman on his podcast “The Smylie Show.” “I wanted someone I could rely on 1,000 percent, and I think with the experience in the past that Joe has kind of speaks for itself and I think that’s mainly what I’m looking for. Playing a U.S. Open where you win with 6 under, it’s difficult to get away with mistakes and I think that’s what went into that decision.”

Golfweek has learned that Kim has hired a replacement, choosing Daniel Parratt, who formerly caddied for Kim’s International Team Presidents Cup teammate K.H. Lee.

Kim, who is ranked No. 11 in the world, won the Shriners Children’s Open twice with Skovron on the bag and was the darling of the 2022 Presidents Cup. Kim’s agent declined to confirm the caddie change.

Kim isn’t the only top-25 ranked player who will have a new caddie next season. Golfweek has learned that Cameron Young will have a new sidekick, too, when he starts the season at The Sentry in Maui.

Longtime caddie Paul Tesori confirmed to Golfweek that he has jumped ship to the bag of veteran pro Brendon Todd, a three-time Tour winner who is coming off a season in which he finished in the top 50 of the FedEx Cup and is booked for eight signature events in 2024. Tesori, who spent more than 12 years working for Webb Simpson, joined Young one of the top young players on Tour and ranked No. 21 in the world, in March at the WGC-Dell Match Play.

But with Todd’s caddie David Clark moving to LIV to work for Ian Poulter, Tesori, who has been dealing with a back injury, has opted to go with the veteran over a rising star who has seemed on the verge of reaching the winner’s circle for some time. It’s unclear who will work for Young next season. An email requesting comment was unanswered at this time. But with the new season scheduled to start on Jan. 4, it won’t be long until we find out.

Where’s Paul Tesori? Here’s why Cameron Young’s caddie is absent at the World Wide Technology Championship

Tesori was a good enough player to earn his Tour card before switching to caddying.

LOS CABOS, Mexico — Cameron Young didn’t miss a beat in the first round of the World Wide Technology Championship.

On Thursday, in his return to the PGA Tour for the first time since getting bounced after the second of three events in the FedEx Cup Playoffs, Young carded a bogey-free 65. What Young was missing was regular caddie Paul Tesori, who was back home in Florida nursing a back injury that has him considering surgery.

Tesori, who was a good enough player to earn his Tour card before switching to caddying, previously worked for Vijay Singh, Sean O’Hair and spent the past 12 years with Webb Simpson, during which time they won the 2012 U.S. Open and 2018 Players Championship. In late March, they parted ways and Tesori hooked up with Young, 26, the 2022 PGA Tour Rookie of the Year, who entered the week ranked No. 17 in the world.

Tesori took X-rays of his arthritic knee and four damaged discs in his back and visited with a surgeon on Thursday to discuss a possible microdiscectomy while Young was shooting a bogey-free round that has him in contention for his first Tour title. Caddie David Cook, who has filled in for Simpson this season, lugged the bag at El Cardonal at Diamante, which caddies are calling one of the toughest walks on Tour.

“The ruptured disc was worse than he thought. There are two levels of the fragment so he’d have to go straight on and also on the side. It’s more difficult than a routine microdiscectomy,” Tesori wrote in a text message to Golfweek. “It is so hard to decide whether to do the surgery or not … My biggest thing I kept saying was, ‘Isn’t the surgery the safest route?’ He said emphatically no. He wants to do another MRI within a month. He believes there’s a 75 percent chance my body will start to heal the disc but no timeframe … He’s encouraged by the pain being reduced. He really doesn’t want to go the surgical route because of the overall health of my back, and now the difficulty of the disc.”

Despite the pain he’s been suffering, Tesori still hopes to be back on the bag when Young makes a start at the RSM Classic, the final FedEx Cup Fall event, which is a 90-minute drive from Tesori’s home.

“My goal is still to work RSM but I’m not sure how currently,” he said.

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Why this U.S. Amateur semifinalist needs a new caddie for the weekend

“At the end of the day, I’m swinging the club, so it’s not a big deal.”

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CHERRY HILLS VILLAGE, Colo. — Neal Shipley is having a helluva summer.

He has runner-up finishes at the Dogwood Invitational, the Sunnehanna Amateur and the Trans-Mississippi Amateur. He also tied for third at the Pacific Coast Amateur. Now, the graduate student at Ohio State is a semifinalist in the 2023 U.S. Amateur at Cherry Hills Country Club.

On Friday, Shipley dispatched Andi Xu 2 and 1 in the quarterfinals. His luscious, flowing hair has become a fun talking point for fans and makes him plenty noticeable on the course, but his game is doing most of the talking.

“You’ve got to beat so many good players, and I’ve had a lot of really tough matches,” Shipley said. “This one is pretty special because I started out kind of slow and had to claw back. Got up, and then he got me, and then just kind of won those two near the end.”

U.S. Amateur: Photos from Cherry Hills

Buckeyes’ assistant coach Jimmy Beck has looped for Shipley this week, and they’ve been a formidable duo. However, Shipley has to find a new caddie for the weekend.

“Jimmy is awesome,” Shipley said. “Unfortunately, he has to go to his baby shower tomorrow.”

So, what’s the backup plan?

“Just so happens one of my really good friends who caddied for Austin Greaser at the Oakmont (U.S.) Am (2021), he happens to be at Beaver Creek, and I’m going to make him drive down for that.”

That good friend is Carter Pitcairn, a rising sophomore at Wisconsin. And yes, Pitcairn has plenty of experience in the U.S. Amateur as a caddie.

In 2021, he helped Greaser, now a grad student at North Carolina, to the championship match at Oakmont Country Club. This week, Greaser reached the Round of 32.

“I have a lot of trust in him,” Shipley said. “At the end of the day, I’m swinging the club, so it’s not a big deal.”

Beaver Creek is about two hours west of Cherry Hills in the Rocky Mountains. Instead of hanging out at the mountain resort, Pitcaird will be trying to help Shipley earn a berth in the championship match.

Shipley will take on Auburn senior John Marshall Butler at 2:15 p.m. ET in the semifinals.

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Photos: Famous female caddies through the years in pro golf

Here’s a look at female caddies through the years on the PGA Tour. 

There have been numerous female caddies in men’s professional golf through the years. None are more famous than Fanny Sunesson.

She made her name on the bag with Nick Faldo. The duo won four major titles together in the 1990s. She also had stints with Sergio Garcia, Fred Funk and Notah Begay III before retiring in 2012.

She came back and caddied for Adam Scott at the 2018 Open Championship as well as fellow Swede Henrik Stenson at the 2019 Masters.

Sunesson set the bar high for female caddies in the men’s professional game, but she also paved the way for women to have more opportunities as caddies. Many others have followed, and it’s not a surprise to see a female caddie, often times wives or girlfriends, at a PGA Tour event.

At the 3M Open outside of Minneapolis, Minnesota native Frankie Capan III has his mom on the bag and does full-time on the Korn Ferry Tour.

Here’s a look at female caddies through the years.

Caddie who Monday Q’d into 3M Open shares special moment with boss on final hole

“It was a dream.”

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BLAINE, Minn. — Erik van Rooyen’s eyes welted with tears as he stood next to his caddie in the interview area.

Alex Gaugert was holding his daughter in his left arm while trying to find words to describe what his past few days had been like. Gaugert’s family stood behind a handful of reporters watching as he detailed his week.

Gaugert, who Monday qualified into the 3M Open, is van Rooyen’s full-time caddie. This week, however, he played alongside his boss for the first two rounds at TPC Twin Cities.

“It was a dream,” Gaugert said. “It happened fast. Monday qualifiers, you know, never done one and to get through was pretty cool. Then the Tour allowed us to play together. That was really memorable and something we’ll never forget.

“I know after I qualified there was definitely a few tears shed and it was really, really cool. And all the support, all the caddies and even the players, it was nice to get that feeling where everybody’s kind of trying to — everyone’s lifting you up and telling you ‘good job.’ It was cool to kind of have the light shine on you for a week, so it’s fun.”

Added van Rooyen: “I was talking to a few people earlier in the week, when we were playing college together, this was what we were all talking about. Oh, man, we’re gonna play the PGA Tour together, we’re gonna room together, play practice rounds together. We get to share that a little bit with him on the bag, but with him playing a tournament, it was really, really cool.”

The duo were teammates at Minnesota from 2010-13. Gaugert became van Rooyen’s full-time caddie in 2019.

Gaugert finished at 6 over for the week, following an opening 6-over 77 with an even-par performance on Friday. Meanwhile, van Rooyen shot 3-under 68 on Friday and sits at 3 under for the week, right on the projected cut line as the afternoon wave gets underway.

On their final hole Friday, the duo embraced, celebrating an incredible week.

“You don’t get these special moments every single week,” Gaugert said. “This game’s hard and it was — it’s cool to share that with my best friend, something I’ll never forget.”

The moment was also special for van Rooyen, as it makes him appreciate playing on the PGA Tour even more. As far as Gaugert’s job security down the road?

“Oh, yeah, his job’s safe,” van Rooyen said. “Trust me, we’ve been through some highs and we’ve been through some lows together. Nothing can shake us, so we’re all good.”

SAXX Underwear announces partnership with PGA Tour caddies to support cancer research with hilarious video

For every birdie a caddie’s player makes, SAXX Underwear will donate $100 to the Testicular Cancer Foundation.

Golf caddies are tasked with taking care of their players week in and week out, but the boys on the bag need some support, too.

That’s why the folks at SAXX Underwear have stepped in and partnered with a handful of PGA Tour caddies to help with their own equipment and make a positive difference along the way.

Tour caddies Geno Bonnalie (Joel Dahmen), Aaron Flener (J.T. Poston), John Limanti (Keith Mitchell) and Joel Stock (Will Zalatoris) will wear SAXX underwear, shorts and polos on and off the course, and for every birdie their players make, SAXX will donate $100 to the Testicular Cancer Foundation.

“The Ball Masters” will also have their own caddie house when the U.S. Open heads to Los Angeles Country Club, June 15-18, 2023.

As Bonnalie likes to say, “every set of balls deserves a proper caddie.”

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Patrick Cantlay hires Joe LaCava, Tiger Woods’s longtime caddie, to full-time job

Cantlay and LaCava have worked together before during the 2021 Northern Trust.

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — When Joe LaCava caddied for Steve Stricker at the PGA Tour’s Zurich Classic of New Orleans two weeks ago, Stricker made it very clear that it was a one-off for LaCava, who has been on the bag of Tiger Woods since 2011. But LaCava is working again this week at the Wells Fargo Championship for Patrick Cantlay, only this isn’t going to be a one-off.

Cantlay recently split with veteran caddie Matt Minister following the tournament in New Orleans. With Woods sidelined for the foreseeable future after undergoing ankle fusion surgery, LaCava was available for work and, as first reported by Golf Channel, LaCava is joining Cantlay on a full-time basis.

Cantlay and LaCava have worked together before during the 2021 Northern Trust when Minister missed time due to COVID-19.

LaCava, 59, cut his teeth caddying for his brother-in-law, Ken Green, caddying for him for the first time at the 1983 Manufacturers Hanover Classic when he was 19. He was on the bag for four wins during three years with Green before working for more than two decades for Fred Couples, including the 1992 Masters. He was on Dustin Johnson’s bag in 2011 when Woods asked him to take over his caddie duties following his split with Steve Williams.

Wells Fargo: Odds, picks | Thursday tee times

LaCava has received offers to work for other players before when Woods has been out with injuries but always remained loyal to Woods, joking that he was “semi-retired.” That loyalty came naturally — LaCava’s mother taught at the same school for 32 years and his father worked at the same bank for more than 30. LaCava was by Woods’s side for 11 official wins, including the 2019 Masters (as well as the 2011 Hero World Challenge, an unofficial event).

“He’s as loyal as loyal gets,” Justin Thomas said of LaCava. “There’s so many guys out here that would have him caddie in an instant. When he was loyal to Tiger and Tiger’s probably telling him go caddie, go do whatever, and Joe, that’s just not the kind of guy Joe is. But at the same time, very similar to Bones, he’s competitive and he’s a caddie. I mean, they love to caddie and they love to win golf tournaments and they love being in that moment. I’m sure that weighed into his decision as well.”

Thomas continued: “I don’t know the details and don’t know how long it is or what’s going on, but I know that that’s something that would never ever, ever be done if Tiger would not OK that. That’s not the kind of guy Joe is, kind of guy Tiger is and same with Patrick. There definitely was some kind of conversation that went on there.”

Cantlay, 31, has won eight times, including the 2021 FedEx Cup when he was named PGA Tour Player of the Year. He is ranked fourth in the world but is still seeking his first major.

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