Notah Begay joins revolving carousel of analysts to audition for NBC job at 2024 Valspar Championship

Begay’s audition follows appearances from Kevin Kisner, Brandel Chamblee, Luke Donald and Jim “Bones” Mackay.

Another week on the PGA Tour, another tryout for the open chair calling golf for NBC.

Notah Begay is jumping on the revolving carousel of lead analysts for the network for this week’s 2024 Valspar Championship at Innisbrook Resort‘s Copperhead Course in Palm Harbor, Florida. The 51-year-old has done well in his role as an on-course reporter for NBC and Golf Channel since he joined the network more than a decade ago and has taken a stab at commentary in the past.

“I’m excited and nervous,” Begay said to Golf Digest. “If we go back to (Johnny Miller), he made it look so simple and spoke from a strong position of experience. (Paul Azinger) did a wonderful job with his energy, and you could tell he still really loved to watch the game of golf.”

Begay is the latest talking head to throw his hat in the ring after Azinger wasn’t re-signed for the 2024 season, joining the likes of Kevin Kisner, Brandel Chamblee, and Luke Donald. Jim “Bones” Mackay also sat in the chair during the Mexico Open on an off week caddying for Justin Thomas.

“I mean, there’s a definite pressure, but that’s what professional athletes deal with all the time,” he said. “I spent a career dealing with pressure. … It’s a different kind of pressure because you’re being critiqued and evaluated, and that’s OK. We should be scrutinized and called out when we make mistakes because we should be ready for the big moments.”

“You hate to lose at anything,” he added. “You get to the PGA Tour because you don’t like to lose. But these decisions are made in the best interest of the NBC team, so whatever decisions are made, I’ll support it 100 percent. My job at that point, if it isn’t me, is to support whoever’s in there and allow them to be the best they can possibly be.”

Known for his connections to Tiger Woods after the pair were teammates at Stanford, Begay turned pro in 1995 after the Cardinal won the NCAA Championship in 1994. He won four times on the PGA Tour from August 1999-July 2000 and then struggled with injuries and form before he joined the NBC crew in 2012.

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Jim ‘Bones’ Mackay to serve as NBC lead analyst at Mexico Open at Vidanta

Justin Thomas is skipping the Mexico Open, which frees up his caddie for some TV work.

Justin Thomas is skipping the PGA Tour’s Mexico Open this week but his caddie, Jim “Bones” Mackay, will be busy doing a first for TV.

Mackay will serve as the lead analyst for NBC Sports on the telecast of the Tour event South of the border, the first time an active caddie has ever filled that role.

NBC Sports parted ways with Paul Azinger late last year as his contract was set to expire at the end of the season and the network has been rotating voices ever since. PGA Tour pro Kevin Kisner, who handled duties at The Sentry and WM Phoenix Open, former European Ryder Cup captain and SkySports/Golf Channel commentator Paul McGinley did so at the Hero World Challenge, Curt Byrum took a spin at the Sony Open in Hawaii, and Golf Channel’s Brandel Chamblee worked The American Express, all taking turns as the lead analyst during NBC telecasts.

Mackay, though, isn’t interested in the full-time job and made it clear, via an NBC spokesman, that his upcoming TV appearance shouldn’t be interpreted as him throwing his hat in the ring for the job. (Efforts to reach Mackay for comment were unsuccessful before publication of this story.) With Thomas taking the week off after playing four of the last five events on Tour, Mackay is available but he’s devoted to caddying for Thomas, who he has worked for since returning to caddying full-time in 2022. He was on the bag for Thomas when he won the 2022 PGA Championship and most recently this week at the Genesis Championship, where Thomas missed the cut.

2024 Genesis Invitational
Caddie Jim Mackay at the 2024 Genesis Invitational at Riviera Country Club in Pacific Palisades, California. (Photo: Harry How/Getty Images)

Mackay spent a stretch of 25 years as caddie for Phil Mickelson before joining NBC in 2017 as an on-course reporter and quickly becoming one of the best in the business in that role. Mackay has continued to dabble in doing TV for NBC when Thomas has been off, including for the Augusta National Women’s Amateur and the KitchenAid Senior PGA Championship last year.

A spokesman for NBC Sports said that Mackay will walk as an on-course reporter on Thursday and be part of a three-man booth for the remaining three rounds with veteran pro Brad Faxon, and Steve Sands and Dan Hicks rotating as host.

The Mexico Open marks the first of seven straight weeks that NBC will broadcast PGA Tour events, including the Players Championship. NBC is mum about who else might get an opportunity as it tries out different voices and take time in selecting a permanent replacement. Tune in next week to find out who will be next to get a spin in the big chair.

Rory McIlroy denies report he met with caddie Joe LaCava after altercation at 2023 Ryder Cup

“I haven’t met Joe,” said McIlroy, refuting an earlier Golf Channel report.

One of the biggest stories of the 2023 Ryder Cup has been the drama that played out on the 18th green on Saturday night during the fourballs session involving Rory McIlroy and Patrick Cantlay’s caddie, Joe LaCava.

The incident then spilled over to the parking lot at Marco Simone Golf and Country Club, where a visibly heated McIlroy needed to be restrained by teammate Shane Lowry as American caddie Jim “Bones” Mackay approached to discuss what happened.

Before Scottie Scheffler and Jon Rahm began the opening match of Sunday singles, Golf Channel reported that McIlroy and LaCava had mended fences after the dust-up on the 18th green. Steve Sands reported LaCava reached out to McIlroy’s camp on the car ride home from the course and texted the group, “I love you guys and respect all of you.”

McIlroy’s team reportedly said they felt the same way, which led to LaCava asking for a face-to-face meeting with McIlroy on Sunday morning. According to Sands, that brief meeting happened, and “everything’s been diffused.”

Well, McIlroy begs to differ. After his 3-and-1 singles victory over Sam Burns, Golf Channel’s Cara Banks asked McIlroy about the meeting with LaCava, and the four-time major champion said it didn’t happen.

“I haven’t met Joe,” said McIlroy, shaking his head.

“I was focused. I was very focused,” he said of his mindset entering the final match. “I let it fuel me, I didn’t let it take away from what’s been a fantastic week. I used that little incident last night to my advantage.”

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Photos: Caddies and their flags from the 18th hole after winning a tournament

Every week on virtually every tour, the winning caddie grabs the flag on 18.

It has become a tradition unlike any other.

Every week on virtually every tour, the winning caddie grabs the flag on 18. It has become the caddie’s trophy, as much of a ritual as players removing their hats and shaking hands after the round. But what is the origin of this tradition and who started it? No one seems to know.

“I don’t know how it happened,” says Ted Scott, who earned his third Masters flag working on the bag of Scottie Scheffler in 2022 to go with the previous two he pocketed with Bubba Watson in 2012 and 2014. “But it’s a cool tradition, a huge reward and a special thing. Whoever started it, I’m grateful for it.”

Golfweek did some digging, hoping to get to the bottom of this unsolved mystery, and along the way the stories we heard about caddies and flags were too good not to share.

Unsolved mystery: How did the flag at 18 become the caddie trophy?

It has become a tradition unlike any other. Every week on virtually every tour, the winning caddie grabs the flag on 18.

No caddie has enjoyed his winning flag quite like Ted Scott, who posted a video of himself with the 18th-hole flag and pole from this April’s Masters on his tractor, motorcycle and while brushing his teeth among other random things.

Jim “Bones” Mackay was on the bag for his sixth major at the PGA Championship in May, but this flag likely means the most to him and will get top-shelf status. Then there was England’s Billy Foster, who finally tasted victory at a major after 40 years on the bag and kissed the flag in the lower right corner as Matt Fitzpatrick was victorious at the U.S. Open in June. New Zealand’s Sam Pinfold made off with both a Players Championship and British Open flag this year working for Aussie Cameron Smith. And who can forget Japan’s Shota Hayafuji’s beautiful gesture: removing his hat and bowing his head after claiming the flag at Augusta National last April following Hideki Matsuyama’s triumph. From all four corners of the globe, caddies know the routine.

“As a youngster watching golf tournaments on TV in Japan, I saw that it is a tradition for caddies to take home the 18th-green flag,” Hayafuji says. “My heart was full of gratitude, and it was the natural thing for me to bow and show respect for the Masters.”

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It has become a tradition unlike any other. Every week on virtually every tour, the winning caddie grabs the flag on 18. It has become the caddie’s trophy, as much of a ritual as players removing their hats and shaking hands after the round. But what is the origin of this tradition and who started it? No one seems to know.

“I don’t know how it happened,” says Scott, who earned his third Masters flag working on the bag of Scottie Scheffler to go with the previous two he pocketed with Bubba Watson in 2012 and 2014. “But it’s a cool tradition, a huge reward and a special thing. Whoever started it, I’m grateful for it.”

Golfweek did some digging, hoping to get to the bottom of this unsolved mystery, and along the way the stories we heard about caddies and flags were too good not to share.

How is Tiger Woods’ caddie Joey LaCava handling prep work for the 150th Open Championship? We walked along and found out

“This Open has been on his mind the entire year. Couple things: he loves the place and it’s going to easier to walk.”

ST. ANDREWS, Scotland – Some three hours after Tiger Woods took off in his private jet from Ireland, his destination being the 150th Open Championship conducted on the Old Course in Scotland, his trusted bagman, Joey LaCava, started charting his own course around the Home of Golf.

LaCava, who hooked up with Woods in 2011 and was on the bag when his boss won the 2019 Masters, began his prep work for the Open on Saturday alongside Jim “Bones” Mackay, caddie for Justin Thomas.

The last time LaCava set foot on this sacred ground was 2015, when Woods, battling many injuries, missed the cut. So there was a lot of work to do.

“For me, it’s mostly getting lines,” LaCava said. “It’s been seven years and I don’t know what I did yesterday. It’s all about where the bunkers are today and to get a feel for the golf course. The good news for us is what I’ve been told is the wind should be the same this week as it is today, so we’re getting a good feel how the course could play the rest of the week.

“I can’t go by that 100 percent, but it’s nice to get a feel for it. To get our lines, the carries, how far it is to each bunker, that’s the priority today.”

The day was so pleasant and dry, LaCava’s intention would be to chart all 18 holes. That would take five to six hours and he did all things to fill his yardage book, from getting the lines to the bunkers, securing proper targets in the distance of this treeless, flat land, and studying the slopes and speed of the greens.

That’s easier said than done. There are seven double greens on the Old Course, where two holes share the same massive putting surface. For, instance the home to the putting surface of the fifth and 13th holes is 100 yards deep and at least 50 yards wide.

Tiger Woods’ caddie Joe LaCava looks over notes at The Old Course at St. Andrew’s in advance of the upcoming 150th Open Championship. (Photo by Steve DiMeglio/Golfweek)

“Tiger lets me do my thing, and he does his thing. He’ll come out here and know where the bunkers are and how far it is to each. I just don’t,” said LaCava, who will be caddying in his fifth Open at St. Andrews – two with Woods, three with Fred Couples. “Tiger loves the place, and he’ll have a good feel for where the bunkers are.”

LaCava hasn’t seen Woods since the third round of the PGA Championship. After making the cut – Woods also made the cut in the Masters in his only other start of 2022 – he visibly labored with injuries that Saturday. That night, he withdrew.

LaCava said Woods is stronger than he was in May.

“He’s going to give it a go. We’ll remain positive and get through it,” LaCava said. “This Open has been on his mind the entire year. Couple things: he loves the place and it’s going to easier to walk.”

Woods showed up in the early evening Saturday and chipped and putted his way around a few holes of the Old Course. Full shots were not on the agenda. Saving his energy and reacquainting himself with the course was.

Woods likely will team up with LaCava for a practice round on Sunday and then play in the Celebration of Champions on Monday.

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Justin Leonard dishes on the night Phil Mickelson threw BP at a Double-A game (and bet players they couldn’t homer off him)

“I said, ‘Do you guys want to go watch?’ And Fred (Couples) said, ‘I wouldn’t miss this for the world.'”

No need to witness “The Shot in Dark.” Last-minute tickets to a Pearl Jam concert at Blossom Music Center. Ambushing Phil Mickelson with a cheering section as he threw batting practice before a now-Akron Rubber Ducks game at Canal Park.

Justin Leonard hasn’t played at Firestone Country Club since 2010. But memories of Akron came flooding back as he returned for his PGA Tour Champions debut in the Bridgestone Senior Players Championship.

Leonard turned 50 on June 15, but said he’d been preparing for his transition to the senior tour for the last year and a half. Coupled with his schedule as a golf analyst for NBC Sports and recently moving his family from Aspen, Colorado, to Jupiter, Florida, he had plenty to keep him busy, especially a three-day drive with his 15-year-old son and their four dogs to their new home.

Winning the Claret Jug in 1997, Leonard will head to St. Andrews next week to broadcast the 150th Open Championship. But that won’t change his focus in the $3 million Bridgestone event, the fourth of five senior majors that opens Thursday on the famed South Course.

“I’m curious to see where my game is,” Leonard said. “There’s a big difference between playing with friends or playing with my kids and put a scorecard in the pocket and trying to beat some of these guys. So I’ll say I’m managing my expectations. I expect to learn a lot from this week.

“But as far as results and those things, not really thinking about those things. I’m just trying to ease my way back into competitive golf. I’ll play four or five events between now and the end of the season and get a sense of where these things are.”

Justin Leonard gets warmed up on the practice tee at the Bridgestone Senior Players Championship Pro-Am on Wednesday, July 6, 2022, in Akron, Ohio, at Firestone Country Club.

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The fun times Leonard had in Akron remain fresh, although perhaps not his tie for second behind Tiger Woods in the World Golf Championships-NEC Invitational in 2000, when eventual eight-time Firestone winner Woods beat Leonard and Philip Price by 11 shots.

Asked where he was for one of Woods’ most legendary finishes, Leonard said, “I think that was one of those years where he was going to win by 12 or something like that, so it’s not like I was on the range getting ready for a playoff.”

Reminded of Woods’ victory margin, Leonard added, “Yeah, so I won the B flight, which is nice. No trophy for that.”

Most of Leonard’s favorite stories come from off the course.

One year, in the days before he was immersed in satellite radio, he was driving to the course and heard an upcoming Pearl Jam show mentioned. He found Phil Mickelson’s longtime caddie, Jim “Bones’ Mackay, a good friend who is into the music scene.

“I told him, ‘I think Pearl Jam is playing somewhere here nearby,’’’ Leonard said of Mackay. “He said, ‘I’m on it.’ An hour later, we had tickets. And that night Davis Love and Bones and I drove 45 minutes to a great outdoor venue and saw Pearl Jam.”

Phil Mickelson and Justin Leonard won the first point for Team USA on Day 2 of the Presidents Cup.

Another night to remember came in 2003, when Mickelson threw batting practice to the then-Double-A Akron Aeros, reportedly offering three $100 bills to any player who could hit a home run off him. None did.

“I might have, I might not have been eavesdropping, but I heard Phil talking about it with Bones, and he said, ‘I’ll meet you here at the parking lot at 5:00,”’ Leonard said. “So I stored that away and told Davis and Fred Couples about it. I said, ‘Do you guys want to go watch?’ And Fred said, ‘I wouldn’t miss this for the world.'”

So Leonard told Love and Couples to meet in the parking lot at 4:50 p.m. so they could see the look on Mickelson’s face when he arrived.

“He pulls in and we’re all sitting there, and Bones is kind of like, ‘Oh, I don’t know how this is going to go over,’” Leonard said. “Phil pulls in and goes, ‘Hey, guys, what are you all doing?’ I said, ‘We’re coming to cheer you on, big guy.’

“We went down and watched that whole scene. And Phil was all proud that nobody hit a home run off of him. And our kind of argument, ‘Well, you have to at least throw a ball 50 miles an hour to create enough velocity so it can get out of the park.’

“We had a good time with it. Little things like that that happen along the way that kind of create these fun memories when I get to come back to a place like this.”

Considering Davis Love III was a part of both of those classic stories, it’s no wonder he led off his press conference with Leonard’s Champions Tour debut.

“I walked right onto the property and right into Justin Leonard and got to play a practice round with him,” said Love, making his first appearance at Firestone since 2016. “In fact, he stuck a note on my car on Monday because he changed his phone number and where he lives and his job and now he’s out here and just excited to see him.

“It really made my day to get out and play with him. Everybody’s riding up and calling him ‘rookie’ and they’re coming from other fairways to welcome him. He asked me a whole bunch of questions about rules and procedures. I said, ‘You need to ask somebody else, I’m not the best one to ask.’ But we’re going to the pro-am draw party when we get done playing.”

Marla Ridenour can be reached at mridenour@thebeaconjournal.com. Follow her on Twitter at www.twitter.com/MRidenourABJ.

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‘He thought he left it short’: Caddie Travis Perkins on the 38-footer that Sam Burns buried to win the 2022 Charles Schwab Challenge

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.”

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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.”

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Here’s how Justin Thomas recovered from ‘the best bogey of my life’ to win the PGA Championship

“I’ve never won a tournament shanking a ball on Sunday, so that was a first, and man, I would really like it to be a last.”

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TULSA, Okla. – Justin Thomas rested his left hand against a handle of the Wanamaker Trophy during his winner’s press conference for the 104th PGA Championship with the insouciance of a man who had just been reunited with an old friend.

He had reacquired possession of the gigantic silver trophy for the first time since 2017, back when it was handed out in August. But his playoff victory over Will Zalatoris on Sunday was not without its shaky moments, none more so than when he shanked his 5-iron tee shot at the par-3 sixth hole.

“I just cold shanked it,” Thomas conceded afterward. “I don’t really know how else to say it. It was the best bogey I’ve ever made in my life, that’s for sure.”

Caddie Jim “Bones” Mackay noted that Thomas caught “a great break” that the ball didn’t go into a penalty area, namely the creek that meanders through the hole.

“He had a great lie and 118 yards but he went under it and hit a tree very hard and that could’ve gone anywhere and it went back into the bunker. Then he hit one of his three or four best shots of the day, a cutty pitching wedge from out of the bunker from about 100 yards to 20 feet and then he makes it.”

It turned out to be the final bogey Thomas would make that day. How did he right the ship? Bones explained: “You want something out there almost to take your mind off it and to have some fun,” he explained. “He hits this great drive on the seventh hole and I get the yardage and we’ve got to hit 5-iron again.”

For those scoring at home, that would be the club that Thomas dropped in disgust on impact and had made him look like a Sunday Joe and not a soon-to-be two-time major champion.

“So, very next hole, water right of the green, green sloping left to right, he’s got to step up and hit a shot with the club he shanked 20 minutes ago,” Bones continued, “and he hit arguably his best shot of the day. We were remarking that it was his best full swing of the week and he hit it to 10 feet.”

ShotLink had it at 9 feet, 4 inches. And from there through the playoff, Thomas was money.

Justin Thomas speaks to the media after winning the 104th PGA Championship and reclaiming possession of the Wanamaker Trophy for the next year. (Adam Schupak/Golfweek)

“It was a hang-in-there day,” Bones added. “It seemed like the type of golf course that you could come from way back.”

They did just that, erasing a seven-stroke deficit as Mito Pereira and others faltered down the stretch. When it was all said and done and the trophy belonged to Thomas again, Thomas and Mackay joked about the shank, just as JT emptied his pockets and strapped on his Rolex watch before the official trophy ceremony.

“It was a shanky-barkie-sandy,” Bones cracked. “At least that’s what we’d call it at the club.”

As Thomas said in his CBS-TV interview, “I’ve never won a tournament shanking a ball on Sunday, so that was a first, and man, I would really like it to be a last.”

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PGA Championship: Jim ‘Bones’ Mackay finally gets the caddie trophy he’s long desired

After all these years, Jim “Bones” Mackay got the caddie trophy he’s always wanted.

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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.’ ”

PGA: Leaderboard | Photos | Winner’s bag

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.

PGA: Leaderboard | Photos | Winner’s bag
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.”

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