It’s the season opener for “Quiet Please” and John is joined by one of the most recognizable caddies in the game – Joe LaCava. Now looping for Patrick Cantlay, the #5 ranked player in the world, Joe reflects on the Ryder Cup and previews the West Coast Swing. Of course, they talk about his longtime partnership with Tiger Woods, including the iconic 2019 Masters win. And the two sprinkle in plenty of Freddie Couples references, including a hilarious story from their first week together, which happened to be the same tournament as this week on the PGA Tour – the “Bob Hope.” Golf is back and Joe’s beloved Giants are done for the season – enjoy this 45 minute interview with one of the all-time straight shooting personalities.
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Yeah I mean you can never write off tiger right people have tried to do that for the last five eight years now and that hasn’t worked out for those people that wrote them off is it a tall task sure he’s 48 years old obviously a ton
Of injuries I do know he’s a lot healthier than he was say six months ago uh so Never Say Never I’m not saying it’s going to be easy but I wouldn’t be surprised or shocked either if he won another one and maybe got to 18 I don’t Know quiet please all right want to welcome in our first guest to start season two of quiet please Joe laava caddy for Patrick kley number five ranked player in the world Joe thanks for joining me John my pleasure I’m looking forward to it yeah it’s always good to talk to you we’ve uh
Done this a couple years ago I’ve always enjoyed walking the golf course with you running to you we’ve been in the grp same group a couple times over the years and stuff so um so just so people know I said you’re with Patrick now but then
Obviously had a nice run with tiger uh there for a while and then before that uh your boy Freddy Coupes so uh you know You’ been I was doing some calculations I feel like you’ve been at this for like five decades now am I right in saying
That it’s a long time John whatever it is uh it’s funny because Tommy Fleetwood we were a pair with him last week and he asked me the same thing and I said I don’t even know if I don’t even know if you were born when I started Tommy but
Yeah yeah I got started back in 1987 uh you know like you just mentioned fortunate to work for you know not only great players but great guys you know throughout my entire career so feel very fortunate been doing it a long time you know I just love it so that’s why I’m
Still at it yeah I was gonna ask you kind of like when you look back on that what feeling comes to mind and it sounds like just fortunate and and I’m sure when you started did and and who did you start with before Freddy like who who
Was that first bag you know my very first bag was Ken Green in 1987 and we had a three-year run and he played very well he actually made a rder cup team and won three times in those three years so like I said may not be a name
Everyone knows but he had a nice career won five times total uh so again just you know just in a fortunate spot to work for a lot of great players and so then when you maybe look back on that and then now here we are what’s your
What’s your philosophy on cading bin if there is one you know for me you know I always tell everybody for me it’s just like any other job probably just you know work your butt off work as hard as you can um and you know the cading part
You know has gotten easier because the books are certainly more detailed uh you don’t have to do quite as much as work as when we talked about back in the the so-called day uh but my philosophy is like you know always be positive you know work as hard as you possibly can
And just be nice to everyone and I think so far that’s worked out pretty well for me i’ say so too so then but one of the components of that that you know you know isn’t in the book that comes with time that some people have and some
People don’t is this ability to perform in these pressure moments and obviously the golfers are hitting the shots but we’re right there alongside with them and you know there’s an art to that uh how how do you approach those pressure moments you know I kind of thrive on
Them because I think that’s why we’re all out here you know you want your guy to succeed and I get it you know like you said and we’re never hitting a shot but you are a part of it there’s 150 guys to start so you know it’s tough to
Only have one winner you know what I mean that kind of a thing so you’re not you know I consider you know top five or top 10 as a really good week regardless but ultimately you want to win um but you know again I’m fortunate to work for
A lot of great players who are very good players and very good players in the clutch but I also feel like you know when that heat is on and when the when the moment’s big you know I get so jacked up you feel like you rise to the
Occasion just like your player does you know you got to stay calm a little bit because your player make get a little nervous and vice versa quick funny story is I actually you know in 2019 when tiger won the Masters and we had a
Little bit of a weight on 15 you know I was kind of I I was trying to stay calm because now we’re starting to feel it you know Brooks has got a putt down there which I actually thought was for birdie because he hit it so close but it
Was actually for Eagle um and you know that’s not a fun spot to be sitting around waiting when you got a five IR in your hand you know on a tight lie you know overwatered you know long is not great either um fortunately tiger had a pretty good yardage and he’s been there
And done that you know he’s won four before that so um he I think at that moment he was a little calmer than I was I was kind of circling the wagons as we say just kind of you know there’s nothing to do I mean what are you
Supposed to say to your guy I mean we had a little conversation trying to keep it light but you know it’s a tough shot and a big shot um so I found in that particular instance I was I don’t want to use the word nervous but I was
Anxious you know I want I I wanted to get the shot over with you feel like that’s the last shot that you know you can find trouble like I said you catch a little heav in the water you catch a little thin it’s over the green and with
That back left pin it’s not fun from anywhere but on the green um but you know to Tiger’s credit he had a great shot about 35 feet right of the hole and made an easy two putt that’s funny you say and then you’re right that is like
One of the hardest shots in golf and I I’ve had a chance to C there one time and I remember uh with John Merrick and we had kind of the shot on 13 a couple holes before the hanging lie and were in between clubs and stuff and and that my
First time that I’d been there and I remember after the fact we were with Jeff ogy squirrel his longtime caddy and and he kind of was giving me some crap afterwards he’s like I could tell you were a little bit nervous there and I was like you’re right dude I was you
Know like that’s that’s not easy stuff but um you get through it and and and you hope that it turns out well um right I want I want to ask you a little bit then about Patrick because that’s who you’re with right now how did arranging that job happened because I think that
For a lot of people there was some talk about that like you were kind of with Tiger but tiger wasn’t playing and then you know Patrick opened up how did that all go down yeah it’s one of those things where you know tiger been telling
Me for a couple years now kind kind like Fred did at the end of his career you know listen I don’t know how much I’m gonna play when I’m gonna play how often I’m gonna play you know if you can find something out there that you want to do
Or work for someone else that’s gonna play fulltime have at it you know I didn’t do that I was I was content and happy working for Tiger he was treating me very well um you know but in the back of my mind after a couple years of just
Kind of not doing a whole lot I kind of wanted to get back in the game I realized how much I missed it you know I enjoyed being home getting stuff done around the house spending time with the family we all get that but you can only
Do that for so long um so I wasn’t seeking anything out but then you know Patrick approached me and said you know would you be interested in canting for me full-time on the tour and at the time like I said it kind of caught me by surprise because no one had been calling
Or looking um and I said to myself you know probably this is my opportunity I mean there’s only so many bags out there he’s a good young healthy player um you know so it was a tough decision to make because you know like I said my loyalty
Was with tiger because he treated me so well for eight or t years previous um but at the same time I knew in the back of my mind this was going to make me happiest by working again full-time so that’s kind of how it went down sure it
Makes sense and I mean obviously Patrick’s a great player and has a lot of experience now so it’s like that’s a nice one to hop on to um you guys you guys have yet to notch a win it’s coming um you know I don’t think there’s been
More than 15 tournaments together so far um what’s impressed you about his game now that you’ve been on the bag you know he drives it great you know he drives it straight um he may not be the longest guy out there but he drives it very very
Well um so he’s got a great combination of length not super long but length and accuracy first things first um he pitches the ball great um obviously he can roll it like you said um same thing he’s not afraid of the moment I think he relishes the big moment uh you know he
Has he has H has set high goals wants to play well wants to win and he hits very very solid shots and he can hit it both ways which I love he doesn’t always have to to draw or a cut he can H high and
Low and I’ve seen him hit like you said it’s only been 10 11 tournaments but I’ve seen him hit enough shots where I know he can put basically pull off any shot he wants and obviously I think he’s going to be very clutch in tough moments
Like we talked about a minute ago but overall I mean there’s there’s no weakness to his game and like I said I always start with guys that drive it well um the accuracy thing is big for me you know hitting Fairways and he’s got enough length um and you know he’s he’s
A fierce competitor so so Freddy I feel like was long but he hit a lot of fair I mean driver was a strength of his tiger get got knocked for a little while uh on his accuracy but when you were working for him do you feel like he was he was
Hitting a lot more Fairways for sure I think you know I caught tiger obviously um a little later on in life when he maybe slowed it down a little bit and then obviously had the back problems so he couldn’t really swing at it like he probably did back in his heyday
Obviously the guy won you know however many tournaments you know kind of hitting all over the map uh but when I got him he was much more very similar to what you just got through saying very similar to Fred the fact that he still hit it long enough I mean obviously when
He’s in his 40s so it’s Not Gon to hit it super long but hit it long enough and certainly hit more Fairways when I had tiger and uh but you know again the same thing I mean he’s a guy that somehow can get it done whether he hits in the
Fairway or not but obviously the game’s a lot easier from the Fairway well yeah then on I mean I want to talk about tigers some more later but also just on tiger in the trees and just creating shots I mean I mean maybe you have a
Good story or just overall just like man we’re in jail here and just watching him carve stuff and bend stuff and and how impressive that is you know I got spoiled first with Fred for 20 years because there was no shot he couldn’t take on you know he could hit a low cut
And make a cut you know 40 50 yards High draw whatever you name it he could do it and he could kind of see it and that’s kind of how Fred played a lot of feel he would feel a shot remember a shot that he hit back in the past whether it was
Good bad or different from the woods or not from the woods um and tiger the same way there’s no there’s no chip out in those guys they can feel and see a shot you know you ask for a quick story I hate to keep going back to the Masters
That he won but it’s always popping in my brain but uh in 2019 he hit it left into the trees on 14 and you know you can see it on TV how difficult it looks but until you’re actually in those trees I don’t think you can really appreciate
What’s going on um in both times he had a very small window you know maybe a six foot diameter which I can see him looking up in the trees and I know that’s the route he’s going so not only do you have to hit that six foot
Diameter which is you maybe 40 yards in front of you now he’s trying to hit enough Club to get to the green he doesn’t want to just get it out of the trees he wants to get it on the green long story short both times he pulled it
Off he made a couple you know medium length putts and made birdie from both spots and I tell people you know you can make four five and six from there so for him to make six total he picked up at least two or three shots on the field
And when you look back at stuff like that um those are the things that win you the golf tournament you know I think on Saturday the next day he of course hit in the middle of Fairway and made part I kind of looked over I You’ been
Better off in the trees and we kind of laughed about that so those guys can pull off any shot they want that’s a great comment there I kind of shows you how you why you’re good at what you do but when you go back in the trees there
In those two situations just take us inside the ropes or outside the ropes there you know is he checking in with you are you merely is he saying anything to you are you merely is gauging how he’s saying things and how he’s looking at it and if he looks like he’s got a
Thing you know a look in his eye you’re like Hey we’re going with this no matter what no you hit it right on the head I mean once once those guys start looking up and they see that shot and they see the window that they have you you’re not
Trying to call him off the ledge I mean if it looks like it’s impossible I may step in and say something but in both cases I knew he was a man on a mission and he was going to hit that shot regardless of what I said and here’s the
Other thing you know as a caddy if it looks impossible or not the right move of course you got to step in and say something but having worked for Tiger enough to see him pull this shot off before now you have confidence in him and at the same time
You don’t want to go over there and say hey hey Pro listen you may not be able to pull this shot off you don’t want any negative thoughts either right so like I said once I see him eyeballing up in the tree where he’s going with it I leave
Him alone right yeah well uh let’s get back on Pat then a little bit I want to talk about the writer cup briefly and I don’t want to put you on the spot on anything but I do uh want to hear you describe what the competitive nature and
Emotion of those matches and that event are like you know it’s listen we got beat by five or six points so to sit here and say I had a great time is kind of GNA sound weird but I had a great time you know it starts for me and I’ll
Get into the the golf course part of it in a minute but it starts from me getting to know the catties that you’re working with a little bit more because you’re in that setting you’re you know out to the golf course walking the course together you’re sharing information so first and foremost
Hanging with the caddies hanging with their wives hanging with my wife everyone getting to know each other having a good time you always have a blast at the end of the week and now it stinks to lose obviously and get our butts kicked that’s no fun uh but when
It’s all said and done it’s one of the best weeks of the year um you know Pat Pat played pretty well I think what hurt the US team the most was the fact that I think most of them had five or six weeks off before they went in there you know
You can only do so much at home um you know there’s nothing like playing tournament golf so I think that that layoff probably hurt us a little bit but I can see each day at least Pat getting a little bit better in Rising to the occasion over the weekend you know we we
Go down four nothing so we’re down big early on but you never give up into pass credit he played you know much better as the weekend went on and obviously with the match on Saturday afternoon emotions were running a high uh but everything’s good now everything’s fine now like I
Said they kicked our butt and we’re on to the next thing yeah I I remember watching it from home and I got up to watch it and when I saw Victor havin chip in on the green on the first toll I was like oh my gosh you know like this
There I mean the things you see in that you know guys when they’re playing for themselves you know uh they do amazing things and it’s a little different and then when you put them on a team and I’ve never done the the team team thing I’ve played in some you know team events
Where we got a partner but uh it seems like they do even greater stuff at times yeah no question like you said I don’t I you know I’m working it so I don’t see the shots maybe till afterwards or I maybe hear about it like you said the
Chip in from you know he’s on the green right chips it in and then you saw I think ROM chipped in from Over the green on 16 I believe so you know you get back to the hotel and you see some of those hous like man no wonder how we lost I
Mean they’re making everything um and like you said they’re making shots and I think there’s a lot of momentum in team golf right so I’m not saying you’re going to chip in because your guy just made a 40 foot of the hole before but there’s just something about that the
Momentum in those team events is crazy it’s kind of contageous when your partner’s doing well or if you see a highlight there was a bunch of TVs out there of another group on your team making a 25 30 foot in a clutch moment you know it just it get it creates
Positive Vibes and somehow that translates to better golf by your teammates yeah all right well let’s talk about pat on the west coast he’s an LA guy um you guys uh started off in Hawaii last week you’re off this week you’re in Southern California just hanging out um
But you know I I’m looking at how you guys have like a dozen under your belt now you’ve had a lot of success catting on the west coast Pat is very familiar with the West Coast are you guys playing everything in California start the the season you know’s he’s obviously not
Playing this week but he’s going to play the I call the Bob Hope the MX next week in Palm Springs which he’s done very well at so I’m looking forward to that and then you know I remember the days of probably worked 18 or 20 straight of
Those with with Fred so I love it out in the desert as well it’s been a while but good memories with Fred playing there I think he won a playoff event over Bruce litzky back in the day um and I think Pat’s either gonna play Tory or Phoenix
But not both and’s gonna go up to Pebble for the signature event and then he’s going to play Genesis Riv which he loves so like you said we haven’t we haven’t we haven’t broken through yet but I think it’s coming soon he’s playing well and like you said he’s a California guy
So he loves these events he’s had past success so I’m hoping for the same thing this year so uh just to bounce over to Freddy for a second he told a great story The Champions Tour put it out on their feed last week I don’t know did
You catch this at all I I didn’t get so so he’s telling this story about how the first week you’re on the bag for him and at the hope and and he picks you up at your hotel or your house wherever you’re staying and he lives there he’s like
Eight miles from Bermuda Dunes you guys are going to Bermuda Dunes and he gets lost going to it and he said you were riding shotgun and you were absolutely livid at him yelling like I can’t believe that you are lost you live here what are we doing and just like this is
Your first week on the bag with this guy and I knew you knew each other but can you can you put of fill in the blanks on that story a little bit more no no it’s funny it’s actually a true story and uh you know I was dumbfounded I mean this
Is back in the day John as you know 1990 you know there’s no such thing as a as a cell phone so you couldn’t just put it in your phone and as you know us traveling as Cades we had a little little map you know fly in La you drive
To Palm Springs so there’s no detailed map of Palm Springs so I don’t know the area that well either but you know when he volunteered to drive and pick me up I thought okay he knows the area he lives at Mission Hills how far I mean how hard
Could it be to find Bermuda Dunes right and you know for me I obviously don’t have you know I don’t have any tolerance for you know dumb things and I much patience as my family will tell you but to sit there shotgun with him thinking trying to find I’m thinking to myself
Thank God it’s Monday and not Wednesday we’re trying to make our tea time right so he is driving all over the place and that’s back in the day when he actually had to stop and ask people so from that day forward it lasted 20 years I never
Let him drive again that’s amazing you picked him up every day of his career when you were catting for him day and night so we would I would start the day pick them up drop them off and they said what time you coming back for dinner and I you know if there was
Obviously there’s seven days in every week i’ probably had dinner with them five five times a week which was great looking back I mean it was we always had fun we always watch sports on T we had a blast together that’s great I love that
Story well and then uh one more thing on swinging back to Pat then it’s uh you and Fred you were on the bag for a couple masters with him you referenced earlier tiger in 2019 Pat’s played well at the Masters before um I said earlier hey I’ve been there I
Remember Jamie Mulligan who’s Patrick’s coach uh being there with Merrick when I was there I know Jaime’s got a good feel for that place so uh I know you’re just looking forward to next week and the Bob Hope but you can’t help but be a little bit excited about thinking about getting
Back to Augusta in April when you guys get there you know regardless of what you’re doing or who you’re working for you look forward to that week more than probably any week you know on the entire calendar um and like you said I’ve been fortunate to work for those guys that
Won Augusta um you know I think Pat’s obviously had some success there as well so I’m looking forward to getting back there I think Pat is too I think he knows at the back of his mind he’s at that age in that time where he’d certainly like to win a major easier
Said than done it’s not easy you got deep fields and stuff like that and plenty of great guys playing that tournament um but I I I think we both are looking forward to it but like you said first things first let’s see what we can do on the west coast I’m looking
Forward to TPC as well I think it’s another great Golf Course for Pat so I think a lot of good golf coming up for this kid for sure all right well let’s move on to Tiger a little bit more specifically how did you get that job
With tiger and and I I want to hear your version and I want to tell you a little bit about how I I tried to jump in there for a second so you go ahead and you tell me how that job came about you know I I don’t that’s a great question I
Don’t really know you know I was working for Fred on the senior tour at the time and then I switched over briefly to Dustin Johnson uh for about six months in 2011 I believe it was and then you know one day I got a call from Mark Steinberg who was Tiger’s longtime agent
And he said I’m doing my due diligence here you’re the first call I’m making um you know tiger asked me to get a hold of you we know you’ve you know worked for Fred for 20 years so we know you a little bit um and I’ve known stting for
A long time and uh we have you have a good gig obviously with Dustin Johnson right now but you know tiger asked me to reach out and call you so he did he called me and uh I talked to steiny and I said yes I’m interested I mean it’s
Tiger Woods how could I not be interested right um you like I said I had a great gig going with Dustin and you know he obviously became a great player and already was a great player and we had a nice six-month run together but there’s only one Tiger Wood so I
Couldn’t I could not turn that down and I thought to myself you know if I tell tiger you know can you hang on away another couple months I don’t think he’s gonna go for that either right right um so I made the decision on that on that
Call with steiny that day that I was you know I was gonna accept the job that was offered to me yeah and then stany says okay well now that you’re interested you know I want to pass along Tiger’s number and let you talk to him and you guys can
Kind of talk about it because I’m kind of out of the mix now my job was to see if you were interested and I talked to Tiger I don’t remember the day or the time or whatever but it was over the weekend sometime and uh we had a nice 20
30 minute call I would say we talked two minutes about golf caddying the rest of the time was family stuff about his kids my kids you know we had a couple things in common you know both our dads were in the military of the army both of our
Dads died kind of young of cancer and you know he knew I was a competitive guy Sports guy and stuff like that so we had a lot of stuff in common that maybe we did know until this conversation and I think I don’t think that helped me get
The job but the fact that we had stuff in common non-golf was great we could talk about other things and then he hired me um you know it wasn’t one of those things where let’s just try it out kind of thing he kind of he didn’t say
The job is yours either but at the same time I didn’t think it was a trial thing right um and I think he appreciated the fact that you know I had Dustin Johnson so I’m I’m taking a little bit of a you know not a risk but he was coming off
Injuries and stuff like that so uh anyways he ended up winning I think his own tournament two or three tournaments in and then from there on we were Off to the Races yeah so I remember when you were with DJ because I think I was cting
For Brett wedick at the time this might have been 2011 or something and we got paired with you and I think that’s who I was with the time but you fast forward because I don’t know if I’m mixing up the years or what but I was at 2013 PGA Championship
And I was room with my buddy Pepsi Steve who ended up going on he was on the bag that week for Keegan Bradley’s win I think that was 2013 I don’t know if that sounds right or not but um and tiger that week had his buddy Jerry Chang is
That his name Jerry Chang Jerry Chang right yeah had Jerry Chang on the bag that week and so I’m there and I’m like and I was with Kevin chapel and he was like 10th alternate on in the tournament but I had a credential and I was and
Kevin wasn’t even there so I was like I’m just going going to hang out whatever and everybody’s wondering like you know who’s tiger going to hire who’s tiger going to hire and and I kind of cooked up in my head I was like well I’m
Going to at least say hi to him so I was like Tuesday night and I was in the parking lot and they had that Champions dinner thing for the PGA guys and so I was just kind of Milling around and outw front door walks uh tiger and John Daly
And John Daly’s girlfriend and maybe Michelson and David Toms and they’re all kind of just like walking towards the cars and I’m standing there and and you know certain enough tiger kind of peeled off and I went up to him and I just said hi to him and introduced myself and he
Said oh who you working for and I said I Kevin Chapel this week but he’s 10th altered and he goes oh well hey you know John Daly got in you know one time it’s 10th altered it and I said yeah you’re right and I said hey I just want to
Introduce myself and and here’s my number if you need anything and I never heard from him and and obviously I mean gosh you know you can’t hire anybody better than you and it was probably already had done deal before that but I I thought I’d throw my name in the Hat
So that’s my my my runin with him you know 10 years ago why wouldn’t you I mean you got nothing to lose right right you can’t you can’t win if you don’t play like the old Lotto thing yeah you gotta shoot your shot yeah you gotta
Give it a shot for sure yeah so then tell me when you first got on his bag what was that like from being in his group being paired with him to now being on his bag you know what did you notice yeah well the first thing I noticed was
How low maintenance the guy is you know I thought to myself you know geez it’s Tiger Woods he’s gonna have a million people around so on and so forth basically he had a golf coach that wasn’t there all the time you know his Agent Mark Steinberg who’s an incredible
Agent but stayed out of his business for the most part so a lot of times it was just him and I kind of hanging out doing our golf thing and stuff like that you know I would I would you know I’d be lying to you if I didn’t say I wasn’t
Nervous starting off um you know because it’s Tiger Woods right you always want to do a good job and make sure you’re doing your all the things correct and whatever so I mean you’re gonna make mistakes 100% but you know maybe I was overprepared the first couple
Tournaments I don’t know but I was very nervous and very anxious and then those two things struck out to me number one that he was low maintenance and the fact that he never ever came back to me once and I probably worked I don’t know 10 years but I
Probably only worked 100 110 tournaments for the guy not one time in those 100 tournaments he ever say to me you know you got the wi raw you bad read stuff like that almost almost to the point where he was too nice because if he missed the put I would say all right
What happened because you know you’re standing off to the side of a cat you’re not right behind him you can’t really see what the butt does um and he’ll say you know I pulled it or I pushed it and know I’m usually watching the stroke he
He very seldom pulls or pushes a putt so almost like being too nice like he wouldn’t tell me the RE was wrong and I said stop being so nice I said I kind of want to know for next time more than anything I don’t want to know if I was
Right or wrong necessarily I just want to know for next time so um you know takes ownership of everything incredible to work for for those 100 tournaments in those 10 years and took great care of me but again I’m rambling on but I was anxious but it took me two or three
Terms to settle in and realize listen we’re going to get along great here quick funny story I think was the end of 2011 he played the fries tournament and for the first 13 or 14 holes you know I wasn’t in the game at all which was fine
I thought you know even for two rounds I was happy to just not do anything and just kind of watch and absorb it all and we get to a part three on the back I don’t remember 14 15 somewhere in that area and we had like 176 yards to the
Hole and it was like a two-tier green and I think we had like 170 on top and then six more to the pin and so I give him all the numbers and he hadn’t really asked me anything all day so it kind of caught me off guard although I think I
Was ready he said to me can I get seven iron there and I said you can get it to the top you can get up on top but you can’t get it to the hole and so he this beautiful little tight draw you know 10 feet right of the ho pin High beautiful
Shot and he just kind of gave me a look without saying anything as if to say don’t ever tell me I can’t do something and you know I got that look and I thought it was great it’s like you know what I’m almost gonna show off here so
Wait so about four minutes later we walk up to the green and the ball is barely short of pin high so I look at him I said well it’s not pin High and and he and he smiled at me so I knew you know it’s almost like I’m one day in
And I’m giving him a hard time after you gave me a hard time and he smiles it was like one of those things right away we clicked and we knew were gonna be able to get along very well and give each other a hard time which we we still do
To this day well yeah that was what I was my next question was going to be actually was just about his sense of humor and we kind of hear stories about that uh you know when things are reported but you know you’re on the bag there you’re inside the roaches with me
What can you say about his sense of humor and what people maybe don’t know you know same as mine kind of a dry sense of humor you know likes to give the needle a little bit stuff like that not afraid to smile and laugh you know
The thing with tiger is you know he’s got to have that guard up right I mean who can you trust who can you not trust I felt like early on he trusted me you know he knows I’m going to take things to my grave and never tell anybody
Anything that I shouldn’t tell um so I felt like that trust Factor was there right away um and like I said I mean you get him in a setting where he knows the people can trust the people he can let loose a little bit and have a little bit
Of fun people don’t see that which is fine I mean that’s that’s unfortunately the life that he has to live but uh when you get him behind the scenes and get him a little bit loose it’s a lot of fun to be around yeah um so I was scrolling
Yesterday Jack Nicholas did an interview with uh Rich learner um and it was a good it was a good interview and and and You Know Rich kind of talked to him about his major record and then we kind of brought up tigers and and Jack basically said you know he felt bad for
Tiger that he got injured and stuff but that he kind of felt good about his number at 18 that tiger probably wasn’t going to catch that and I know back in 2016 tiger kind of said to Charlie Rose on his show he was like Hey you know I I
Think I’m gonna get there and a lot of things have happened since then and and I guess what are your thoughts on just uh where he is now and the possibility of even like tying uh tying Jack and then just how that felt to be a part of him getting to number
15 yeah I mean you can never write off tiger right people have tried to do that for the last five eight years now and that hasn’t worked out for those people that rote him off is it a tall task sure he’s 48 years old obviously a ton of
Injuries I do know he’s a lot healthier than he was say six months ago uh so Never Say Never I’m not saying it’s going to be easy but I wouldn’t be surprised or shocked either if you won another one and maybe got to 18 I don’t
Know you know what I mean yeah exactly and you know he’s the kind of guy where he can still hit all the shots he’s still long enough um he can still putt like there’s no tomorrow so could it happen sure I don’t know what the odds
Would be but I certain would write the guy off and then to be a part of the Masters win it’s 15th major you know for me was incredible you know I mean as a caddy you know you’re fortunate enough to win any tournament with your guy um
And then obviously a major on top of it and then if you had a pick one for me anyways it would probably be a Guster of the British Open so uh to sit there and say you win with Tiger Woods who you know was one of the two or the greatest
Player of all time incredible moment for me yeah yeah yeah and and previous to that I mean that was an iconic moment on its own I mean because it was just so emotional for everybody you know because we were just everybody was rooting for him that we in the golf world and and
You could tell how much it meant to him it was in a different Tiger Woods than maybe we were used to 10 years prior um but before that that Tour Championship win happened in Atlanta you know when the people are like falling behind you up the 18th and all that uh does Augusta
Happen that next spring if the Tour Championship doesn’t how much did that impact that you know that’s a great question um I’ve never really thought it that way I mean obviously you know tiger played great that entire year he me made that nice run at the PGA and almost ran
Down Brooks uh made a nice run on Sunday at the British Open so you know we got to the Tour Championship you know he was running out of chances and if you don’t win there you feel like had a pretty disappointing year even though you had a
Pretty solid year because you didn’t get breakthrough and get into the winner circle so I knew it was in the back of his mind that he just wanted to win a tournament it didn’t matter which one obviously it came down to the Tour Championship you know everyone remembers
What happened on 18 incredible moment uh you know I think tiger won from start to finish which he’s done many of times but you know as a cad you don’t work for guys that do it that often so that was kind of a little fun side note um but
Yeah obviously that gives you a ton of confidence going into the offseason Into The Following season you know I think he didn’t play that much early on in 2019 because he never does um so I was a little L the fact that he hadn’t played that much and he played decent but I
Didn’t think he had enough reps to be sharp enough and ready enough to win at Augusta but then we got to the match play and I saw his game start to come around there was a stretch I think on Friday of about 27 holes where he might
Have made like 10 or 12 birdies you could see his game was coming on and was coming on and coming on and then I always look back the fact that we lost s Saturday afternoon to get to the final four on Sunday um but looking back it
Was almost a blessing because I think if he plays 36 on Saturday and 36 on Sunday which you have to on Sunday even if you lose your morning match it might have been trouble for him from a physical standpoint getting ready for Augusta um still disappointed as can be on that
Saturday afternoon but I saw him hitting shots on the Range getting ready for rounds and then he would take a little bit of time he couldn’t practice a lot because of injuries but he took a little bit of time after each round that week and went to the range and you could see
He was hitting shots you could see he was hitting three or four three woods and rehearsing for the shot he had hit on 10 or the shot he had hit on 13 and stuff like that so I knew he was gearing up for that on that range and pulling
Those shots off and that’s when I kind of got excited said okay not only do I think he’s ready physically but I think mentally now he’s in the game getting ready for Augusta um I had a I opened up some questions to a couple friends of mine or
People on Twitter and stuff and and one that I thought was kind of interesting was and you’re talking about being on the Range watched him and stuff what were those off weeks and off days like when you maybe would go down to Florida to to be with him to get ready for a
Tournament um when kind of away from the Limelight away from the crowds and and and what were those like and then what’s he trying to figure out in his game before he leaves for a tournament you know I’ll start with the fact that he’s in the gym a lot right he’s trying to
Get ready for Rounds trying to get stronger trying to Rea and stuff like that so I don’t think people appreciate how much he had to do before a round even even if we were just going to go out to medals and hit balls or maybe playing nine holes he had to go through
A lot in the gym just to get ready for that um that’s when it kind of dawned on me you know this guy’s going through a lot just to get ready to play maybe nine holes so he’d always be in the gym early on warming up practicing rehabing stuff
Like that and then we’d go to medalist or we go to the backyard spent a lot of time in the backyard shipping and putting getting ready for tournaments um and you know he he would rehearse things down there like he would make sure he warmed up for 45 minutes then maybe go
Putt for 10 minutes just like he was doing in a real route and then he would try to simulate around and you know when he’s down at Metalist normally if he’s just practicing and trying to get ready for a tournament he may jump in a cart
And stuff like that and play in two two and a half hours but you know we kind of make it our purpose to walk and simulate around that we’d have Augustus so that he could be on his feet for five hours and stuff like that so he’d play with
His buddy Rob just to slow the round down a little bit stuff like that so um he was very aware what he had to do the following week when he was practicing at home the week before so you mentioned Rob there and I had a question about
That I mean uh kind of can you categorize what Rob’s and tigers’s relationship is is like and how that maybe came to be or what it is currently and then Rob was on the bag uh kind of at uh at tigers tournament I guess and do you have any inclan on who tiger
Might be you know if if if they’re gonna stay together for this upcoming season or any insights there yeah Rob Rob I think was with IMG way back in the day and I think when tiger broke from IMG I think both Rob and steiny left to go to
Work for Tiger so Rob does I call Rob the everything guy you know he works in the office um does you know a lot of stuff contract stuff you know whatever might whatever it takes for Tiger he does like I said contract stuff you know Golf Course stuff day in and day out
Kind of stuff um and so he’s also a very good college golfer accomplished golfer played in college so I think tiger pretty much plays every round of golf in Florida with Rob because Rob is sort of like his little bit of his eyes and swing consultant now have a coach per se
But he knows tiger swing inside and out like I said plays every round of golf with him so he’s there just to kind of like as eyes and ears for tiger and like I said his everything guy um I think he I talked to him after the Bahamas he
Said he’s a little worn out but he had a great time canning for him I’m not sure what what Tiger’s gonna do forward going forward caddy wise I’m sure Rob will be evolved may not be every tournament he plays but I’m sure he’s G to be
Available to work if he needs them that kind of a thing sure yeah um one other question that somebody had is uh and and we’ll move on a little bit um uh who or I’m sorry what’s the strangest thing tiger keeps in his golf bag you know it’s funny you say that
Because people ask me that stuff I I know he has old coins that his dad gave him yeah and I think Fred actually was the same way you know maybe the 1920s or 30s kind of coin um so I I think that’s basically the only thing he’s got two or
Three sandwiches in there which I think they all do now but nothing really strange I mean was always great if there was if it wasn’t going to rain get rid of the umbrella get rid of the rain gear get so we didn’t have much in the bag
Yeah and with with Fred it was always he loved the chip te’s so he’d have all his tees were chipped really and yeah you know when you hit a shot they chip a little bit they chip a little bit and then he got to the point where sometimes
I wasn’t sure the ball was gonna stay on the te but that’s kind of what Fred loved to do I don’t know if it was a less friction thing or not but that’s just what he did he lik to whittle away at him yeah exactly um hey I saw your
Son catting last summer on the corn fairy tour very nice kid I I walked a couple holes with him uh in Colorado I think uh what advice have you given him as he’s gone out and started catting and you what’s his plan to kind of start the
Year yeah I told him I said listen you got to go out there like we talked when we first got on here I said you you got to work really hard um you know walk the course as many times as you can because you every time you walk you’re going to
Find something different on there right um and don’t be afraid to hustle and work very hard the other thing I told him is I said listen you got to stay very very positive you got to be loyal to your guy I said at times it can get
Frustrating you know like I worked a lot of years for Fred where you hit it great hit it great hit it great you always feel like you didn’t get enough out of the round so I said stay as positive you can keep your guy positive and again
Work your butt off and you got to earn it and he’s going back on on the corn fairy tour with Logan mallister for a second year and try to you know try to figure it out and see if this is a what you want to do uh and B you know you
Know meet some people that’s why you’re out there and again just be nice the people for sure yeah he’s definitely doing that um so then last time you and I caught up it was kind of on the heels of the uh the father son and you know
You were out there catting for tiger and and your son was catting for Charlie uh and you just talked about how cool of an experience that was and I think everybody loves watching tiger and Charlie and their mannerisms and stuff uh couple years later now Charlie’s a
Little bit older he’s a little bit bigger it’s golf games coming along I guess you know like like we said previously we don’t want to start here and make all these proclamations about him he’s certainly going to get some opportunities to play some golf uh what are your thoughts on what you’re seeing
In the progress of his game from afar yeah you know like you said he’s getting bigger he’s getting stronger I think he’s hitting at a legit 280 290 maybe 300 yards he’s 14 years old freshman in high school so like you said he’s gaining great experience you know he’s
He’s got his dad is you know his eyes and ears and his teacher I think he’s I think he’s getting to that age where now he’s kind of listening to his dad you go through that very where you don’t want to listen to anybody body right right so
Now I think he’s listening to his dad which obviously will help um listen like you said I don’t want to go crazy he’s 14 or 15 years old he’s a freshman in high school but you know the genes have been passed down I mean he’s a phenomenal player you know the ball
Striking like the old man drives it great he actually probably drives it straighter than than tiger um you he just hits everything so solid which is what I’m impressed about yeah he can hit a funky shot here and there we all can right but the fact that he makes such
Solid contact with every Club in the bag for the most part every time he swings that to me is amazing at that age and I think the fact that you know his dad will show him different shots and he’s learning and listening to him now I
Think the guy’s the limit for the kid yeah for sure um all right well let’s just move on a little bit more maybe get a little bit of Freddy stuff and then some odds and ends but uh I was thinking about this too I mean you know Freddy
Seattle Washington West Coast guy um tiger you know from SoCal West Coast guy Patrick Klay from SoCal West Coast guy you even DJ spent a lot of time in SoCal and I’m sure you got some other names in there I don’t know where greeny was from
And stuff but here you are you’re a New Jersey guy you’re an East Coast guy you kind of say it how it is those guys are a little bit more laidback how has that meshed well for you over the years that’s a great question you know you’re
Right I do tell it like it is you know like it or not um and I think those guys appreciate that you know like you talked about Fred I mean he’s cool you know just a cool cat kind of laid back strolling down the fies but I will say
This about Fred I me he’s burning insight to he wants to win just as much as the next guy he may just not show it outwardly obviously Tiger’s the opposite he’s going to show his emotions right he’s gonna get fired up and you know good batter different you know he
Doesn’t throw clubs any more but he’s gonna let you know how he’s feeling right and Dustin you go back to Dustin he’s kind of laidback and stuff like that so I think the fact that you know I could use the word obnoxious maybe maybe I’m a little that Northeast obnoxious or
Whatever uh you know confident kind of person I think maybe that’s a good mix with the guys that I worked for you know Pat he’s same way he’s kind of laid-back as well too but I mean he’s inside burning up you know very smart intelligent guy always you know always
Thinking processing stuff loves the information um you know he’s the New Breed I call him you know with the track man all the time and the high-tech stuff and the spin rate and all that kind of stuff so he’s always doing that kind of stuff which I’m not used to that for my
Other guys so it’s definitely a mixed bag you know as you as you work for different guys you kind of have to adapt to their personalities and vice versa but so far so good yeah yeah all right well let’s get a little bit of a take on
I don’t want to say live or everything but I mean sports are changing everywhere I mean look at College nil and the everything’s just really changing rapidly um you know what’s your take on the overall state of the professional game to start the year here like let’s just start where we are right
Now and then are you optimistic that the golf fan that’s sitting at home watching golf is going to be happy with things in the next year or two that’s it obvious another great question I’m I’m on a couple threads and most of my guys are golf guys so I think they’re watching
The golf especially you know I’m from the Northeast so they’re they’re looking for some good weather just even if it’s on TV to watch golf so um you know I think my guys are still tuning in you know I I we do talk we go have a couple
Beers and they say what’s going on with this guy or that guy so obviously I think anyone that’s a sports fan like you said would always want the best players playing at the same time right I mean that’s pretty obvious in any sport and certainly with golf being an
Individual sport you know you want John and Dustin and Brooks and those guys competing against Pat shle and Sheffer and stuff like that so I would like to think that someday it’s going to get all when I say all resolved it’s going to be resolved to the fact where I think we’re
Back playing together the guy all the great players in the world are playing at the same time I think it’s going to take a little bit of time obviously it’s a work in progress but I think guys will the guys you know at the top or in the
Front office so to speak we’ll get it done and make it happen U but I think at the same at the same time I mean you look back last week in Maui I mean Chris Kirk’s a heck of a player so hit he look
At coming into his own so I think it was a good finish you got havin up there you got Colin up there Pat played well X played well Sheffer was in the mix for a while so those there’s still a lot of great names playing well on the PGA tour
You may be missing a few names which is unfortunate yeah but I don’t think I don’t think people are not watching because of that yeah all right well let’s build the perfect golfer real quick I got uh the best driver irons wedges short game putting and then six
Ines between the years and we’ll just say you can’t use the same guy twice um who’s the best driver that you’ve of all time just that you’ve maybe been around or seen you know let keep you yeah yeah yeah best driver um I’m gonna say Fred Couples Freddy
That makes sense and irons Tiger Woods that’s that’s that’s easy okay H what about wedges well uh you like when you say 120 130 yards yeah scoring Steve Stricker gotcha okay now short game chipping and pitching and you know not because I’m working for the guy but Pat’s got a
Great short game I mean when I say you know pitching and chipping great imagination can hit all the shots from what I’ve seen it’s been a small sample size but he’s fantastic right so then we got two here that you you could I think you could throw tiger in but I didn’t
Let you so if you could say putting and then six inches between the ears a couple other names yeah well obviously you made a good call not using a guy twice so uh because I would use tiger for both of those uh putting guy that I haven’t used uh
There’s a guy that comes to mind for both these I’d be curious to your take is is Jordan spe yeah no I listen when you mentioned that as soon as I said Pat which I still want to say Pat you know the pitching and everything else you
Know Jordan SM obviously watch some of the shots he hits around the greens are incredible um so let’s let’s use Jordan be uh not that we have to use George be I mean for put because I mean the guy the guy can make you know 30 40 Footers
And in clutch moments and he’s not afraid of the moments so let’s go with geordan speed with the putting and then in between the years uh between the years uh let’s see yeah I always want to go with the newer guys because I I love the young
Newer guys I’m gonna go with Xander Schley okay I like that we Big Year incoming for Xander um what’s your favorite caddy nickname of all time wow uh wow that’s a good one there are so many good ones let’s see um wow uh I mean there’s a guy I mean the guy
Is a great guy I don’t know if he’s still around uh work with me Larry work with me Larry I haven’t heard that one yeah you know he’s just one of those guys great guy old school you know very Gruff and you know his famous name was work work with
Me a little bit here so work with me Larry I like that uh all right and then uh should the Giants keep Daniel Jones as their quarterback you know I listen I I tell people all the time I’m a Believer in whoever’s under center for the Giants
Good better and different I think Jones has got a ton of talent you know the offensive Line’s probably the weakest part of the team unfortunately and as you know in the NFL if you don’t have lines you can’t win any games so I’d like to see him build a little better
Line around him and see what he’s got so I I’m saying keep him love it all right so I know you’re on the giant beat all the time so Hey Joe thank you for taking some time this morning and your week off uh we’re looking forward to following
Pat you know all year long and and just really appreciate all you’ve done for caddies and and for the game over the years always a pleasure John thanks for having me out we miss you out here yes I would like to get back out there hey La
Baby if you’re he of anybody I’m GNA my eyes and ears open you got it please do all right thanks John see you soon
