Tiger Woods has made an official comeback to his beloved game. However, he will be going forward without his former caddy Joe LaCava for his upcoming term. Following a cordial agreement, Woods and LaCava parted ways last year when Woods took a hiatus from the game, and the caddy moved on to work with Patrick Cantlay.
But for more than 12 years, LaCava stood by Woods as he collected many laurels. Together they scored 11 wins one of which was the 2019 Masters Tournament. Recently the caddie gave a candid interview where he explained what habit of Woods irked him.
LaCava recently made an appearance on the Quiet Please podcast, during which he discussed a number of the nostalgic incidents involving Woods. Recalling some memorable moments from his past, the looper disclosed that Woods had a golf instructor in Mark Steinberg, his agent, who was frequently away on business. As a result, at the start of their tenure, he used to become quite anxious around him “because it’s Tiger Woods, right?” His constant goal was to perform well and ensure that everything was done right.
However, he also knew that he would make mistakes. During the first few tournaments, he experienced extreme anxiety and nervousness. At that point, two things struck him: first, Woods was a low maintenance player, and second, the golfer never came to him to voice any grievances. He expressed, “The fact that he never ever came back to me once and I probably worked, I don’t know, 10 years, I probably worked 100, 110 tournaments for the guy.” The 15-time major winner was always so kind to him that LaCava had to ask him to cease being so nice.
The golfers never called out a bad putt or a misread caddy during their time there. He hardly ever pulls or pushes a putt, says LaCava. It was almost as if he were being overly kind, refusing to correct me when I read. And I told him to quit being so sweet. LaCava desired to identify his areas of error so that he might correct them. “I replied, I don’t really want to know if I was right or wrong, but I kind of want to know for next time. For next time, I would like to know.
The pair enjoyed a long and uneventful trip together, which held up well until Woods experienced his accidents in the last several years. The golfer on the television was so close to the caddie that he also divulged significant facts about him.
In the same episode, LaCava disclosed that Woods was uncertain about how long he would be playing while they were together. The golfer also advised him to caddy for other people when the chance arose. Although he turned it down at the moment since he was content with Woods’ treatment of him, the fascination drew him in again.
Finally, as Woods pulled away from the greens to heal, he had to part ways with his looper, Patrick Cantlay, a “good young, healthy player” who had fortunately found a fantastic opportunity. He now hopes to have a fruitful term at Cantlay.
