Tiger Woods is without a full-time caddie, sending the golf world into a tailspin as fans try to grapple the haunting reality that the game’s greatest player may have reached the end.
Most caddie movements barely register on the PGA Tour, but Joe LaCava’s switch this week feels seismic in the golfing landscape as it potentially flags the end of Woods’ competitive playing days.
LaCava, who has stayed loyal to Woods through his most tortured years, and was rewarded with the 2019 Masters triumph, will now caddie for notoriously slow golfer Patrick Cantlay.
Watch every round of the Wells Fargo Championship LIVE & Exclusive on Fox Sports, available on Kayo. New to Kayo? Start your free trial now >
The switch is full-time — and reportedly came with the blessing of Woods who is recovering from his latest surgery, having withdrawn from the Masters with plantar fasciitis.
PGA Tour insider Dan Rapaport reports that LaCava called Woods immediately after receiving the offer from Cantlay.
“Per Joey, Tiger said: “You’d be crazy not to take the job. Go for it. Go win some tournaments and have a great time,” Rapaport reported.
He added: “Joe did go out of his way to say that Tiger is not retiring.”
Nonetheless, since Woods shattered his leg in a horrific car crash on a Los Angeles freeway in February 2021, the end has felt nigh for the 15-time major champion.
That the 47-year-old somehow returned to competitive golf, featuring at four majors and this year’s Genesis Invitational, is miraculous.
That he hasn’t seriously contended at any is unsurprising.
Woods’ body has been battered and bruised to the point where navigating a long, 18-hole walk is a form of torture.
The great shame is that in terms of his actual golf skills, Woods is still a marvel.
Jack Nicklaus revealed this week that Woods told him during this year’s Champions Dinner at Augusta that his game was in good shape, but with one major caveat.
“We talk quite a bit. He said, ‘I’m really playing well. I’m hitting the ball great. My short game’s great. My putting’s good,’ Nicklaus said. “He said, ‘I just can’t walk.’
In a telling sign of where Woods is at in his recovery, and his entire career, he’s now let LaCava walk.
LaCava had been Fred Couples’ caddie for 20 years before joining Woods in 2011 after the latter split with his previous caddie, Steve Williams.
The most notable moment in Woods’ and LaCava’s partnership was when Woods stunned the sport world by winning the 2019 Masters, 11 years and three back surgeries after his last major triumph.
Woods suffered debilitating leg and foot injuries in his single-car accident in 2021, and there was fear his leg would need to be amputated.
Fans have hoped that the golf legend could defy the odds once again, but he recently announced he was going under the knife another time.
Nicklaus said Woods’ decision to take the surgery suggested he wasn’t about to retire, though.
“He wouldn’t be having the operations if he wasn’t interested in wanting to continue to play,” he said. “He’s a very motivated and dedicated young man to continue to play the game of golf.”
However, those comments came before LaCava’s full-time move away from Woods and to Cantlay.
Woods’ agent, Mark Steinberg, told the AP there was no timetable for his client’s return.
The breaking up of Woods and LaCava is not just notable from a professional perspective, with the pair sharing a close relationship off the course.
While Woods famously fell out with his previous caddie Williams, with which he won 14 majors with, he remained close with LaCava.
Together, the pair won 12 titles, with the most notable being the 2019 Masters, after which Woods gifted LaCava with a Rolex.
It’s said to be too fancy for the hardworking LaCava to take out of the box.
The NY Post reports that when LaCava’s daughter celebrated a birthday in Florida recently, Woods had their family stay at his beach house and arranged a surprise celebration on his yacht.
Steinberg said: “Tiger and Joe are like brothers, tremendous friends.
“You shouldn’t read anything more in to that other than Joe wants to caddie. He loves it. It’s his passion. He’s great at it and one of the best.
“Joe wants to work, and so I think Tiger got that. We’re just moving on.”
Meanwhile, Cantlay was recently embroiled in a mini controversy after Brooks Koepka accused him of playing too slowly at The Masters.
Jon Rahm and Koepka’s final round lasted almost five hours with waits on most tees, with many laying the blame at Cantlay’s feet.
“That group in front of us was brutally slow,” Koepka said.
“Jon went to the bathroom like seven times during the round and we were still waiting.”
