Woods’ caddie sticking by his man, thinks he can still win
While Tiger Woods is on his couch, recovering from a pair of autumn back surgeries, his caddie, Joe LaCava, is playing a lot of golf.
Since Woods’ 2014-15 PGA Tour season ended at the Wyndham Championship in August, LaCava, as he told ESPN, has played some 50 rounds of golf. In other words, he’s playing enough golf for himself and his boss. He misses being on the road, seeing friends and doing his job alongside the best player of this generation.
But, despite overtures from other players, LaCava is sticking by his man.
“A couple of guys approached me, I don’t want to name any names, but I [politely] said no,” LaCava said of those part-time or temporary offers. “My plan is to wait for Tiger to get back. I’ve told them I just want to work for Tiger and nobody else at this point. They were all nice about it. They didn’t know what my situation was. I’ve elected to wait things out with Tiger and that is my plan going forward.”
LaCava hasn’t spoken with Woods much about the progress he may have made toward getting back into competitive golf. However, they did get together for a New York Giants-Miami Dolphins Monday Night Football game, then LaCava traveled from his Connecticut home to Florida to celebrate Woods’ 40th birthday in late December.
While LaCava, who has worked with Woods since the 2011 Frys.com Open, doesn’t have a week-to-week gig to bring in money, he’s not concerned and praised Woods, albeit vaguely.
“I understand what you are asking and what I’ll tell you is this: Tiger has been great to me since Day One,” LaCava said. “And he continues to be great and very generous with me.”
When LaCava made the choice to caddie for Woods, he walked away from a potentially lucrative bag in Dustin Johnson. He doesn’t regret that choice at all. In fact, he is leveraging his experience in working for so many years with Fred Couples, also known for his back problems, to feel optimistic about Woods’ future, once he recovers.
“I still have faith he’s going to continue to do well and win,” LaCava said. “My thought is he will overcome the injury or whatever you want to call it. He might not be able to play as often as he would like. Once he’s healed from this, he’ll come back and play again and play well. My outlook is basically the same as when I started with him. He’s Tiger Woods.”
Ryan Ballengee is a Yahoo Sports contributor. Find him on Facebook and Twitter.
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