Players spend an awfully long time with their team.
Whether coach, club manufacturer, agent or caddie, all are working towards one goal – the best result for their man each week.
Some players have a closer relationship with their bag-man than others but, given the time spent together on the range and course, it has to work and continue to keep working.
For Will Zalatoris, this week was the end of the road for his working relationship with his caddie, Ryan Goble. Strangely, though, it came in the middle of a tournament.
The world number 14 remains the highest ranked player yet to win on the PGA Tour, his high status coming via six top-10 finishes in majors over the last couple of seasons, and a host of similar results as a temporary and full member of the tour.
However, after finishing runner up at the PGA and US Open, and posting yet another top-five, this time at the Memorial, results haven’t quite gone to plan – a missed-cut in Scotland followed by 28th at St. Andrews and 20th at the Rocket Mortgage Classic.
For Willy Z, things had to change. After opening with a 71 and 66 at the Wyndham Championship, Goble was gone, to be replaced temporarily by his short game and putting coach Josh Gregory, until getting the services of Joel Stock for the FedEx playoffs and beyond.
It was a tough decision for the 25-year-old, who said:
“Yeah, it was the toughest decision I’ve had to make in my golf career. Ryan’s a brother for life. We’ve kind of had a rough month together, and it was starting to affect our relationship. I know guys say that when they split, but it really was.
We were guys that we would love to have dinner together and hang out, and it started — what was going on on the course was starting to bleed off the course, and that’s not what you want.”
Confirming just how hard it is to ‘sack’ one of the closest members of your team, Zalatoris continued:
“He’s an incredible friend. I love him to death, and I told him I had to do what’s best for me. Like I said, he’s just an amazing friend.
You know, obviously you can tell how hard this decision was on me, especially the timing of it, but I think it was just getting a little unhealthy for both of us, and it was — obviously it hurts.”
Zalatoris did not reveal exactly why he made the move halfway through the tournament, but it appears to have been on the cards for a while.
“We both kind of sensed it for a little bit,” Zalatoris said. “And, you know, nothing’s permanent. It’s just something that, like I said, he’s a brother. I love him to death.”
“And obviously it was on my mind. I mean, the finish that I had obviously made the day [Friday] a little bit better, but the frustration between the two of us had just kind of carried over the last month. Like I said, first and foremost, I love him to death and, you know, he’s one of the funniest guys I know and obviously I’ll miss his humor over this next bit, but as I said, nothing’s permanent.”
The ‘finish’ he talked about was the two-eagle, one-birdie finish through the last five holes of the second round, resulting in a 66 and a weekend’s play. But with Gregory by his side, Zalatoris had his best putting figures of the week, on route to a second successive four-under round.
Gregory talked fondly of the previous looper.
“I feel awful, but Ryan Goble was first class the way he handled it,” he said. “He’s been there with Will when Will was ranked over 1,000 in the world and now, he’s a top-15 player in the world and going to trend upwards.”
“So, (Ryan) will be very successful in the future, and he will land a great job and things are going to be good. And it’s going to be a win-win for both of them.”
Zalatoris started the final round just six off the lead, and in with yet another chance of yet another top-10.
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That statement from Zalatoris is nothing but mealy-mouthed hogwash.
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This morning, Gary Player issued a statement via his Twitter account. According to the statement, Gary’s son, Marc has been auctioning off trophies and memorabilia without his father’s permission.
A statement on the unauthorized sale of Gary Player trophies & memorabilia. pic.twitter.com/2tilBplJOL
— GARY PLAYER (@garyplayer) August 8, 2022
This isn’t the first dispute between Player and his son, Marc. Back in 2020, the nine-time major champion won a settlement in court against Marc. Player got $5 million and the rights to his name and likeness back from a company operated by Marc in a Florida lawsuit.
The Player family are no strangers to controversy, with Gary’s other son, Wayne, banned from the Masters for life after pulling a guerrilla marketing stunt during the opening ceremony tee shots back in 2021.
It seems as if there’s been an uptick of cases with professional golfers losing their luggage on airlines this summer.
Last month at the Genesis Scottish Open, Viktor Hovland’s clubs were lost by the airline. He didn’t have his clubs or clothes in preparation for the event until Ping made a custom set for him on site at The Renaissance Club.
Last week, Irishman Shane Lowry’s clubs were lost on his way to the Wyndham Championship in North Carolina.
Can you help find my missing golf clubs and suitcase @DublinAirport ???? pic.twitter.com/NgwSpLDd0D
— Shane Lowry (@ShaneLowryGolf) August 2, 2022
This week, there are once again issues with a golfer’s clubs. On his way to begin the 2022 FedEx Cup Playoffs, Collin Morikawa tweeted a picture of his TaylorMade clubs in an ominous position.
Clubs fell out of the luggage cart and sat there for a few min with no one in sight. Let’s just say I was freaking out on the inside. Here we come #playoffs pic.twitter.com/0Rwde5sHSV
— Collin Morikawa (@collin_morikawa) August 7, 2022
Luckily for the two-time major champion, the potential nightmare was solved, and someone got his clubs back to where they needed to be.
There’s a hero out there somewhere?? pic.twitter.com/9cXzbtMR7y
— Collin Morikawa (@collin_morikawa) August 7, 2022
In just her second professional start, 22-year-old Louise Duncan finished inside the top-20 of the AIG Women’s Open, but the Duncan team experienced far more than just her first proper paycheck.
In 2021, the Scot won the Women’s Amateur Championship by a record margin (9&8) before nabbing a top-10 at the Women’s Open at Carnoustie, the low amateur winning the traditional Smyth Salver.
It’s a big leap to the paid ranks, but the £73,000 prize is early justification for the move, an amount that might well have just upgraded her future wedding to fiance Jordan Hughes.
After her second round 73, Duncan admitted it was, “a bit of a grind” but having been assured of making the cut, said that, “If it’s a nice cheque we’ll probably just go abroad and get it over with. That sounds bad – sorry Jordan. What I mean is we’ll be able to go abroad and have a good one.”
The round wasn’t without its humor either, with caddie Dean Robertson playing his part.
As reported in The Telegraph, former European Tour winner Robertson has been a large part of Duncan’s success, his experience as player and coach providing mentor-ship to the darling of the Scottish crowd.
However, during the second round when Sophia Schubert handed him a ball, he thought the American had just found it and wanted him to get rid. So he threw it over his left shoulder.
Schubert was actually wanting her ball cleaned and, because of Robertson’s actions, was now facing a stroke-and-distance penalty. So, despite wearing shorts, he did his valiant duty, scaled the wall and went searching in the scrub and nettles for the ball. To Schubert’s relief, it was a successful forage.
Duncan was pleased to see the closest member of her team having the tables turned on himself.
“I was like, ‘oh, no, Dean, tell me you haven’t just done that?’,” Duncan said “But it was an honest mistake and quite funny. He is always telling me to stop being an idiot and to calm down, so maybe he deserved that one.”
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