via Reuters
Tiger Woods has officially returned to his favorite sport. But for his next term, he will be moving ahead without his old caddie Joe LaCava. Last year when Woods took a break from golf, after an amicable understanding LaCava and Woods split ways and the caddie went 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.
Joe LaCava was humbled by Tiger Woods’ goodness
LaCava recently appeared on the Quiet Please podcast where he revealed many incidents from the nostalgia with Woods. Recalling some special memories from his earlier days the looper revealed that Woods had a golf coach, his agent, Mark Steinberg, who mostly stayed out for business so at the beginning of their term he used to be much nervous around him “because it’s Tiger Woods, right?” He always wanted to do a good job and make sure he was doing all the things correctly.
But he was also aware that he was going to make mistakes. The first couple of tournaments he was very nervous and anxious. And it was at that time that two things struck out to him. First Woods was low maintenance and second that the golfer never went to him to complain about any wrongdoing. He said, “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 good to him that LaCava had to request him to stop being so nice.
During their tenure, the golfers never pointed out any wrong putts or wrong reading of the caddie. LaCava adds, “He very seldom pulls or pushes a putt. So almost like being too nice, like he wouldn’t tell me to read was wrong. And I said, stop being so nice.” LaCava wanted to learn where he was making mistakes so he could improve them. “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 want to know for next time.”
The duo had a smooth ride for a long time which stood the test of time when Woods went through his accidents in the past few years. The two got so close that the caddie also dropped a big piece of information about the golfer on the show.
Is Tiger Woods ready to embrace retirement?
In the same episode, LaCava also revealed that while they were together Woods felt unsure about how long he will be playing. He was also encouraged by the golfer to caddie for someone else if the opportunity came his way. Though at the time he declined as he was happy with how nicely Woods was treating him, but the allure called him back.
At last when Woods stepped back from the greens to recover he had to let go of his looper who luckily found a great opportunity with Patrick Cantlay whom LaCava called a “good young, healthy player.” Now he wishes for a successful tenure with Cantlay.
