Who's next on Max Homa's bag? The caddie carousel has been busy of late
Who's next on Max Homa's bag? The caddie carousel has been busy of late
Trying to keep up with the caddie carousel on the PGA Tour always has been a fool's errand but it has been particularly tricky of late.
As is usually the case, all it takes is one domino to fall, and the caddie yard is in a state of flux.
It was late March when caddie Joe Greiner split with his childhood buddy Max Homa after six Tour victories together for the good of their friendship. Homa quickly hooked up with veteran caddie Bill Harke, who was working as a swing instructor in the Bay Area and assistant coach to his partner — former LPGA pro Beth Allen — at Division II Academy of Art University in San Francisco. This all came at the recommendation of Jim 'Bones' Mackay.
Greiner ended up spelling injured caddie Matt 'Rev' Minister for Justin Thomas at the Masters and when they won together at the RBC Heritage, JT's first victory in three years, rumors circulated that Greiner might go full-time with JT but he put the kibosh on those rumors quickly and Minister, who had replaced Bones a year earlier, returned at the PGA Championship.
But it didn't take Greiner long to find a new full-time bag, hooking up with Collin Morikawa, the two-time major winner who has been battling his own winless drought. J.J. Jakovac had been Morikawa's only bagman since turning pro in 2019. JJ turned up as a fill-in on Matt Wallace's bag for one week at the Charles Schwab Challenge before landing a full-time gig with promising rookie Michael Thorbjornsen. (He failed at U.S. Open Final Qualifying and withdrew from the RBC Canadian Open this week, citing a wrist injury.)
Jakovac slid into the job formerly held by Lance Bennett, who had been caddying for Tiger Woods before his latest injury sidelined him. Thorbjornsen shares the same management company, Excel Sports Management, as Woods and Homa. After Homa parted ways with Harke on Sunday following the Memorial, he carried his own bag during Monday's 36-hole U.S. Open qualifier and lost in a playoff. Who did Homa ring to handle caddie duties this week at the RBC Canadian Open? None other than Bennett. It's unclear what Homa's plans are beyond this week but stay tuned. The caddie carousel doesn't appear to be slowing down any time soon.
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