In all levels of caddieing, there are a few very simple rules to live by: keep up, shut up and do not, under any circumstances, lose one of your players’ clubs. In a country club setting, the third rule sometimes, understandably, gets broken. On the PGA Tour? Unheard of.

Or at least, that’s what we thought before Thursday at the Valspar Championship, where Germany’s Stephan Jaeger matched Ryan Brehm for the low round of the day (so far), posting a five-under 66 to grab a share of the lead. A score made even more impressive by the fact Jaeger played the final three holes without one of the most important clubs in his bag — his 58-degree wedge.

The good news for Jaeger’s caddie, Kent Bulle, is that Jaeger never actually needed the 58-degree on the final three holes. He hit all three greens in regulation at 16, 17 and 18, finishing par-par-birdie, capped off by a 29-foot putt at the last. Jaeger was in such high spirits that he didn’t even notice it was gone, telling Bulle “good job today” when they shook hands at the end of his round.

That’s when Bulle came clean.

“I told my caddie on 18, I was like: ‘Hey, good job,’” said Jaeger. “And he’s like: ‘Hey, wait a minute on that one,’ you know, we finished the round with 13 clubs. So I, I was like: ‘What?’ He’s like: ‘Yeah, I forgot your 58 on 15 at the par-3.’ I hit it in the bunker and I needed it. So thank God I didn’t need it for the rest of the round. And it kind of gave us a good laugh on 18, everybody in the group.”

The bad news for Bulle, and the part that made the situation extra-funny to Jaeger and his playing partners, is that Bulle is a professional golfer himself, and a darn good one. He’s won twice on the PGA Tour Latinoamerica and appeared in two majors, even making the cut at the 2017 Open Championship. A professional golfer-turned-professional-caddie losing a club mid-round is going to be a tough one to live down.

“He’s caddied for me three or four times,” Jaeger said. “A couple good finishes last year actually with him. He knows what he’s doing. He’s played professional golf for a long time. He’s not a first-timer. He knows what he’s doing. So that makes it even funnier that he lost it.”

Given Bulle knew where it was, and the fact there’s a 100 per cent chance another group came across it, we’re guessing it’s already safely back in Jaeger’s bag and Bulle will live to tell the tale.

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Henley — who is caddying for Chris Gotterup at The Great Exuma Classic this weekend — began his trip plagued, as many Americans were on Wednesday, by FAA system outages that grounded planes across the country. Henley missed his connection to Exuma International Airport, which forced him to fly into Nassau instead and then catch a second flight over to Sandals Emerald Reef Golf Club, the site of next week’s Great Exuma Classic, the following day. Not the start you want.

Once he arrived in the right place, Henley discovered that the hotel he booked online was sold out, so he was bumped to a nearby hostel. There, Henley posted a video of his sleeping quarters, partly as entertainment and partly as evidence for investigators in case he mysteriously goes missing. Check it out … if you dare.

The ceramic tile is 10 degrees softer than the mattress. Only going to be able to Loop one armed tomorrow. We can only head North from here. South is less than Hell. ?. What don’t kill ya makes you stronger! pic.twitter.com/N7Uokwj0TH

— KIP HENLEY Blue Check Mark (@KipHenley) January 12, 2023

OK, so let’s start with the good. There’s a lock on the door. That’s what you want to see. You also have a fairly modern air-conditioning unit, which is important since Henley’s suite doesn’t include an al-fresco, sea-facing balcony. Lastly, there doesn’t appear to be any blood stains on the mattress or in the bathroom. You wouldn’t want to test that theory with a blacklight, but to the naked eye, everything appears to be OK.

As far as the bad, well, that closet door definitely houses a demonic entity that only comes out at night, the beds (plural) look about as comfortable as a prison bench, and the less said about the sink situation the better. We’ve seen worse, but the Four Seasons it ain’t. Hell, it isn’t even a Motel 6. So here’s hoping Gotterup and Henley have a strong showing to make up for it. If not, let’s just hope he comes back with both kidneys and no bed bugs. That, in and of itself, would be a win.

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By Sam Weinman
There’s always an element of intrigue to how PGA Tour caddies get to where they are. There is no draft, or formal application process. Very often the men and women who land a bag on tour point to a hybrid of good timing and persistence, with the occasional “No one else was around” thrown in as well.

The journey for Geno Bonnalie, the caddie for Joel Dahmen the last five years, wasn’t much different. The two men grew up near each other in Idaho, and were already friends. But in Bonnalie’s case, there actually was a job application—at least if you count the plaintive email Bonnalie sent Dahmen in 2014 laying out why he was the right man for the job. The email, which Bonnalie shared as part of a candid first-person essay for The Caddie Network about his journey to the tour, is a fascinating window into the player-caddie relationship, and what the two value from each other.

You should read the whole story to understand just how devoted Bonnalie is to go, but as far as takeaways for other prospective caddies, Bonnalie’s missive serves as a decent blueprint.

For starters, it always helps to be unambiguous with your intentions, as Bonnalie does here: “I would like to officially apply for the position of ‘Joel Dahmen’s Caddie’ for the Web.com & PGA TOUR. I have been thinking about this for a long time, and I don’t want to put any pressure on you to hire me, I just want to explain why I would be a good fit for the job and let you decide.”

Then you need to detail why you deserve the job: “I don’t think you realize how much I love golf, everything about it. It literally consumes my thoughts. I promise you that no one would work harder than I would. I will be at the course earlier than everyone, I will be a charting/documenting machine.”

A caddie would also be wise to explain how he won’t put undue financial pressure on the player (extra credit for offering to live out of a Honda Civic) by living frugally: “I already have a plan to get rid of my truck and buy a Honda Civic and modify it to be my house. I have also looked at the schedule and know that there are some weeks where it is over 1,000 miles to the next location. That’s okay. That’s only 16 hours & $125 in gas… easy. I know there would be a lot of peanut butter and jelly sandwiches in my future, but I have a way of surviving on nothing. I made it through college, J.”

Of course, just to prove you’re not desperate, you need to make clear you have your own standards as well: “I do have some requirements from you, though, if you do consider me for this: 1. I expect you to give it 100% every week; 2. Never give up; 3. Be completely honest with me at all times.”

To read the email,  it’s no surprise that Bonnalie landed where he did, and it seems to be working out for Dahmen as well. Last season was his best on tour with $1.476 million in earnings, and he’s on pace to exceed that in 2018-19.

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By Alex Myers
After a 2017 golf season that saw several high-profile players change caddies, 2018 has been relatively quiet on the looper front. But now another successful duo, Martin Kaymer and Craig Connelly, is splitting up.

As first reported by Bunkered magazine. Kaymer and Connelly are parting amicably. Kaymer has yet to comment on the personnel change or announce a new caddie, but Connelly confirmed the split on Twitter.

All good things come to an end Tom. #ClassIsPermanent https://t.co/X13I4DKmh3

— Craig Connelly (@theweeman77) September 13, 2018

Connelly, nicknamed “the wee man,” was on Kaymer’s bag for both the German’s two major victories, first at the 2010 PGA Championship at Whistling Straits and then at the 2014 U.S. Open at Pinehurst. The two also teamed up to claim the 2014 Players Championship.

The pair seemed to get along great, with Kaymer posting a video of him getting excited to prove Connelly wrong after reaching a par 5 on a second shot in January. And in July, the 33-year-old former World No. 1 said this in an interview with The Telegraph during the Open Championship:

“I am grateful for the relationship I have with my caddie, Craig Connelly. We go through so much together and talk about so much private stuff. The role of the caddie is so important in professional golf. And, without him, I would know nothing about Scottish football.”

Kaymer had been a part of Europe’s four previous Ryder Cup teams, but is in the midst of a down season. The 2010 European Tour Race to Dubai winner is currently only 66th on that points list, while falling to 146th in the Official World Golf Ranking.

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