By Daniel Rapaport
Is caddie-turned-TV-analyst Jim ‘Bones’ Mackay about to do some more moonlighting as a looper next week at the PGA Championship? It sounds as if that might be the case.

On Wednesday, PGA Tour pro Joel Dahmen posted a photo on Twitter showing Mackay carrying his bag. “Trying to warm #Bones up for @maxhoma23,” Dahmen wrote.

Trying to warm #Bones up for @maxhoma23. I’m lacking some chest hair, but I make up for it with my hat maybe? #GiveMeAGoodNumberBones pic.twitter.com/is8ATMRRMU

— Joel Dahmen (@Joel_Dahmen) May 12, 2021

When we reached out to Dahmen via text message, he suggested Homa (Dahmen’s good friend) was planning to use Mackay’s services at Kiawah Island.

The timing would make sense. Homa would seem to be in the market for a one-week, fill-in for his longtime caddie, Joe Greiner, who qualified for the U.S. Amateur Four-Ball at Chambers Bay. The first round of that tournament begins May 22, the Saturday of the PGA Championship.

Neither Homa or Mackay have made any comment about working together next week. (Mackay had not responded to a request for comment regarding a possible arrangement.) However, since Mackay joined NBC Sports and Golf Channel as an on-course reporter shortly after his retirement from full-time looping duties in 2017, he has played fill-in caddie a number of times. At last year’s PGA Championship, he was on the bag for Justin Thomas, having taken over temporary duties earlier in the summer when Thomas’ full-time caddie, Jimmie Johnson, worked through health issues. Thomas won the WGC-FedEx St. Jude Invitational with Mackay on the bag the week before the PGA.

Mackay also worked for Matt Fitzpatrick in the two events at Muirfield Village last year, helping the Englishman to his best finish of the 2019-20 season, a solo third in the Memorial. Most recently, Mackay worked for Jimmy Walker at the 2020 Masters.

Homa, currently ranked No. 39 in the world, is in the midst of his best season on tour—he won his second career title at the Genesis Invitational in February and has three other top-10 finishes.

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By Brian Wacker
As a caddie with two decades of experience for some of the game’s top players on the PGA Tour, this week’s Sentry Tournament of Champions in Maui is a familiar spot for John Wood to begin his year. Instead of toting a golf bag, however, he’ll be carrying a microphone.

In August, Wood split with Matt Kuchar following a missed cut at the PGA Championship at TPC Harding Park. A few months later, it was announced that Wood would join NBC and Golf Channel as an on-course reporter for the networks.

Truly, the groundwork for the career change was laid five years earlier.

“Going back to 2015, I enjoyed the experience a lot more than I was anticipating,” Wood said of that year’s RSM Classic, where he joined Jim “Bones” Mackay as an on-course reporter for Golf Channel in its broadcast of the Sea Island, Ga., event. “I always kept that in the back of mind if an opportunity came up again.”

At the time, both men were employed loopers—Wood for Kuchar and Mackay for Mickelson. Two years later, one of golf’s most famous twosomes broke up when Mackay and Mickelson parted ways. Mackay joined the network full-time shortly thereafter.

Now, Wood is by his side again.

“I was ready for a new challenge,” Wood said of the career change. “I love caddying and I’ll miss it—no question—but when this opportunity presented itself, the timing was just right. You can’t caddie forever. Not all of us can be Fluff [72-year-old Mike Cowan]. I knew I could keep caddying, but I thought three, four, five years down the road would this opportunity still be here? I didn’t know.”

After Wood informed Kuchar he’d no longer be working for him, he caddied a few more times for Cameron Champ in the fall portion of the tour’s 2020-21 schedule. But his mind was already made up.

“I talked to a couple of [players] who got in touch, but I was committed to doing this once I made the decision,” Wood said. “There was no looking back.”

But even as the 51-year-old looks forward to his new role, in reality he’ll use many of the same skills—preparation, anticipation, knowing what to say and not to say—that he’s used for years. Those are just some of the reasons Wood was one of the most respected and successful loopers in the game, and why he figures to be an excellent fit for television, much the way Mackay has been.

As a caddie, John Wood worked with a number of top players, including Matt Kuchar. AR

“I was blown away how good Bones is now,” Wood said. “Not that he wasn’t good at the beginning, but watching him now, the job he does is incredible. Watching and listening to him helped me make the same decision.”

And in Wood NBC and Golf Channel gain a wealth of knowledge.

After playing collegiately at Cal, Wood spent the next 20 years on the bags of a handful of players. In addition to Kuchar, whom he began working for in 2015, he also caddied for Hunter Mahan, Kevin Sutherland, Chris Riley and Mark Calcavecchia.

Among the highlights: helping Kuchar to a bronze medal at the 2016 Olympics in Rio; being part of two winning Ryder Cup teams, first for Mahan in 2008 then Kuchar in 2016; and more than a few victories on tour.

Despite that success, however, Wood said he was at a point in his life in which he was ready for a change. He’s intrigued by the inner workings of television and excited about the opportunity to provide his insights.

“You can have a plan always, but as soon as something deviates from that plan you have to think on your feet and come up with what your player wants to hear,” said Wood, who figures to work 18-20 tournaments this year and even more in the years ahead. “Now my attention will go to what will inform the viewer and what they might want to know about a shot that they might not otherwise know—what’s in the player’s head, the caddie’s head. Every week you prepare as a caddie for one player. Now I like looking at it in more ways than one.”

As for being critical of a player or reporting on something controversial? Wood plans to take the same approach he did as a caddie.

“There’s a big difference between being critical of a decision or bad shot and being personal,” he said. “Most of the guys understand that. As a caddie, you know when you screwed up, and I’m not afraid of someone saying I did. But I never want to cross that line and get personal. I just plan on calling it like I see it.”

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By Tod Leonard
Hit an iron off the cart path or from a bed of small leaves? You figure that most golfers would choose the latter. Heck, even caddie/broadcaster Jim (Bones) Mackay would have made that call for the man he loops for part-time when he’s not holding a microphone.

Mackay happened to be the on-course reporter on Saturday at the Zozo Championship when Justin Thomas found himself in a tough spot with a wayward drive on the par-5 13th hole at Sherwood Country Club. With the TV compound affecting his shot line, Thomas got word from an official that he could take a drop to the left, but he’d be on the cart path.

“I don’t think he’s going to take relief,” Mackay said, noting that the cart path slope was a bit steep and slippery. “I think he’s ultimately play it from where the ball lies.”

Bones doesn’t misjudge much, but seconds later Thomas decided to drop on the cart path, getting to pick his exact spot to place the ball. He then lined up and—with viewers expecting to see sparks fly—hit one of the nicest clips off concrete you’ll ever seen, rifling the ball 184 yards and back into the fairway.

The Golf Channel replay of the shot was great. The closeup showed Thomas’ 7-iron never touching the ground as he caught the ball perfectly. (That’s how good these guys are.) Even better, they came back from a break and showed Thomas gleefully showing a laughing Mackay that there wasn’t a scratch on the club.

Unfortunately for Thomas, he couldn’t back up a tremendous shot with just a good one. He flared his approach to the green and could only make par to remain one shot off the leaders.

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By Tod Leonard
It might be light and airy. It might be awkward. It might be strictly business. We know this: When Phil Mickelson and his former caddie of 25 years, Jim (Bones) Mackay, come face to face on the first tee on Sunday at TPC Southwind in Memphis, it will be fascinating theatre.

Mickelson and Mackay, who parted ways three years ago after this tournament, the WGC-FedEx St. Jude Invitational, will be reunited on the golf course in a group for the first time since their breakup.

Mackay, of course, took an on-course commentating job with NBC and Golf Channel, though he has made cameo appearances of late on the bag of Matthew Fitzpatrick and now Justin Thomas, whose regular caddie,Jimmy Johnson, has been undergoing tests since becoming ill at the Memorial Tournament.

On Phil’s bag is his brother, Tim, who gave up being Jon Rahm’s agent to loop after Mackay’s departure.

At least on television, Mackay and Mickelson have crossed paths only by happenstance. Much of that might be due to Mackay working among the lead groups, of which Mickelson has not often been a part of in the last few years. The Hall of Famer has won twice since Mackay left the bag—they won 42 times and five majors together— but Mickelson has only one top-10 finish in 13 starts this season.

On the strength of a four-under-par 66 on Saturday, Mickelson moved into a tie for sixth place at seven under, five off the lead of Brandon Todd. After his second 66 of the week, Thomas is one shot ahead of Mickelson, alone in fifth.

With Mackay on his bag for two events at Muirfield Village, Fitzpatrick followed a tie for 27th in the Workday Charity Open with a solo third in the Memorial. Thomas is trying for his third win of the season.

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By Joel Beall
Ten months ago Brendon Todd didn’t have tour status. He’s a round away from becoming the Player of the Year favourite.

Todd survived a four-bogey day thanks to five red figures, turning in a one-under 69 for a one-shot lead into the final round of the WGC-FedEx St. Jude Invitational.

“I’m excited to be in this position and feel like if I can go out there and swing a little better and keep this putting momentum going, I’ll be in good shape,” Todd said.

That Todd remains up top is a testament to his short game. Already one of the shorter hitters on tour—he ranks 209th out of 216 qualified players in distance this season—the 35-year-old was struggling with his driver Saturday, finding the short stuff just half the time en route to a negative -0.613 strokes gained/off-the-tee mark. The approach performance (-.763 strokes gained) wasn’t much better.

“Today was a little more difficult, cooler, a little more moisture out there,” Todd said. “The winds were still up and swirling a little bit, so I thought the golf course still yielded great scores. But for me, made it a little more difficult and I was battling my swing a little bit.”

Yet Todd gained nearly two-and-half strokes on the field with the flat stick on Saturday, converting four birdies from outside 12 feet. On the week he’s up more than nine strokes on the greens over his competition.

“I put in some work with my mental coach on the greens earlier in the week and we just focused on—if I focus on fundamentals, good things will happen,” Todd said. “So for me that means staying steady over the ball, staying down on my putts and having good speed. So those are really the keys to putting and it’s been working really well for me this week.”

It is the fourth time this season Todd will enter Sunday with the lead, converting two of those leads into wins at the Bermuda Championship and Mayakoba Golf Classic last fall. To do so, he’ll have to hold off the likes of Ben An, Rickie Fowler, Brooks Koepka and Justin Thomas. Of course, this is a man who battled the yips and contemplated quitting the game. He does not scare easy.

“I think we all, the best players in the world treat each final round like it’s just another day and they just go out there and try to execute and stick to their game and let the results fall as they do,” Todd said.

Brooks’ bounce back
The finger appeared to be on the eject button. Brooks Koepka started Saturday with a double at the second and added a bogey at the sixth. Given Koepka was coming off a rough Friday showing, it appeared whatever momentum conjured off of Thursday’s 62 was shot.

The lesson, as always: Never doubt Brooks Koepka.

Koepka caught fire Saturday afternoon, logging six birdies in an eight-hole stretch. He stumbled at the 17th but still finished with a 68—37 on the front, 31 on the back— putting him three back of Todd.

Despite the parade of birdies it was a par that saved Koepka’s tournament. Koepka’s drive on the 13th went into the native area, with his provisional rolling up against a fence. Koepka was able to find his first shot, which was plugged in the heather, thus bestowing a free drop. From there, Koepka muscled out his approach on the dance floor, saving 4.

In one sense, winning doesn’t necessarily matter for Koepka on Sunday. He is a man judged on four tournaments, and four tournaments alone. Conversely, he’s 30 spots outside the playoffs with 15 days left in the regular season and was coming off a brutal three-tournament stretch (CUT, T-62, CUT). Recapturing that swagger days before his pursuit of a third straight Wanamker Trophy begins is something Koepka, whether he’ll admit it or not, needed to happen. And a development that spells trouble for his competition.

Phil shakes off cobwebs
It has been tough sledding for Phil Mickelson. In six starts since finishing T-3 at Pebble Beach in February, Mickelson has not logged a top 20 and missed the cut three times. The strokes gained metrics aren’t kind, either: 155th in approach, 148th in putting, 115th total. Coupled with his 50th birthday this summer, it was fair to wonder how much gas was left in Lefty’s tank.

Plenty, it turns out. Mickelson, beginning his day eight shots back in a tie for 15th, reached as high as third place on Saturday before a taking a par at the par-5 16th and bogey at the 17th. Still, for a guy in desperate need of, well, something, Saturday’s 66 was a shot of life.

“I hit a lot of good shots, made a lot of good putts and played really well,” Mickelson said. “I let it—you can always look back and you feel like you let a couple go. I wish I would have finished the round off a little better. I wish I had birdied 16 and not bogeyed 17. Those two shots coming down, you’ve really got to close the round out a little better than I did today. But I hit a lot of good shots in the heart of the round, made seven birdies and really had a good day.”

Helping matters are Memphis’ friendly confines. Mickelson owns four top-10 finishes at the St. Jude Classic, and earlier in the week called TPC Southwind one of the more underrated tracks on tour. He’ll need that home cookin’ on Sunday.

“I’m going to have to shoot something really low, probably 63, 64 to have a realistic chance,” Mickelson said. “It’s certainly out there, I’ve shot it before.”

More importantly, it gives Mickelson—never a man short on confidence—conviction in his game heading into the PGA Championship.

Thomas provides update on caddie
Justin Thomas has Jim (Bones) Mackay on this bag for the next two weeks as his regular loop, Jimmy Johnson, is taking time off for his health. Johnson got overheated at the Memorial a few weeks back and felt his body wasn’t up for the task of Memphis and San Francisco. Following his third round, Thomas said Johnson recently underwent a stress test.

“The big thing is he’s fine when he’s inside and not in the severe heat like that,” Thomas said. “The big thing is we’re just trying to figure out what it is or if there’s something in particular, whether it’s some medicine he takes. More often than not it’s not something crazy major. It’s just like I told him and I think that he’s figuring out, it’s a lot bigger than caddying. It’s about his health. I love Jimmy to death, he’s part of the family and I want him over anybody else in the world on my bag for the rest of my careee. But if it means his health, then that’s what it is. So that’s what he’s trying to fix so that he can get himself better first and foremost, and then caddying is just a bonus.”

Thomas said they have ruled out coronavirus, and that Johnson has further tests, scans and X-rays scheduled.

“I told him I’ll be as helpful or as involved or uninvolved as he wants me to be,” Thomas said. “You know, whether he’s here this week or not, he’s still on the team and I’m still a part of his team as well. So I’m going to do and everybody else on my team is going to do what we can to help, but glad he’s home resting right now.”

Thomas shot a four-under 66 on Saturday. The FedEx Cup points leader will enter Sunday four back of Todd and will be looking for his third win and ninth top 10 in 14 starts this year.

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By Staff Reporter
After a successful two-week stint on Matthew Fitzpatrick’s bag, Jim (Bones) Mackay will make a caddie cameo for another one of the world’s best golfers.

Golf Channel’s Chantel McCabe reported on Wednesday that Justin Thomas has hired the longtime looper for the next two weeks. And they are a big two tournaments at that with this week’s WGC-FedEx St. Jude Invitational and next week’s PGA Championship, the first major of 2020.

According to McCabe, Mackay is filling in for Jimmy Johnson, who is battling dizzyness related to the heat in Memphis. Johnson also sat out part of the Memorial, where Thomas’ dad, Mike, took his spot.

JT said he will be using Bones this week and next week as Jimmy returned home for testing after dizzy spells again. https://t.co/q0ZnDfW7ic

— Chantel McCabe (@ChantelMcCabeGC) July 29, 2020

Mackay, most known for being Phil Mickelson’s caddie for more than 25 years, has worked as an on-course reporter for NBC/Golf Channel since 2017. He previously filled in for Johnson on Thomas’ bag at the 2018 Sony Open, where Thomas finished T-14.

Mackay helped Fitzpatrick finish T-27 and solo third at back-to-back events—the Workday Invitational and the Memorial—hosted at Muirfield Village earlier this month.

Thomas, 27, is currently No. 3 in the Official World Golf Ranking. He is paired with Collin Morikawa and Hideki Matsuyama the first two rounds at TPC Southwind.

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By Daniel Rapaport
DUBLIN, Ohio — Turns out, Bones still knows what he’s doing.

Jim (Bones) Mackay, who spent more than 25 years as Phil Mickelson’s caddie before becoming an on-course analyst with NBC/Golf Channel, decided to dust off the trainers and return to the caddie ranks for the Muirfield Village double. He knew Matthew Fitzpatrick was in search of a fill-in looper—Fitz’s full-time guy, Billy Foster, remained in England due to the COVID-19 pandemic—texted the young Englishman, and soon they had an agreement to work together for the back-to-back starts in Ohio.

Two profitable weeks, as it turns out.

Fitzpatrick shot a four-under 68 on Sunday amid brutal conditions to vault up the Memorial leader board, all but assuring himself a top-five finish as the leaders were just beginning their back nines. This comes one week after Fitzpatrick and Mackay teamed for a T-27 finish at the Workday Charity Open.

In typical caddie fashion, Bones was quick to redirect any credit to his player.

“He’s a very, very good player, and it was a joy to be with him,” Mackay said. “He was great out there. I mean, 68 today, what more could you ask for from the guy?

“He’s got a ton of shots,” Mackay continued, “and to me the most underrated skill a professional golfer can have—which he has in spades—is the ability to read greens. He’s an amazing green reader, and I think that’s going to take him a long way in this game. He’s longer than I thought he was going to be. He’s good. He’s really good.”

Fitzpatrick said having Mackay on the bag was rather helpful given the conditions, which were among the toughest you’ll see on a golf course. The wind blew a consistent 25 miles per hour all day, with gusts north of 30, which only exacerbated the already brutal setup that included juicy rough and concrete-like greens.

“I mean, he’s seen conditions like this plenty of times, and to have him on the bag was brilliant,” Fitzpatrick said. “I definitely learned a couple things off him, and I’ll be picking his brain to see what I can improve on.”

Despite their success, the partnership will not be extended. Foster, who spent years on the bag as Seve Ballesteros and Lee Westwood, will return to Fitzpatrick’s bag for the WGC-FedEx St. Jude Invitational later this month.

But Mackay stopped well short of closing the caddie door.

“I work 22 weeks a year,” Mackay said. “That means there’s 30 other weeks I can go caddie if I want to. You know, if someone says that their caddie has got a twisted ankle, that’s something—I love caddieing. I consider myself a caddie, even when I’m doing TV.”

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By Daniel Rapaport
Jim (Bones) Mackay worked for Phil Mickelson for more than 25 years before mutually parting ways in 2017 and becoming an on-course TV commentator. Matthew Fitzpatrick didn’t recognise the number sending him the text message.

“The message said it was Bones, and he heard through the grapevine that I was in the market for a fill-in caddie,” Fitzpatrick said. “I told him I was honoured that he was even reaching out.”

Needless to say, the answer was yes.

Jim (Bones) Mackay, an on-course analyst for NBC/Golf Channel who spent more than 25 years on Phil Mickelson’s bag before mutually parting ways in 2017, will work as a fill-in caddie for Fitzpatrick in next week’s Workday Charity Open and a week later at the Memorial Tournament, both event taking place at Muirfield Village outside of Columbus, Ohio.

Fitzpatrick waited out most of the COVID-19 lockdown back in his hometown of Sheffield, England. When he flew back to the U.S. in late May and quarantined for two weeks in Florida before returning to the tour, his full-time loop, Billy Foster—a deeply respected caddie himself, who spent years on the bags of Seve Ballesteros and Lee Westwood—opted to remain with his family in England rather than risking infection and waiting out the mandatory quarantine in the U.S.

Fitzpatrick first met Mackay when he played in Mickelson’s group as an amateur in the 2014 U.S. Open, and the two kept in loose touch because Mickelson and Fitzpatrick are both sponsored by Workday. Since parting ways with Mickelson and taking the TV gig, Mackay has worked as a fill-in caddie before. He was on the bag for Justin Thomas for a spot start at the 2018 Sony Open.

David Cannon
Matthew Fitzpatrick’s regular caddie, Billy Foster, is expected to return on the bag at the WGC-FedEx St. Jude Invitational later this month.

During the first three tournaments of the PGA Tour restart, Fitzpatrick used a different fill-in, Cayce Kerr, finishing T-32 at the Charles Schwab Challenge, a T-14 at the RBC Heritage and missing the cut at the Travelers Championship, which broke his streak of 20 straight made cuts on the PGA Tour. The plan is for Foster to return to Fitzpatrick’s bag at the WGC-FedEx St. Jude Invitational later this month, while Mackay will return to his day job as a TV reporter.

Fitzpatrick, a 25-year-old Englishman, is currently ranked No. 26 in the world. A five-time winner on the European Tour and member of the 2016 European Ryder Cup team, he is playing his first full season as a PGA Tour member.

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“I never wanted it to turn into a toxic relationship where he’s taken me from where I am as a 12-year-old kid to where I am today, and I’m not talking to him anymore,” Day said Wednesday in explaining why he has replaced Colin Swatton, his swing coach and his only caddy since he turned professional, on his bag starting at this week’s BMW Championship.

“I was worried if I kept it going, it was going to head that way, and I love him too much to have him not in my life because of how special he is to me.”

While Swatton will remain Day’s swing coach, his departure from his star pupil’s bag might be the most surprising in a year that hadn’t already seen Phil Mickelson and Rory McIlroy split with their longtime sidekicks.

Swatton has been more than just Day’s instructor and caddie. He was the golf instructor at the Kooralbyn International School in Queensland, Australia, when Day, then 12, arrived shortly after his father’s death. In essence, Swatton has been a surrogate father to the 2015 PGA champion and former World No. 1.

As far back as 2012, Day had been contemplating making a switch, but after going winless this year and falling to No. 9 in the world, the 29-year-old Aussie felt that he could wait no longer, and he made the switch last week. He has brought in a friend from home, Luke Reardon, who was his roommate at the Hills International College in Australia.

“He came over [and] my buddy Andy got him a job roofing. Now he’s on the bag for me in the third FedEx playoff event,” said Day, who plans to employ another friend, former Web.com Tour player David Lutterus, in two weeks at the Presidents Cup at Liberty National.

Swatton, Day said, was stunned by the decision. Day, wanting to finish the year strong, figured he finally had to pull the trigger after marinating about a change in his mind for so long. Just to extend his season, he will have to perform well here at Conway Farms Golf Club to reach the Tour Championship. He enters the week 28th in the FedEx Cup points standings; the top 30 advance to the season finale at East Lake Golf Club in Atlanta.

Good thing Day knows the course. Two years ago he blitzed it with a 61-63 opening on the way to a 22-under 262 total and six-stroke victory. It was his fifth win of 2015 and elevated Day to No. 1 for the first time.

“Obviously, this is a very hard time for both of us,” said Day, whose last win was the 2016 Players. “It’s hard because we’ve been a team for so long. Like I said, he was an amazing caddie, amazing coach, amazing person.

“He’s done pretty much everything he can to get me where I’m going. He’s a father figure for me ever since I was a kid, and I wanted to make sure that it’s still there.”

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By Joel Beall
It’s been a rough go as of late for Phil Mickelson. He’s posted just one top-10 finish since March, made the weekend at only one major and parted ways with his long-time caddie Jim “Bones” Mackay. And, despite reveling in team events, Mickelson’s miles away from earning a guaranteed spot via points to the U.S. Presidents Cup team.

Because of this subpar play — along with noncommittal statements from captain Steve Stricker — the 47-year-old’s plight to make the American squad has been amplified in recent weeks. But Mickelson’s experience and locker room presence still makes him a favorite to grab one of the captain’s picks. Moreover, Lefty was tabbed in 2015 despite a lower points standing, a move that paid off in a 3-0-1 record in South Korea.

Which could explain why one group is adamant Mickelson will tee it up for the red, white and blue at Liberty National: oddsmakers.

According to BookMaker.eu, the gambling site lists Mickelson at minus-800 to make the team after the Dell Technologies Championship, with a plus-575 figure to be left off.

True, this is partially a reflection of how the public views Phil’s circumstance, and Mickelson’s made the team in every year of the event’s existence. Nevertheless, that’s a mighty number for a guy currently ranked 17th in a poll that locks in the top-10 players.

Of course, you might want to jump on that minus-800 while you can. If Mickelson finds himself in contention in Boston — a course where he’s won at and boasts three top-10 finishes — that bet could be off the board in a hurry.

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