PGA Tour caddies walk a fine line every week, always under pressure and often short on praise, even when their players are the ones in the spotlight.
While the impact caddies have often goes unrecognised by casual fans, they do find themselves in the firing line when results aren’t going their players’ way.
Take Harry Diamond, for example. He faced plenty of questions after Rory McIlroy’s second-place finish at last year’s US Open. Even this year, Rory snapped back at a Genesis Invitational heckler who criticised Diamond.
Then there’s JJ Jakovac, who was let go earlier this year as Collin Morikawa looked to reset after a slower-than-expected stretch. Morikawa is still waiting for his first Tour win since 2023.
Smylie Kaufman names Collin Morikawa as the most difficult player to caddie
Ironically, just five tournaments later, Morikawa split with his new caddie, Joe Greiner. That move drew criticism from some fans, who felt it was time Morikawa looked inward.
Speaking on The Smylie Show, Smylie Kaufman offered some perspective on why Morikawa may have found it difficult to settle with a new caddie.
“I was curious, because at the beginning of the week, I was wondering, ‘well, that’s kind of weird that Joe Greiner’s not working this week. They must have had that pre-planned thing when he got hired on Collin’s bag because it seemed like all was well’. I talked to Joe Greiner at the US Open. I said, ‘hey, how’s Collin doing?’ He said he was good. ‘Feel like I learned something every week working for the guy’. But I also say this when it comes to working for Collin Morikawa, I think that’s probably one of the most challenging bags to work for, because of the way he plays the game,” he said.
“I think it’s very difficult to club him, because he hits shots that no one else hits. When I describe to you that he can be 180 yards and can just say, ‘you know what, I think I’m just going to take a lot off this five iron, I’m just going to chip-fade one’. Shoot, he could have been working for Max and that could have been ‘let’s hit seven iron here’. I think it’s very tough, I think he’s probably the most difficult player to caddie for, and I say that because he’s really, really, really good, and he’s really, really accurate. He’s very good at hitting his numbers, but I think it’s challenging to caddie for somebody that sees spin so much differently than most other tour players.”
Collin Morikawa explains why he has parted ways with Greiner
Morikawa addressed the split with Greiner before the Rocket Classic, explaining that finding the right replacement for Jakovac has not been a simple process.
“Yeah, I think I’m still learning that. Look, when I split with JJ Jakovac, I had him except for one tournament my entire career and you get used to that. JJ’s an amazing caddie and I wish him all the best,” Morikawa said.
“So when I leave that, it’s a process for me to find because I only know one way. I think people, they’re going to be surprised but the way I put it is just because two people are great at what they do doesn’t mean they’re going to be great together.
“I think Joe is an amazing caddie, but I think just the way we kind of saw things or just day to day how we kind of went about it, we were just a little bit on a different page. That doesn’t mean it’s right or wrong, but for me it just didn’t feel right.”
Morikawa’s decision to keep searching for the right fit is understandable – and he certainly won’t be the first player to struggle after making a caddie change.
Still, it’s hard to imagine he hasn’t at least wondered if parting ways with Jakovac was a step in the wrong direction.
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