Bryson Dechambeau’s ex-Caddie has a fascinating new employer

Tiger Woods first put them together: Bryson Dechambeau and Tony Finau, a dynamic dynamic duo with a large bombing that was sent in Thursday’s four-ball matches in Royal Melbourne to start the 2019 President Cup. Their sweaters were bright red and the bibs of their bags were too. There was Finau’s Caddy Greg Bodine, who had been on the PGA Tour side of Finau since his smoke year. And there was Deschambeau’s Caddy Tim Tucker, his partner-in-crime for eight previous and future PGA Tour victories, including US Open from the following year.

Everything in the golf world has changed since then. But this sport works in mysterious ways, and from this summer, Dephambeau and Finau are still working in service Tucker and Bodine – they have just turned employers. And their story is part of a fascinating structure of mixing and matching with major players and caddies in sport.

Finau and Bodine are splitting in the summer of 2020, while Dechambeau and Tucker separate in the summer of 2021. Every break was emotional in his own way; Partnerships with this much history are usually. So how did they change employers? In 2023, amidst the most turbulent piece of his professional career, Deschambeau hired Bodine. And last week, looking for a missing piece, Finau hired Tucker, who completes the Caddy exchange six years later.

No, this was not a one-for-one transaction, as happens in other sports. But the wax The newest fascinating twist on a Caddy carousel that seems to be running particularly quickly this year, with high-profile players and loopers who make real-time changes throughout the season.

If you rewind to march, you will arrive at the first surprising split of the year, which came from Matt Fitzpatrick and Billy Foster, who work together to win the 2022 US Open, the 2023 Ryder Cup and much more. They separated to following the players’ championship.

Then there were Joe Greiner and Max Homa, who went their own way for the masters. Homan tried Bill Harke out in the weeks that followed, wore his own bag for a few rounds and then settled at Lance Bennett, whose former employers Tiger Woods had admitted.

The next was Collin Morikawa and JJ Jakovac, who had been together for two Majors and the whole of his PGA Tour official period. Next their Split, Morikawa hired Greiner, a logical-IF-Potential AWWWD movement given Morikawa and Homan’s close relationship. Jakovac found a new employer in Michael Thorbjornsen, who had previously worked with Bennett he had On the left to work for Homan, completing a confusing trade with three teams (Greiner to Morikawa, Jakovac to Thorbjornsen, Bennett to Homa) until Greiner and Morikawa separated a few weeks later.

Golf’s greatest collective heartache stemmed from the collapse of fan favorites and Netflix treasures Joel Dahmen and Geno Bonnalie. The two best friends had been inseparable since before the arrival of Dahmen on tour; They called it stopped in July after a difficult part of seven missed cuts in eight weeks.

And a particularly meaningful split came after the Open Championship, when Joaquin Niemann separated with his Caddy (and coach) after his second consecutive large missed cut. Niemann has been brilliant at LIV and won five times this season (four times pre-split, again with his new Caddy) but clearly wants more.

There are hundreds of other players-caddie changes that have happened in the meantime, naturally-beamed permanent, some temporarily, some difficult to define. In April, Griner oppressed a few weeks before Justin Thomas, a well -timed movement that contributed to a characteristic event victory in Hilton Head. Morikawa tried Foster for his left golf swing, although they missed the cut at both the Scottish open and the open championship. For a part of last week and this upcoming BMW championship, World No. 1 Scottie Scheffler will be without TED Scott, who is at home to provide a family material.

But back to our original protagonists: Tucker split in July with old employer Kurt Kitayama. Only a few weeks later did Finau split with old Caddy Mark Urbanek. Kitayama was immediately successful with his brother who served as a fill -in replacement, while Tucker even filled Bodine on the Dembeau bag during the Liv event in the VK Finau event, in the meantime continued to search before hiring Tucker for the Fedex St. Jude Championship. It is unclear the conditions of their agreement, nor when Finau will then set it up, since he missed the last two rounds of the FedEx Cup play -offs.

Meanwhile, Morikawa has hired Urbanek; He has now gone by the ex-lusers of Homan, Fitzpatrick and Finau as part of a five-caddie season.

His and theirs are the newest saga in one of the more intriguing professions in Sport, where De Goede Tijden are great and the uncertain times are often and difficult. Caddies are important – we know that much. But it’s hard to know exactly what makes a good thing, it’s hard to know when you’ll have the right one and it’s hard to know when it’s time to continue. But it always happens with the ex-Caddie of your ex-Caddie.

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