Tiger Woods’ caddie to work with Patrick Cantlay for ‘foreseeable future’, according to reports

Tiger Woods’ long-time caddie Joe LaCava will be on the bag for Patrick Cantlay at the Wells Fargo Championship this week; LaCava is expected to be with Cantlay for ‘the foreseeable future’, according to reports, with the injured Woods having given the caddie his ‘blessing’

Tiger Woods’ long-time caddie Joe LaCava will be on the bag for Patrick Cantlay at the Wells Fargo Championship this week as Woods recovers from surgery.

According to the Golf Channel, LaCava is expected to be with Cantlay for ‘the foreseeable future’, with Woods giving the caddie his ‘blessing’.

Woods recently announced that he underwent a subtalar fusion procedure to address post-traumatic arthritis from the injuries to his right foot that he sustained in a car accident two years ago.

The 15-time major winner withdrew from The Masters last month due to injury midway through his third round at Augusta National. It was just his second start of the year, and the 47-year-old is now facing another lengthy spell out of the game.

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LaCava will replace Matt Minister, who has been caddie for world No 4 Cantlay since 2017. The pair have teamed up once before at the 2021 Northern Trust, with Minister missing that tournament due to Covid-19 and Woods still recovering from his car accident earlier that year.

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Woods’ good friend Justin Thomas addressed LaCava’s linking up with Cantlay in his pre-tournament press conference ahead of the Wells Fargo, saying Woods’ caddie since 2011 is “as loyal as loyal gets”.

“There’s so many guys out here that would have him caddie in an instant,” Thomas said of LaCava.

“When he was loyal to Tiger and Tiger’s probably telling him go caddie, go do whatever… that’s just not the kind of guy Joe is. He’s as loyal as loyal gets.

Justin Thomas spoke about Tiger Woods’ caddie Joe LaCava in his pre-tournament press conference at Wells Fargo

“But at the same time, he’s competitive and he’s a caddie. I mean, they love to caddie and they love to win golf tournaments and they love being in that moment. I’m sure that weighed into his decision as well.

“Obviously I don’t know the details and don’t know how long it is or what’s going on, but I know that that’s something that would never ever, ever be done if Tiger would not okay that.

“There definitely was some kind of conversation that went on there.”

Two weeks ago, LaCava was carrying the bag for Steve Stricker at the Zurich Classic. Before he caddied for Woods, he was the looper for Fred Couples and Dustin Johnson.

Watch the first round of the Wells Fargo Championship on Thursday, live on Sky Sports Gold from 7pm.