Caddie Confidential: My 2021 PGA Tour Caddie of the Year Award winner would be…
By The Caddie Network Staff · October 29, 2021
Welcome to the 10th installment of our “Caddie Confidential” series, with monthly, inside-the-ropes perspective from dozens of Tour caddies on rotating golf topics. Up this month: we tackle a player of the year debate, biggest surprises in the 2020-21 PGA Tour season, which major was the best of them all and which looper should be tabbed “Caddie of the Year.”
Caddies are the unsung heroes in professional golf, but we love to sing about them here in this space.
On the PGA Tour, players vote at the end of each season to decide which of their peers will receive the PGA Tour Player of the Year Award.
There’s no such award for caddies (yet). But, if there were a PGA Tour Caddie of the Year Award voted on by the caddies, which looper would take home the hardware?
To round out October’s installment of Caddie Confidential, that’s the question we asked.
We polled nearly four dozen PGA Tour caddies to get their opinion on which of their peers should be caddie of the year in 2021, promising them anonymity in an effort to get their most honest answers.
If you could vote on a Caddie of the Year for the 2020-21 PGA Tour season, who would that looper be and why?
Check out this selection of responses from caddies:
Adam Hayes (Jon Rahm). Unreal year and dealt with adversity well.
Hideki Matsuyama’s caddie Shota Hayafuji for his legendary bow on the 18th green at Augusta.
J.J. Jakovac, caddie for Colin Morikawa.
Matt “Rev” Minisister, caddie for FedExCup Champ Patrick Cantlay.
Matt Minister.
Matt Minister. They had a dominant run through the playoffs and a great year.
Jeff “Skillet” Willett (Luke List) for all the stuff his sports teams have been going through, he is still always upbeat on the links (FYI — Willett’s sports teams include the Patriots, Red Sox and Bruins, so we’re not sure he’s going to get sympathy from many).
Jimmy Johnson. He was inducted into the Caddie Hall of Fame and won with Justin Thomas at the Players Championship.
Adam Hayes won a major and also had to deal with all the COVID BS with his player.
Matt Minister. Won most events, very professional and understated caddie.
David Robinson. I think he has done an incredible job for Jason Kokrak.
Shota Hayafuji, Hideki Matsuyama’s caddie. Their win at the Masters and the bow at the end was epic.
Matt Minister because of the work he did with Patrick Cantlay.
Adam Hayes won a major and works hard.
Matt Minister. He works for Patrick Cantley and showed a lot of class during the last few weeks of the season. Of course, he is a first-class caddie anyway!
Mark Urbanek, caddie for Tony Finau.
Scott Sajtinac, caddie for Brandt Snedeker and a champion of all caddies for the work he does as president of the Association of Professional Tour Caddies.
Adam Hayes (Jon Rahm). Adam is a tremendous caddie, and his resume speaks for itself.
Eric Larson (Harris English). People always make the mistake that the best caddies work for the best players. Not always true. Harris is obviously a world-class player and he could have been my answer to question (biggest player surprise in 2021) because his comeback took years. Helping to instill confidence in your player is an important attribute for a successful caddie. E-Lar’s nature is infectious. Plus he’s a helluva player with multiple player wins. Always a good indicator of a successful looper.
JJ Jakovac. Incredible job leading and teaching a young player.
Scott Mcguinness because Scottie Scheffler is a p**** to work for and he ain’t that good.
Tim Tucker. How he put up with Bryson DeChambeau as long as he did is phenomenal. Bryson is a nightmare to work for.
Adam Hayes because he’s an absolute ace of a caddie.
Interested in more from our October 2021 installment of Caddie Confidential? Be sure to check out the players that surprised caddies most in 2021, whether caddies believe players got their PGA Tour Player of the Year vote right and which major championship caddies think was the best of them all in 2021.
You can view all the results from our entire Caddie Confidential by clicking here.
Interesting comment on TimTucker…from the very first time I saw that pairing I wondered how theF**K Tim put up with the belittling BS. Pleased he was able to get a reasonable bankroll out of the deal.