“If I needed advice from my caddie, he'd be hitting the shots and I'd be carrying the bag.”
- Bobby Jones
In 2002 Darren Clarke made the final rounds of the Murphy's Irish Open thanks to advice of his stand-in caddie for the day after his regular caddie Billy Foster had flown back home to Manchester after the birth of his second daughter. Following a call to Paul McGinley's caddie, JP Fitzgerald, was the late replacement and his presence proved pivotal at the 18th according to Clarke speaking at the time.
"At the last JP said, 'If you lay up and miss the cut by one you'll be as sick as a dog'.
"So I said right, I'll have a go at it. And I hit a great shot from the top of the hill. I punched in a five-iron. I had 209 to the front. I didn't know what they cut was going to be, par or one under but it was the right decision in the end," explained Clarke
At the start of the following year Clarke embarked on a series of drastic changes with his golf in order to challenge for the Majors again and switched back to Butch Harmon as his coach, parted company with Foster, after six years together, and signed a deal to play with TaylorMade clubs. The complete overhaul came after a Christmas letter from sports psychologist Bob Rotella and as part of his new look team he added J P. Fitzgerald.
Despite much promise the partnership did not last and they subsequently split with Clarke accepting the widely regarded view that he is one of the more demanding players to work for, parting company following the 2004 Masters - despite winning the 2003 WGC-NEC Invitational at Firestone.
"I know I've been very hard on JP. My demands were too great, I expected him to pick the right club every time, and while I wasn't jumping down his throat non-stop, I was complaining," said Clarke
Originally from Castleknock, Fitzgerald represented Baltray as an amateur and actually beat Clarke in the semi-final of the Irish Close Championships in 1987. After attending East Tennessee University on scholarship, Fitzgerald was recruited by his close friend Paul McGinley, helping with that infamous putt in the 2002 Ryder Cup at The Belfry.
The short spell with Clarke was followed by two seasons in the US with Greg Owen, though JP returned to the big time when Ernie Els called him in late 2007. It was Els manager at the time, Andrew “Chubby” Chandler, who summed up the fragility of the caddies role when he explained why Fitzgerald was the ideal replacement for Ricci Roberts
“JP happens to be in the right place at the right time.”
“Ernie and Ricci are such close friends that the caddying part of it was putting a strain on their relationship.
Roberts started back with Els in May of 2001 - after a split in the latter part of 1998 – with two U.S. Open victories in 1994 and 1996 to their credit. In the intervening period of Roberts absence there were only a couple of PGA wins for the South African and it fell well short of what was achieved on Ricci’s return when Ernie won The Doral, The 2002 Open Championship, and The Sun City post season event. In that time the pair also added the World Match Play Championship at Wentworth.
Ironically, only last month Ricci Roberts joined Darren Clarke playing their first event at the Trophee Hassan II in Morocco with Clarke’s manager Chandler no doubt playing a role in the decision.
In a week that has seen much ink and paper meet on the what, why’s and wherefores of what went wrong with Rory McIlroy on the tenth tee box at Augusta National last Sunday, some of the focus has started to move in the Fitzgerald direction. In the musical chairs environment that exists in the caddy shack, these cannot have been good days for the Dublin caddie either as no one has been short of helpful analysis. In some cases drawing comparisons with other such golfing feats by Greg Norman or Jean van de Velde. As well as the irrefutably talented, Sergio Garcia
However the events of last Sunday are completely unrelated.
In one of his memorable stories before he passed way, Bruce Edwards recalled the walk up the 18th fairway in 1996 at Augusta with Greg Norman who turned to him and said 'I guess it's better to be lucky than good.' Although Edwards was stunned by the remark, given Faldo had outplayed the Australian all day at The Masters, he just turned back to Greg and said, 'I just want to caddie for someone who has heart.'
For McIlroy it was a touch of the same thing as notice was served when Schwartzel chipped in at the first and then eagled a blind shot so dramatically at the 3rd. It was clear from those early moments that destiny was marking the South African's card and in all the post analysis the role of fortune and luck has been not got a mention. The reality is no major has been won without it, nor any other sporting event for that matter. Which is what makes sport so exhilarating as on many occasions the form book means little.
One hopes that in the coming weeks the learning that will come the way of twenty one year old, his caddie and the back up team, will be the foundation for any future success. Rather than throw out the bathwater the sense would be a sense of caution first as all learn form the events of Sunday.
One only has to look at the more enduring golfing partnerships to see there is merit in that approach, with the Phil Mickelson and Jim “Bones” McKay a shining example. Undoubtedly tested to its limit with all challenges in Phil's private life, given his wife, Amy’s, public battle with cancer, a similar fate befalling his Mother, along with Phil’s own health worries of psoriatic arthritis, an inflammatory joint disease which can cause stiffness, pain and lack of movement.
Those events notwithstanding Mickelson won his third green jacket last year with a shot on the 15th that commentators at the time suggested his caddie should advise him totally against. A year later it is an uplifting piece of footage that confirms that destiny was with Lefty that day and the gap between those pine trees was never an issue. Indeed, just two weeks ago the Mickelson McKay combination convincingly won the Shell Houston Open.
In the most high profile team of Tiger Woods and Steve Williams the toughest of personal challenges beset the player and with some indiscreet remarks at times made by the New Zealander also problematic. Although others were fired for less it is clear that Williams offers some key components on the course to the former world number 1 and Williams is richly rewarded for his efforts. In fact prepared to commute almost weekly across the Pacific Ocean as he tries to maintain his own personal life intact.
But having been fired by Norman 1989 Williams admitted later that he had gotten too close personally to Norman, with both remaining good friends,. To the point that Norman later admitted he had made a mistake and tried to rehire him.
On the other hand the stories of swift caddie changes that have led to dramatic results also abound.
One of the more recent ones was the addition of Phil “Wobbly” Morbey to the side of Ross Fisher shortly before the 2011 3 Irish Open as a replacement for Andrew Morrow. The move proved immediately successful as Fisher won the €500,000 cheque in Killarney with the aid of the caddied that had previously done the same in Ireland with Ian Woosnam and Thomas Bjorn.
“I think wobbly has given me that extra bit of added confidence, some self-belief, and like I say, he's great on the bag. He tells me exact little how it is. Doesn't beat about the bush. Tells me exactly where I need to go, what club it is and it's just real positive. So far, the relationship is good and fingers crossed, we can go a very long way,” explained Fisher last July.
Ken Comboy, caddie of US Open winner Graeme McDowell, lost his job to Casey the night before his departure for the 2004 Ryder Cup in Oakland Hills and with eighteen seasons in the game the Englishman has worked for Ireland's Eoghan O'Connell, Andrew Coltart of Scotland and Thomas Bjorn. Given his eye for detail he is a good partner for his Portrush boss, who seeks the same high standards and over the past fourteen months the partnership has gone from strength to strength. Off the course it also earning Comboy the accolade of Caddie of the Year last year at the HSBC Champions in Shanghai.
"It's great to be part of it, and as a caddie it's a feather in your cap to win a major. But we all realise we're very small cogs. Graeme won the major, I happened to be stood next to him and didn't get in his way, “ Comboy said last year.
Although he has a novel perspective on the player-caddie relationship Ronan Flood given he is married into the family the former bank manager is wary of hard and fast traits that make one caddie better than another.
"If someone asks you what makes a good caddie, it's actually difficult to answer, because so often it's dependent on the player. Padraig might say that he thinks I'm a good caddie, but if I worked for someone else, they might say that this guy doesn't know what he's doing.”
As a neutral observer last Sunday one wonders if McIlroy did not just attempt to out hit his playing partner on Sunday, Angel Cabrera on the 10th , and then paid a heavy price for his youthful exuberance. Whether that was ultimately JP Fitzgerald’s decision, or his own stubbornness, we shall never know. But as part of any inquest it will determine any future role in the McIlroy team for Fitzgerald, who has undoubted pedigree, albeit he has never guided a player though the last day of major.
With some confused signals about the air this week given McIlroy’s management team also manage the Master’s winner, Charl Schwartzel, only time will tell if there is any fallout.
Clearly any missed opportunity rests within the memory for all sports people, regardless of age, often spurring them on as their careers progress. Last Sunday will be no different and it can never be fully erased from the Masters History or from the player’s or caddies memory. For the moment the only real change that should be made to the Rory McIlory approach is with Twitter. Just close the account and keep those thoughts bottled for the foreseeable future.
For JP’s sake, one hopes he is not now just in the wrong place at the wrong time.
Originally published in April 2011
