Woods’ new caddie insists decision was a ‘no-brainer’

TIGER Woods offered Joe LaCava the job as his caddie, and it wasn’t a difficult decision for him. “Why? Because he’s Tiger Woods,” LaCava said yesterday, offering very little by way of elaboration. “Enough said. It’s a no-brainer, isn’t it? That’s my thought. It’s Tiger Woods.”

LaCava is among the top caddies on the PGA Tour, having spent most of his 25 years with Fred Couples, a former Masters champion and No 1 player in the world who was the biggest draw during the peak of his career. So big crowds will be nothing new for LaCava. He just never imagined working for three players this year, the last one Woods.

Couples was playing less and urged LaCava to work for Dustin Johnson, regarded as the top young American talent. Johnson, who already has five wins and played in the final group at three majors, was runner-up at the Open and won The Barclays. By then, however, Woods had fired Steve Williams and was looking for a replacement. LaCava told him he was interested.

“When you say was it a hard decision, it was hard in the fact Dustin was great to me,” LaCava said after his first official day of work for Woods. “Was it hard to tell him I was leaving to go to work for Tiger? Yes. Was it hard to go to work for Tiger? No.”

But the timing made some people question the move. Johnson already has proven to be a cash machine, with more than $12 million in earnings after four years on the tour, and headed for another top-10 finish on the money list.

Woods is winless over the last two years, and has managed to play a full schedule only once in the last four years because of injuries or chaos in his personal life. LaCava was asked if he was betting that Woods still had great golf ahead of him. “Of course, no question,” LaCava said. “I know he does. I’m not betting on it.”

LaCava has been around Woods often over the last 15 years, starting with practice rounds that Woods played with Couples at the Masters and US Open as an amateur. LaCava was prepared to work for Woods at the 2005 Presidents Cup when Williams went home to New Zealand for the birth of his son. Couples, however, made the US team and Woods hired Billy Foster for the week.

For Woods, this week’s Frys.com Open is his first event in seven weeks, and his last PGA Tour appearance this year. The attention around Woods will not be that much different for LaCava. “Back in the day, Fred had the biggest crowd,” LaCava said. “It’s bigger today because golf is bigger. But Fred had just as big a crowd in relation to how many people were out there.”

Woods’ pro-am group had some 300 people at CordeValle. No other group had more than a dozen.