Dustin Johnson stays calm despite Tiger Woods’s unprofessional hacking of his caddie – Golf news
Dustin Johnson, apparently, has displayed enough prudence to swallow all the anger over Tiger Woods, who snatched away his old and trusted caddie, Joe Lacava, without even asking his permission. Johnson is now without a caddie and will be heading into a
busy schedule of high-profile events towards the closing of the current season and in absence of Lacava, he probably will not be able to pull the same impressive performance he has managed throughout the year. Johnson is not bitter towards Woods and has rendered
the decision as Lacava’s personal choice.
The World Number Five golfer said, “I spoke to Tiger about it. There's no hard feelings at all. Joe got offered Tiger's job so he took it. I can't blame the guy, he can do what he wants. I will be fine, I've got a few guys who want the job. Things happen,
he (Joe) has got to do what he's got to do. Woods has slipped to 50th in the rankings.”
The hatchet seems to have been buried for the moment, but it does not go without saying that Woods’ unprofessional approach towards Lacava has left another bad precedent in the former World Number One’s already downgraded disposition. Johnson’s coach, Butch
Harmon, who had also been Woods’ coach in earlier days, was amazed how Woods called him up and asked for Lacava on the phone. Harmon maintains the view that Woods should have followed the decent way of asking Johnson for his caddie.
Johnson and Lacava have been together through many phases, and Harmon was the one who actually suggested Johnson to have Lacava on his bag. Lacava is one of the established caddies in the sport and has been on the bag of Fred Couples for a considerable stretch
of time until Couples suffered consecutive injuries and opted for a low-profile in the sport.
Johnson, who was talking to the media after his opening round of one-under, 71, at the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship in Scotland said, “I still like Joe. It's a business. We have to make decisions. I talked to Tiger, it's all good, no hard feelings at
all. We had a good conversation.”
Johnson also revealed that the vice president of his club makers TaylorMade, Keith Sbarbaro, will be his caddie for the rest of the season and he will select a permanent caddie later at the start of the next season.
Woods will be making a comeback after a break of almost a month at the Frys.com Open and will also be on the team at the President’s Cup, scheduled to be played in November. He has been without a permanent caddie after he fired his old associate, Steve Williams,
which ignited a heated debate from all sides.
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