The future of Tiger Woods ' playing career has been cleared up after it was confirmed that his caddie Joe LaCava had joined forces with fellow PGA Tour star Patrick Cantlay.
LaCava is on the bag for Cantlay this week, and after being spotted together at the Wells Fargo Championship, it has been confirmed their partnership is a permanent one. This had left many questioning what lies next for Woods after recently having surgery on his ankle.
The 82-time PGA Tour winner's short-lived season looked to have ended at last month's Masters after he was forced to withdraw during his third round after suffering an ankle injury.
It was later confirmed that Woods required surgery on the problem, and is now in rehabilitation, meaning an outing at the three remaining major championships of the season looks unlikely. Amid the switch, LaCava reportedly revealed that he received Woods' blessing to make the switch, and also confirmed there were no plans for the 15-time major champion to retire, per Barstool Sports' Dan Rapaport.
Woods reportedly told LaCava: "You’d be crazy not to take the job. Go for it. Go win some tournaments and have a great time.” Woods' close friend and Tour rival Justin Thomas, discussed the caddie switch, lauding LaCava for his loyalty in serving the golfing great since 2011.
Speaking at the Wells Fargo Championship, he said: "There's so many guys out here that would have him caddie in an instant. 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.
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"He's as loyal as loyal gets. 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."
