Patrick Rodgers enjoyed a hugely successful amateur career. Playing college golf at Stanford University, he claimed 11 titles and actually tied the record set by Tiger Woods. In early 2014, he was the number one ranked amateur in world, a position he held for 16 weeks.
Turning professional that year, Rodgers hasn't quite lived up to the college hype and is still searching for a debut win on the PGA Tour, but he has come close to breaking that duck a handful of times and has still enjoyed a successful career otherwise. Here, we get to know his experienced caddie, Chad Reynolds.
Rodgers used to have Shane Joel on the bag for a couple of years - the former looper of Mark O'Meara - before making a change at the beginning of this year.
It appears as though Rodgers and Reynolds started working together in January 2024, with their first event likely to have been the Farmers Insurance Open at Torrey Pines.
Reynolds is an experienced caddie who has been carrying out the role professionally since 2000. He has carried the bag of Vijay Singh, Cameron Champ, Cameron Young, and Keegan Bradley, as well as Nick Watney, Tom Pernice Jr, Dinesh Chand, and Paul Tesori.
Speaking to The Caddie Network about both good friend Tesori and his boss at the time, Champ in 2022, Reynolds shared a fascinating story about how he convinced Champ to change his golf ball ahead of the final round of the 3M Open - an event the pair would go on to win.
Explaining the full story, Reynolds said: "On Saturday, 17 [at TPC Twin Cities] is the hole over the water, the good par 3. We get up and hit with the pin at the back, and as soon as the ball comes off the club - we had a six iron - I'm looking at my book because I thought it was in the water. The pin is at the back and it cleared by a foot.
"We're walking up to the green and I asked so-and-so what they hit, it was a six iron but it was pin-high. Cameron is a club-and-a-half, maybe even two clubs, longer than this kid. I turned to Cameron and I said 'that's it for me. I'm done. We cannot play this golf ball any more.'
"Long story short, we show up Sunday and we actually warm up with two different golf balls - same company, but two different balls. He's going over it and over it, and finally he looks back at me in the warm-up and goes 'well, what do you think?'
"I said 'Cameron, I've already told you what I think. You cannot play that other golf ball...' He's chipping it with it right before you go to the tee, and this is kind of Cam, he goes 'OK, I'll play it.'
"We get to the first hole and it's just a four iron for Cam [off the tee]. Then, he floats a wedge and it looks like it's going to end up short-sided - this is bogey. But it catches the ridge and stays on the green. He makes the putt, and we're walking off the green and I say to him 'look, it's time to play golf now. We don't have any golf ball issues.' It gave him some confidence, and the rest is history."
Growing up in Jacksonville Beach, Florida, Reynolds did not play college golf but managed to reduce his handicap down to five. Outside of golf, Reynolds says his hobbies include surfing and he now resides in Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida.
Speaking to The Caddie Network about his career highlights, Reynolds said the best moment was helping Singh lift the 2008 FedEx Cup. The best shot he has ever witnessed also involved the Fijian - Reynolds said: "VJ bunker shot [on] 13 [at] Augusta, back left pin. Even the guys we were playing clapped!"
