Sungjae Im is an incredibly consistent player who has won twice on the PGA Tour since arriving full-time at the end of 2018. Since then, South Korean, Im has worked with a number of caddies, but his current looper is Will Wilcox.
Who Is Sungjae Im's Caddie?
Wilcox - now 38 - follows on from Lance Bennett, William Spencer, and Bobby Brown, with the former PGA Tour player having a storied past before being picked up by Im, seemingly, on the spot at the 2023 US Open.
Having begun the year with Spencer, Im replaced him with Brown at the Genesis Invitational before moving onto Bennett at the Players Championship. Then, at LA Country Club in June, it was Wilcox's turn.
Speaking to The Times before the 2024 Open Championship, he explained how the job opportunity came about from his point of view. Wilcox said: “I saw him at the US Open [in 2023] and he pretty much got rid of his caddie on the spot. He saw me and said, ‘You’re caddying for me.’”
The pair had been on the Korn Ferry Tour together when Im won Rookie and Player of the Year honors in 2018. But since then, their careers had gone in very different directions.
Already watching his time in the pro ranks begin to slide away as a result of a crippling drug addiction which had plagued him for almost two decades, Wilcox watched Im go from strength to strength and pick up his two PGA Tour titles around the same time the American was forced to pack up his playing career for good in 2021.
Over 20 years beforehand, a 13-year-old Wilcox had accidentally found pills in his parents' house and started taking them before later realizing he had an issue at about aged 18 - by which time, he had already been arrested twice.
Extraordinarily, the man from Pell City, Alabama continued to improve his golf game and ultimately went on to play over 70 times on the PGA Tour while earning more than $2 million. He also won four times as a professional, including once on the Korn Ferry Tour - the 2013 South Georgia Classic, shot 59 at the Utah Championship, and made a hole-in-one at the 2016 Players Championship.
In the same interview with The Times, Wilcox admitted he started using heroin in 2011 - the same year he qualified for his one and only Major appearance, the US Open - and smoked marijuana in 2013 on his way to ending the Korn Ferry Tour standings in seventh.
Following a ban which delayed the start of his PGA Tour career, Wilcox returned to taking opioids to cope with withdrawal symptoms. That habit continued into 2015 when, remarkably, he qualified for the FedEx Cup Playoffs as one of the top-125 golfers on the PGA Tour.
Yet, he skipped the first Playoff tournament after suffering with withdrawl symptoms, later remarking “I’d have 10,000 people screaming because I’d made a 40ft putt and I’d earn $500,000 — then I’d be in a heroin den two hours later with homeless drug addicts.”
Retirement arrived in 2021 and a spell in rehab followed during 2022 before Wilcox began life as a caddie. However, a car accident shortly after caused him to relapse.
That's when Im came along. The pair have been working together since LACC - despite Im missing the cut - and appear to have found something good. In 2024, Im has seven top-10s prior to the FedEx Cup Playoffs and has earned more than $5.5 million as he ended the regular season ninth in the money list.
Grateful to Im for giving him another chance, Wilcox said: “I was always my own boss. It’s really nice having somewhere I need to be, someone who’s relying on me. I’m lucky I got out of it because nine times out of ten people don’t. I’ve put on 20lb. I look healthy. I’m super-happy."
