19th Hole

Joe LaCava, Tiger Woods’ caddie, paid a heckler $25 to leave at the WGC-Bridgestone

Published

8 years ago

Aug 16, 2018

While Steve Williams would likely have taken a different route, Tiger Woods’ current caddie admitted to bribing a fan to leave his boss alone.

LaCava called into ESPN’s “Golic and Wingo” and told a tale of paying of a heckler at the WGC-Bridgestone Invitational.

LaCava said the man heckled Woods throughout his final round at the Bridgestone, and on the 14th hole, LaCava interceded, telling the man to check out action elsewhere on the course. Interestingly/absurdly, the man said he would be happy to, provided LaCava reimburse him for his ticket.

Here’s the full transcript c/o ESPN.

Mike Golic: “Did you have any issues with the people at Bellerive?”

Joe LaCava: “Not at all, and you hit it right on the head, 99 percent of the guys and women are behind Tiger, pushing for Tiger. They want to see good golf in general they’re not anti-the-other-guys, but they’re certainly rooting for Tiger more so than the other guys. But, funny you guys ask that question. The week before in Akron, I had a little incident with a guy who was harassing my guy on the 14th hole at Akron the last day outside the ropes, roughening him up pretty good. And I said, hey listen bud, why do you gotta go there? Everyone’s having a good time, everyone’s pulling for Tiger. You don’t like the guy that’s one thing, but you don’t to be yelling at my guy, screaming negative stuff like that. And I said at the end of the day, if you affect him, his performance, it effects my bottomline. So he calls me a couple names and I go back and forth with the guy, and I say why don’t you just leave. And he says well if you give me $25 for the ticket that I bought today I’ll leave. And I said here you go, here’s $25.”

Mike: “Did he leave?”

Joe: “So I whip out $25 and he starts to go down the 14th fairway toward the green. I say look pal $25 is $25 you gotta head the other way. So he starts to head the other way, he goes 20 yards down the line, then he calls me a certain other, a swear word. So I run 20 yards back the other way and I’m going face to face with this guy. And all the sudden Tiger’s looking for a yardage, and I’m in it with this guy 20 yards down the line. So some cop has to come in, push this guy outta the way, and take him outta the tournament.

Mike: “So what did Tiger say when you came back to give him the yardage?”

Joe: “Well that’s a great question. We were so far to the right of the trees, and he was on his third shot believe it or not, we were still 150 yards away from the green, and he didn’t really know what happened. He heard the commotion, he heard the guy yelling at him, so we talked about it after the fact, but he didn’t really know how it developed. And he says I was wondering what happened, and he goes normally it wouldn’t that long to get a yardage. I said well a little incident down the road. He didn’t have a problem with it, and actually I gotta standing ovation for kicking the guy outta there.

Security probably should have happened sooner when LaCava was $25 richer.

19th Hole

How much each player won at the 2026 Masters

Published

1 month ago

Apr 13, 2026

Gianni Magliocco

Rory McIlroy made it two wins in as many years at Augusta National, seeing off the challengers on a dramatic Sunday to slip on the green jacket once again. The victory earned Rory a whopping payday of $4.5 million, with Scottie Scheffler his closest challenger earning $2.43 million for his sole runner-up finish.

With a total prize purse of $22.5 million up for grabs, here’s a look at how much each player won at the 2026 Masters tournament.

For players that did not make the cut, they still earned $25k for their efforts at the year’s opening major.

1: Rory McIlroy, $4.5 million
2: Scottie Scheffler, $2.43 million
T3: Tyrrell Hatton, $1.08 million
T3: Russell Henley, $1.08 million
T3: Justin Rose, $1.08 million
T3: Cameron Young, $1.08 million
T7: Collin Morikawa, $725,625
T7: Sam Burns, $725,625
T9: Xander Schauffele, $630,00
T9: Max Homa, $630,00
11: Jake Knapp, $562,500
T12: Jordan Spieth, $427,500
T12: Brooks Koepka, $427,500
T12: Hideki Matsuyama, $427,500
T12: Patrick Reed, $427,500
T12: Patrick Cantlay, $427,500
T12: Jason Day, $427,500
T18: Viktor Hovland, $315,000
T18: Maverick McNealy, $315,000
T18: Matt Fitzpatrick, $315,000
T21: Keegan Bradley, $252,000
T21: Ludvig Aberg, $252,000
T21: Wyndham Clark, $252,000
T24: Matt McCarty, $182,083
T24: Adam Scott, $182,083
T24: Sam Stevens, $182,083
T24: Chris Gotterup, $182,083
T24: Michael Brennan, $182,083
T24: Brian Campbell, $182,083
T30: Alex Noren, $146,250
T30: Harris English, $146,250
T30: Shane Lowry, $146,250
T33: Gary Woodland, $121,500
T33: Dustin Johnson, $121,500
T33: Brian Harman, $121,500
T33: Tommy Fleetwood, $121,500
T33: Ben Griffin, $121,500
T38: Jon Rahm, $105,750
T38: Ryan Gerard, $101,250
T38: Haotong Li, $96,750
T41: Justin Thomas, $92,250
T41: Sepp Straka, $87,750
T41: Jacob Bridgeman, $83,250
T41: Kristoffer Reitan, $78,750
T41: Nick Taylor, $74,250
46: Sungjae Im, $69,750
47: Si Woo Kim, $65,250
48: Aaron Rai, $61,650
T49: Corey Conners, $57,600
T49: Marco Penge, $57,600
51: Kurt Kitayama, $55,250
52: Sergio Garcia, $54,000
53: Rasmus Hojgaard, $52,650
54: Charl Schwartzel, $51,300

19th Hole

CBS’s Sunday Masters coverage slammed by golf fans

Published

1 month ago

Apr 13, 2026

Gianni Magliocco

While Sunday was a dramatic day at the Masters, many golf fans were left feeling frustrated by the CBS final round coverage.

There were plenty of moments that golf fans took to social media to air their frustrations on Sunday over, including a lack of shots being shown throughout the day, being behind the live action, confusion over the approach shots of the final group on 18, and providing an angle for the winning putt where the cup couldn’t be seen.

Here’s a look at some of the criticisms that were directed at the CBS coverage throughout the day on X:

This has been a brutal broadcast for CBS. When the folks from Augusta sit down with them this year, you can bet they’ll talk about this 15 seconds where we have no idea where Rory’s ball went, and Dottie moans. #TheMasters pic.twitter.com/ak3mkpIN7V

— Ryan (@PossiblyRy) April 12, 2026

It’s rare criticism coming in for CBS, who are usually heavily praised for their Masters coverage each year.

19th Hole

The surprise club Tommy Fleetwood says is key to his Masters chances

Published

1 month ago

Apr 7, 2026

Gianni Magliocco

Tommy Fleetwood goes in search for the first major victory of his career again this week, with the Englishman proving to be a popular pick at Augusta National.

Fleetwood’s best showing at Augusta came back in 2024 where he finished T3, and while speaking at his pre-tournament press conference, the 35-year-old emphasized the importance of his 9-wood in his pursuit of the green jacket.

Speaking on Tuesday to media, Fleetwood said:

“It’s a great 9-wood golf course. I think it’s always been — I can’t remember when I first put like a 9-wood in or a high lofted club, but it’s a perfect like 9-wood golf course. I’ve had that in the bag for a few years.”

The Englishman continued, revealing that his strategy for the week won’t just be to hit driver off the tee as much as possible:

“Yeah, it’s funny really because I know Augusta is probably associated with being fairly forgiving off the tee in a way, so you think you can whale around driver a little bit. But I don’t necessarily think that’s always the play for me. I think there’s holes that set up really well where I can draw it with the mini driver if I’m feeling less comfortable with the driver and things like that.”

That strategy he believes will make his TaylorMade Qi10 9-wood extra critical this week in Georgia:

“The biggest thing is the 9-wood for me. If I can put myself in position on the par-5s or the 4th long par-3, like it — for me, I can’t really hit that high 4-iron, so 9-wood helps me a lot.”