Masters champ Cabrera gives back to caddies

text size

LEMONT, Ill. (AP) -- At most PGA TOUR events, caddies can find a good meal in the "Caddywagon," a trailer that essentially serves as a diner on wheels. Whether it's eggs and bacon at breakfast or a burger and fries at lunch, the cost is usually under $5.

The exception was last week at the Deutsche Bank Championship.

It was free.

Masters champion Angel Cabrera walked into the Caddywagon at TPC Boston and put an entire week of caddie meals on his tab. It was a particularly busy week because the wagon was parked conveniently next to the driving range, accessible to caddies and equipment agents. Cabrera paid up on Sunday night, declining to say how much it cost.

"It's not important," he said.

The caddie whose player won the previous week typically will pick up the tab for one meal (breakfast or lunch), a tradition that has been around for almost as long as the Caddywagon. But a player paying for an entire week?

"That's unheard of," said Chuck Mohr, the looper for Bob Estes.

Cabrera simply said the gesture was overdue. After winning the Masters, he said he "wanted to give the guys a present," but his playing schedule on the PGA TOUR and European Tour didn't allow him an opportunity sooner.

"It is customary in Argentina that when you win a tournament, you invite the caddies to dinner," said Cabrera, who started out as a caddie himself. "I was just waiting for the right time."

Dale McElyea, president of the Professional Caddies Association, runs the trailer and was surprised by the gesture. He said players often pick up the tab for a day (Stewart Cink), and Robert Garrigus once paid for three days.

"No one has ever done this for a week," McElyea said. "And this has been a busy week."

A couple of caddies estimated the bill at close to $5,000, which can be considered a drop in the bucket for a guy who will end up making about $3 million in tournament earnings this year. Like Cabrera, they said it wasn't about money.

"It was an incredibly nice gesture," said Jim Mackay, who works for Phil Mickelson.

------

PEBBLE IN EUROPE: Brett Quigley missed by one spot advancing in the PGA TOUR Playoffs for the FedExCup. His next stop is Europe, although not because he has nowhere else to play. He was looking forward to this even before the Playoffs began.

Quigley and Brad Faxon will head to Scotland in the first week of October for the Dunhill Links Championship, the European Tour's version of Pebble Beach. It's a pro-am held at St. Andrews, Carnoustie and Kingsbarn. It helps that they were allowed to choose their partner, so Quigley is taking Tom Haggerty, while Faxon is taking Paul Salem.

The courses are among the best in the world. The weather? Not so much.

"We went in 2001, and the 10 days we were there, we had the rain gear out for nine days," Quigley said. "But it's a fun week. It's a neat golf experience. And for Fax and I to play with two good friends, it makes it that much more fun."

------

KIWI CHALLENGE: Hunter Mahan is returning to New Zealand in November for the second edition of the Kiwi Challenge, which features four players in their 20s playing a 36-hole event with a $2 million purse at Cape Kidnappers Golf Resort.

Mahan will be joined by Anthony Kim (runner-up last year), Camilo Villegas and Sean O'Hair.

"I played some of my best golf ever on the final holes to win last year's event, so I'd sure call it one of my favorite places for a few reasons," Mahan said. "The course is fantastic and the views are incredible, like nothing I've ever seen before."

------

TOUGHEST WIN: Rick George, the PGA TOUR's chief of operations, said the FedExCup was the toughest thing in golf to win because it required eight months of good play, a peak performance over three straight weeks, then the best four days at THE TOUR Championship presented by Coca-Cola to claim the $10 million prize.

Jim Furyk could think of one other trophy that's even harder to win.

"The PGA Grand Slam is harder to win," he said with a smile. "Because you have to win a major to qualify for it. And then you've got to beat three other guys."

He soon waffled, however, considering he won last year in Bermuda as an alternate.

"I guess you can get someone who sneaks in like me," he said. "So it must not be that tough."

------

DIVOTS: The Byron Nelson Championship, one of the best on the PGA TOUR at raising money for charity, announced this year's donation for local children and families at $4.4 million. ... Charlie Wi, who was born in South Korea and moved to California when he was 10, needed another South Korean to be ranked inside the top 100 to be his partner in the World Cup. Then Y.E. Yang won the PGA Championship. They will play at Mission Hills in China at the end of November. ... Tiger Woods tied for 11th at the Deutsche Bank Championship, the first time in five Playoffs events that he did not either win or finish second.