Tiger Woods was 'done' with Tiger, but caddie Joe LaCava wasn't

SOUTHBURY, Connecticut: Even when Tiger Woods had given up on Tiger Woods and had confided in friends that he was done as a competitive golfer, Joe LaCava remained his last man standing.

Tiger Woods of the US waits with his caddie Joe Lacava on the 18th fairway during the second round of the British Open golf Championship at Muirfield in Scotland, Jul 19, 2013. Those viewers had no idea that LaCava played a meaningful role in so many people crying when the 43-year-old Woods - once a broken athlete and a broken man - finished off his first Masters victory in 14 years and his first major victory in 11.

He started as a teller at Newtown Savings Bank and stayed there nearly his entire working life, finishing in the mortgage department. Armed with a finance degree and prepared to follow his parents into banking or teaching, LaCava was hired by his cousin, PGA Tour pro Ken Green, for whom he'd caddied at the old Westchester Classic. Green won three times with LaCava before making the 1989 Ryder Cup team.

LaCava inherited the post-scandal Tiger, the one without a major title since 2008 and without a PGA Tour victory since 2009. They won two and a half months later at the Chevron World Challenge , Woods' first victory in 27 starts. After that, they won eight more times over the next two seasons before Tiger's back started betraying him. LaCava had no idea how long Woods would be out.

"You can spend 10 years on the tour," said Jim"Bones" Mackay, Phil Mickelson's former caddie and LaCava's longtime friend,"and you're never going to find anyone who'll say a bad word about Joe."LaCava said he learned the value of commitment from his parents, who worked for the same employers for decades and who were married for half a century.

LaCava has known longtime Giants executive Chris Mara for the better part of 20 years. In their many conversations at training camp, or by text, Mara said he has never heard the caddie say a single bad word about Woods, DJ or Couples. Yet Woods, longtime agent Mark Steinberg and chief spokesman Glenn Greenspan have clearly seen LaCava as a valuable public relations asset. The caddie is free to share stories of how an older Tiger isn't the Tiger of old, of how he's high-fiving more people, signing more autographs, making more eye contact.

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