Tiger Woods hears a lot of screaming and hollering throughout the course of his rounds of golf — and occasionally some not-so-nice rhetoric as well.
That happened recently during the final round of the WGC-Bridgestone Invitational in Akron, Ohio two weeks ago, where a continually-heckling spectator got the attention of Woods’ caddie, Joe LaCava.
Attempting to diffuse the situation politely did not work. LaCava, who told the story as a guest on ESPN Radio’s Golic and Wingo show on Wednesday, tried a different method.
“He goes, “Well, if you give me the $25 I paid for a ticket today, I”ll leave.’ So I go, here’s $25,” LaCava said.
After peeling the bills out of his wallet and paying, LaCava said the spectator still carried on and did not leave. Eventually LaCava approached security and had him ejected.
“He didn’t have a problem,” LaCava said. “And actually, I got a standing ovation for kicking the guy out of there.”
LaCava, who has been caddying for Woods since 2011, also apparently feels comfortable enough around the 14-time major champion to give him some grief as a way of breaking the tension.
In a nod to Woods’ propensity to miss fairways off the tee (he was 0 for 7 on the front nine Sunday during the final round of the PGA Championship and just 5 for 14 overall on his way to a second-place finish), LaCava said:
“Sometimes I joke so that Tiger can hear going down certain holes,” LaCava said. “I’ll joke with the other caddies and say, ‘How are the fairways? Are they in good shape today?”