Tiger Woods’ Caddie, Joe LaCava, Reveals One Factor He Thinks Led To The Iconic Masters Victory

tiger woods' caddie, joe lacava, talks about how golfer kept emotions in check during masters win

Getty Image


Tiger Woods has been the talk of golf ever since he was a three-year-old putting on national TV. But, as we all know, things derailed there for a little bit after he struggled with some off-the-course issues like addiction to painkillers from all the injuries he had, and, of course, that well-publicized sex addiction he went through.

All is right in the world now, though, after Woods won his 15th career major title last week by winning his fifth Masters tournament. The finish was thrilling, with Tiger being the only golfer of the five in the final two groups not to go into the water on No. 12, which helped push him atop the leaderboard to earn the victory. It ended with the raucous crowd chanting “Tiger, Tiger” as he walked off the 18th green after making the clinching putt, which led to the golfer hugging his family in a pretty awesome moment.

For anyone who watched Tiger Woods’ Masters performance, you probably noticed a different player out there. He seemed joyous. He seemed happy. He was back to flashing that trademark smile of his as the crowd got behind him. It was vintage Tiger Woods, and it was the comeback that we all wanted, and something that we hadn’t seen in a long time.

So, what was the difference? Well, according to Woods’ caddie, Joe LaCava, the one component that helped Tiger win the major title was his composure, with the golfer being able to keep his emotions in check throughout the entire Masters week. It’s something he’s been working on over the past year, according to LaCava, who joined the Golic and Wingo Show to discuss Woods’ iconic Masters win.

“There weren’t a lot of highs, weren’t a lot of lows, he was very steady. He never got mad, or never got off his game plan. You know, he never gets too high anyways, but he gets pretty emotional when things; when he doesn’t hit a great shot, for him. There was none of that last week. He had a great calmness about him, and he was in a good spot, he stuck to his routine all week, put a lot of work in the week before at home, put a lot of work in Sunday night before the tournament.

“That started last year, he’s found a calmness about him, and, we talked about it on the first tee about being intense, but staying loose at the same time. Just not feeling like you have to go out there and have to win because everyone wants you to win, and everyone expects you to win.”

Here’s the video of the full interview that Tiger Woods’ caddie, Joe LaCava, did with Trey Wingo and Mike Golic Jr., with the entire thing giving interesting tidbits about how the caddie was able to help control the golfer’s emotions, while helping him overcome some of the difficult shots and elements at August last weekend.

It’s really cool to see a player as legendary as Tiger Woods reinvent himself on the golf course. He seems to have lost that “me against the world” mentality he seemed to develop at some point, and started to embrace the fans again, understanding that his younger competition is often even playing golf because of his influence. Woods has kept that edge about him, but he’s not as abrasive about showing it — and that’s why so many fans, and fellow golfers like John Daly, are back supporting him again.

It’ll be interesting to see how the rest of the PGA season goes for Tiger Woods. Will he win another major? Will he regain that dominance he once had? Who knows, but it’ll be an awesome ride to pay close attention to.

BUY YOUR TIGER WOODS MASTERS CHAMP SHIRT HERE

tiger woods the masters champ shirt

Nick Dimengo avatar
Nick's a Sr. Editor for BroBible, mainly relying on his Sports Encyclopedia-like mind to write about things. He's also the co-host of the BroBible podcast "We Run This," and can be seen sweating his ass off while frequently running 10+ miles around Seattle.