Damon Green is one of the longest-tenured and most-respected caddies on the PGA Tour, but after an unlikely fill-in’s stellar performance, Zach Johnson’s normal looper may be looking over his shoulder.
At this week’s Mayakoba Golf Classic in Playa del Mar, Mexico, Green was suffering from heat exhaustion as the temperatures rose to 90° with little wind and high humidity. When he had to tap out after 14 holes, a familiar face in the small gallery following Johnson, Billy Horschel and Matt Kuchar was willing to take the bag: Kuchar’s wife Sybi.
The Kuchars and Johnsons have long been friends and both families live on St. Simon’s Island in Georga.
Zach Johnson needed an emergency caddie on the back nine and turned to… Matt Kuchar’s wife, Sybi.
Story: https://t.co/DLcgvkgN1l pic.twitter.com/fXcyclVosO
— Dylan Dethier (@dylan_dethier) November 8, 2018
“I didn’t talk too much to Damon but you could tell it was something with heat, fatigue, heat exhaustion, whatever the term is. It was really getting the best of him,” Kuchar said, according to Golf.com. “I knew Sybi was in the crowd, I knew she’d caddied for me before, she’s friendly with Zach Johnson. I figured she’d be a good one to handle Zach and Zach would definitely go easy on her.
“She knows the deal of keeping up and staying out of the way and so I knew she could handle it, she’d be good to fill in. I knew that Zach would probably be fairly happy to see a friendly face take the bag.”
Sybi hopped on the bag and guided her player to a solid 2-under par finish, which featured an eagle on the par-5 7th hole, his 16th of the day.
Sybi’s presence inside the ropes was a welcomed treat for all involved. While Johnson was able to get back to even par, Sybi watched as her husband put the finishing touches on the round of the day, a bogey-free 7-under par 64. He shared the overnight lead with the recently-evicted Kramer Hickok and Dominic Bozelli.
“It’s funny how when you just have a friendly face around and just go back to playing golf and not worrying so much about making golf too complicated, some good things happen,” Kuchar said.
