Veteran PGA Tour caddie Tony Navarro anticipates a soft landing
in the wake of an amicable split this week with Australian Adam
Scott.
Navarro, a Moline resident and veteran of more than 30 years as the
man on the bag of some of the world’s top golfers, ends his
association with Scott after seven years, 12 wins around the world
and more than $18.8 million in PGA Tour earnings alone.
Navarro, 51, said he will return to the Tour in two weeks, when he
shoulders the bag of two-time major championship winner Angel
Cabrera at The Memorial in Dublin, Ohio.
Navarro said that date had been arranged before he and Scott
decided to part ways following last week’s Players Championship,
where Scott, playing for just the second time since a runner-up
finish at last month’s Masters, failed to make the midway
cut.
Navarro said he also might work for Cabrera at next month’s U.S.
Open, but said other options could preclude a full-time stint with
the 42-year-old Argentinian.
“There are actually a few things in the works already,” said
Navarro, who spent 13 years with Greg Norman before joining Norman
protegé Scott in the spring of 2004. “Not that I had planned, but
it looks like I am going to fall pretty softly.
“I don’t want to disclose it right now because it’s not a done
deal. But it looks like things are going to go my way.”
Navarro widely is regarded as one of the top caddies in the game.
He debuted at the 1978 Quad-Cities Open, shortly after his
graduation from Moline High School, and carried for top players
such as Ben Crenshaw, Raymond Floyd and Jeff Sluman, among others,
before starting his long association with Norman.
Norman netted half of his 20 total PGA Tour wins, the 1993 British
Open included, and rose to No. 1 in the world with Navarro at his
side. So strong were their ties, Navarro rejected an invitation to
join Tiger Woods in 1999.
Norman and Navarro remain close friends, and the Moliner said he
expected to maintain a similar relationship with Scott.
“There were issues that had nothing to do with on the golf course
or with us,” Navarro said. “It’s just a few things weren’t going to
work out. I told him I wouldn’t quit, so he would have to fire
me.
“It wouldn’t have been any different had we won the Masters,” he
added. “It was an unavoidable circumstance in the middle of our
relationship that we couldn’t overcome.”
Several top young players – including reigning PGA Championship
winner Martin Kaymer and Camilo Villegas – are known to be in the
market for caddies.
“There’s a lot of things happening,” Navarro said. “So I am
expecting something is going to fall my way.”
