{"id":433846,"date":"2025-03-31T18:50:21","date_gmt":"2025-03-31T22:50:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/?p=433846"},"modified":"2025-04-23T16:39:53","modified_gmt":"2025-04-23T16:39:53","slug":"rory-mcilroy-told-to-change-caddies","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/golf\/rory-mcilroy-told-to-change-caddies\/","title":{"rendered":"Rory McIlroy and His Caddie Laughing Their Way to the Bank"},"content":{"rendered":"

Rory McIlroy\u2019s caddie, childhood friend Harry Diamond, is having a laugh at critics who have blasted the Pebble Beach<\/a> and Players Championship winner<\/a> in the weeks leading up to his wins.\u00a0 Since 2017, the two have been inseparable on the course as the Northern Irishman has trusted Diamond implicitly.\u00a0 McIlory\u2019s decision to stick with his friend has garnered much criticism, yet the loyalty has paid off as the two have enjoyed great success this year as The Masters looms. And surely Diamond is having the last laugh as he is one of the best paid caddies<\/a> on the planet.<\/span><\/p>\n

Why Change Caddies?<\/span><\/h2>\n

Rory McIlroy has had trouble winning major events since 2014.\u00a0 Fans have often blamed the strategic mishaps of Harry Diamond for those losses, perhaps sometimes fairly.\u00a0 McIlroy has won plenty of tournaments and cites those as a reason not to dump Diamond. His recent wins at Pebble Beach and The Players Championship are perfect examples of the pair at their best.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

But let’s just placate those critics for a moment, as there have been some rather vocal anti-Diamond sentiments. This year\u2019s Genesis Invitational saw McIlroy snap at a heckler<\/a> who said \u201cblame your caddie,\u201d after McIlroy missed a chance to make a birdie. <\/span>Even if McIlroy did want a change, who would be most logical? As one of the top players in the world, his window to win is now and the pressure will always be there for results.<\/p>\n

The answer floated around by Nick O\u2019Hern was for McIlroy to bring on Billy Foster.\u00a0 The caddie is described by Matt Fitzpatrick as ‘the best in the world’.\u00a0 O\u2019Hern made this suggestion on the Talk Birdie To Me Podcast:<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cSomething that happened last week, Billy Foster split with Matt Fitzpatrick<\/a>. And, that\u2019s a big open door and I\u2019m sure there\u2019s a lot of big players vying to get Billy on their bag. Now, Harry, who caddies for Rory and, as we know, is one of his best mates and he does a very good job. However, in those crucial clutch moments, that\u2019s when you need someone who\u2019s got the experience, who\u2019s got the answer for the game, the feel that can sense it.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

O\u2019Hern goes on to point out how Diamond does not really push McIlroy too hard with certain decisions during crucial moments.\u00a0 One example is which club to use at the 2024 US Open:<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cA great caddie there would have said, \u2018No Rory, you aren\u2019t hitting this club. We are gonna put you at the front of this green and you are gonna have a long putt but it will be uphill and I am backing you from the two-putt there.\u2019<\/em> Billy Foster is the kind of guy who would\u2019ve said, \u2018Rory, we\u2019re not doing this. We\u2019re gonna do this right here.’<\/em>\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Billy Foster has been in the caddie business for 42 years and has seen great success.\u00a0 Of course, he would be a perfect fit.\u00a0 The only issue is that Foster was already looking to retire from being a caddie at the end of 2024.\u00a0 He knows his age is catching up to him and was already on shared duties with Dan Parratt when he was eventually cut.\u00a0 If McIlroy were to bring Foster on he would need to immediately start looking for Foster\u2019s replacement.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

McIlroy\u2019s Continued Stance<\/span><\/h2>\n

With this fantastic start to 2025, there will not be a change. McIlroy has publicly praised Diamond in the past for his continued support, even during victory speeches.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI want to give a shout-out to Harry\u2014he\u2019s been with me every step of the way for the last seven years now,” McIlroy said after his win at Pebble Beach.<\/span><\/p>\n

It is very unlikely for Rory McIlroy to change caddies, he has had a stance of sticking with Diamond through thick and thin.\u00a0 Based on how he previously responded to suggestions like this, this is a move that won\u2019t be happening anytime soon.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Rory McIlroy\u2019s caddie, childhood friend Harry Diamond, is having a laugh at critics who have blasted the Pebble Beach and Players Championship winner in the weeks leading up to his wins.\u00a0 Since 2017, the two have been inseparable on the course as the Northern Irishman has trusted Diamond implicitly.\u00a0 McIlory\u2019s decision to stick with his […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4860,"featured_media":433847,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[15,246,19],"tags":[34],"class_list":["post-433846","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-golf","category-golf-news","category-pga","tag-rory-mcilroy"],"modified_by":"yobodev","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/golf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/433846","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/golf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/golf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/golf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4860"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/golf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=433846"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/golf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/433846\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/golf\/wp-json\/"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/golf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=433846"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/golf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=433846"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/golf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=433846"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}