WORKDAY CHARITY OPEN

July 7, 2020

Jim Mackay

Q. Jim, Matt talked about you making the first approach to him regarding caddying for the next couple of weeks. Can you just talk to us how and when and why that sort of came about from your perspective?

JIM MACKAY: Well, having seen Matt play for several years now, so getting paired with him when I was still caddying for Phil, I knew two things: That he was a really good player and a really good guy. When I heard kind of through the grapevine that some of the European caddies weren't coming over because of the quarantine issues and I heard Billy in particular wasn't coming with Matt, I thought, my goodness I'm going to reach out to this guy because I love to caddie, I still consider myself a caddie to this day who's just doing TV, and I said, hey, if I can help out at all I'd love to do it. And he said, I'm all set the first three but the two in Ohio would be great, and I said, "I'll see you there." It worked out wonderfully.

Q. Is there any sort of etiquette in that situation where you get Billy involved, as well?

JIM MACKAY: Well, I would imagine that -- I didn't have Billy's number, otherwise I would have reached out to him myself, but certainly Billy has been doing this longer than I have, or at least started before I did, so I have tremendous respect for him. I would imagine that Billy and Matt probably talked about things before he gave me the okay in terms of coming out there, so I'm sure that Billy is a huge part of Matt's team in that respect.

Q. From a broadcasting perspective I don't think you've done any since THE PLAYERS finished. What have you been doing with yourself to keep your time filled?

JIM MACKAY: I was in Arizona where the weather was great March and April, so I played a lot of golf with Joe Skovron, Rickie Fowler's caddie, so hanging out with family and a lot of board games at the house, not too much moving around. But certainly when the PGA TOUR got restarted I was envious of the guys being back out here, whether it's TV, caddying, what have you. To have this opportunity to be out here with the fellas in the sun getting a bit of exercise is a fantastic feeling.

Q. You've obviously been on-site for the day so far, half a day, and just seeing a lot of guys, it obviously sounds like it's been a pretty nice feeling to be back. Do you think it's going to be strange for you being out in the arena without fans, and how will you handle that?

JIM MACKAY: It will be different. You know, it's funny, I always tell people when I was caddying, even caddying for Phil on days when you had huge galleries, I always told me that you'd be surprised what we could hear as players and caddies in terms of what comes from the spectators, and now to not have that, it's just going to be eerily quiet, and of course you're that much able as a fan at home watching this to hear what's going on out there between the ropes, which I think is really cool. But it's going to be fun. I've been talking to my caddie friends, and they said it's very different, a completely different kind of atmosphere, if you will, but I'm looking forward to checking it out and seeing how it is.

Q. Matt mentioned in his interview earlier that he's only played one time here and he's not really that familiar with the course. What can you offer him because I imagine you've been around here multiple times.

JIM MACKAY: Yeah, the one thing I am lucky to have is a good memory, so I certainly have been here. I came here in 1990 for the first time, so I've seen it in an array of different conditions, different winds. It's a question of me learning Matt's game as quickly as I can and if he's got a question for me I'd better be able to answer it. That's my job as his caddie. We talked a little bit yesterday about a couple of dicey pins like the front pin on 11 where you can spin the ball back off the green into the water there if you're not careful. You know, Matt, he's a very cerebral player I'm finding out here quickly too, so he thinks things through very carefully, which makes my job that much easier, and again, if he's got something that he's curious about, I hope to have the answer.

Q. What have you noticed about Matt's game in the past, the best part of his game that you admire?

JIM MACKAY: I think part of what makes Brooks Koepka so great is his trajectory. He's got a very kind of flighted trajectory. The ball doesn't get up too much and isn't affected by the wind. When I was standing behind Matt yesterday and he was sort of warming up, I was reminded that that's what Matt has, as well. I love working for guys where if you're hitting the ball into an 8-mile-an-hour wind all of a sudden, you can say, can you take that down a level or two and the club will get there, so to speak. I think a big part of playing well at this level is being able to flight the ball nicely, and he's got that in spades.

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