Mike Weir with caddy Brennan LittleHarry How
Mike Weir's career is at a crossroads and he'll take the next step without his long-serving caddy.
The eight-time winner on the PGA Tour announced Tuesday that Brennan Little is leaving him after 12 years to take over the bag of rising U.S. star Sean O'Hair.
"Brennan and I have had a great run together," Weir said on his website. "He's been an amazing caddy and a tireless worker. I know I wouldn't have gone as far in my career without his support."
While the split was amicable and a business decision on Little's part, the caddy's departure leaves Weir without his steadiest ally as he tries to get his game back on track after an injury-plagued season.
Weir, 40, placed 151st on the tour's money list this season, the first time since his rookie year in 1998 that he hasn't made the top 125. He posted just one top-10 finish before injuring his right elbow at the Verizon Heritage in April when he struck a tree root during a swing.
The injury worsened and he shut his season down in August after discovering he had a partial ligament tear in the elbow. He returned to competition last week at the Shark Shootout, tying for fifth place at the unofficial team event playing alongside K.J. Choi. He reported he was free of pain.
By winning just $560,000 (all currency U.S.) and finishing outside the top 125 this season, Weir failed to secure his full-time playing card next year or qualify for some of golf's biggest tournaments. However, the tour granted him an extension to his card on medical grounds and has guaranteed him entry into five tournaments early in 2011.
If he can earn about $227,000 during those events, most or all of which will be on the West Coast, he'll lock up his full-time status for the rest of the year.
The five-event window adds extra pressure for him to get out of the gate quickly, but Weir's record on the West Coast suggests he stands a fighting chance if he's healthy. Three of his wins came at the Bob Hope Classic and Northern Trust Open in California.
Weir, who's fallen to No. 167 in the world, acknowledged that his uncertain future played a part in Little's jump to the 28-year-old O'Hair, whose earnings prospects for 2011 are high again after coming off his sixth consecutive season of winning $1.4-million or more. (A PGA Tour caddy's pay is based on a percentage of the player's winnings.)
"Our friendship will always remain," Weir said on his website. "I know that he has to look after his family, and my [playing]situation, while I remain confident, is certainly not all that stable at the moment."
Little informed Weir of his departure after the Canadian left-hander played last weekend in the Shark Shootout.
Weir doesn't have a successor in mind yet. He should have plenty of good candidates, though, since there is often caddy turnover at the end of each year.
The two had formed one of golf's more enduring and recognizable partnerships, right up there with the team of Phil Mickelson and Jim (Bones) Mackay, Tiger Woods and Steve Williams, and Lee Westwood and Billy Foster.
They took their relationship outside the ropes, too, maintaining a decades-old friendship that began when they competed in junior golf in Southwestern Ontario.
"Mike and I are great friends, always will be, and he understood that while it was a very difficult decision for me, I do have to consider what is best for my family," Little, of St. Thomas, Ont., said in his own blog. "He knows that I will always be there for him, helping in whatever way I can."