Joe Collins is the dean of Augusta caddies, but his
colleagues use a more exalted title. "Joe is the Man," says
another caddie. "When Michael Jordan plays here, he asks for Joe."
At the Masters, Colin Montgomerie summoned Collins. The Scotsman
arrived looperless—his regular caddie was injured—and asked
club officials for the best man in the yard. That's Collins, 45,
who has worked the tournament for Jay Haas and Ed Sneed and
carried Jim Jamieson to a third-place finish in 1973. He was at
the caddie shack when a friend told him to stay put: He might
get Montgomerie's bag. "I didn't dare move," Collins says. "To
get his bag, somebody who can win, that pumps you up."
Montgomerie's usual caddie, Alistair McLean, had an ailing back.
"I think he got it from carrying his wallet," joked Monty, whose
3,899,774 [British pounds] in European tour earnings since 1993
meant pounds aplenty for McLean. Collins proved himself during a
practice round, then got the good news that he'd won a week's
work with "Colin," whose name he pronounced with a long o.
Wearing the number of one celeb client, Collins
landed another last week.
(Lynn Johnson/Aurora)
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One of eight brothers and sisters, Collins got his start in golf
by picking up range balls at Augusta Country Club. "I learned to
caddie there," he says of Augusta National's neighbor, "then
graduated to here." Like other caddies, he gets to play the
course once a year—"shot 77 one day," he says—but his vocation
is lending a strong back and a sharp eye to members and visitors
including Mario Andretti and presidential adviser Vernon Jordan
as well as Michael Jordan, who carded "80 or 81 from the back
tees" with his help, Collins says.
Last week he added 27 years' worth of local knowledge to
Montgomerie's cause. Monty first asked for advice at the par-3
4th hole during Thursday's first round. "'Straight up the hill,'
I said," Collins recalls, "and he made it." At the 16th,
studying a sweeping 40-footer with more than a yard of break,
the caddie urged his man to play "even more break than it
looks." Monty obeyed, and when the ball crept into the cup, he
laughed out loud.
Montgomerie stayed in the hunt all week. He tied for eighth and
won $89,500, of which Collins can expect 10%, quite a boost from
his usual fee of $45 a round. "Joe did O.K.," the Troonsman said
of his caddie-for-a-week. "He's a good lad, isn't he?"
Issue date: April 20, 1998
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