WEBB SIMPSON paid caddie Paul Tesori £140,000 for helping him romp to the Players Championship title.
That is only £7,000 less than Joakim Lagergren earned for actually winning the Sicilian Open on the same day!
As well as highlighting the pay gap between the US and European Tours, maybe Simpson and Tesori will now be able to afford separate rooms when the 2012 US Open champ bids to reclaim that title at Shinnecock Hills next month.
That was not the case when Simpson, 32, played the Sony Open in Hawaii in January.
Bagman Tesori, 46, posted a photograph of the room they were sharing, with a small fold-down bed next to a large double, and asked: “Guess where I’m sleeping?”
Actually, it was a sign of how close the two are, as well as a bid to save a few bucks.
When Sean O’Hair sacked him in 2010, Tesori was not short of offers.
Simpson did not look the obvious choice — he was 214th in the world and had only just kept his Tour card.
WEBB FIGHT Webb Simpson holds nerve to beat Tiger Woods and win Players Championship
But it helped that Tesori had become a born-again Christian and Simpson is one of golf’s most devout players.
Tesori said: “I would not have thought it possible, but Webb took less than five minutes to persuade me to work for him. Now I look up to him every day of my life.”
Their relationship could have turned sour in 2014 when Tesori promised his girlfriend, Michelle, the £7,500 engagement ring she wanted on one condition…that she find the one palm tree at Augusta. Simpson gave the game away during a Masters practice round.
But he, along with playing partners Rickie Fowler and Bubba Watson, softened the blow by promising to pay for the ring if one of them won that week.
Watson pulled on the Green Jacket and despite Tesori’s protests, kept his promise.
Tesori recalled: “I didn’t bring it back up to Bubba. Then at the PGA Championship, Angie, Bubba’s wife, said, ‘Paul, come here,’ and she gave me a cheque.”
Most Read in Sport
Simpson and Watson are close friends and will probably renew their 2014 Ryder Cup partnership in Paris later this year.
They may have to — the rest of the USA players are not exactly falling over themselves to partner Watson.
But if Simpson putts as well as he did when sealing a four-shot win at Sawgrass, he will be a far more formidable opponent than the man who only managed half a point at Gleneagles.
Leave a comment