PALM HARBOR, Florida – When you think of the great caddies in professional golf you think of guys like Angelo, Squeaky, Fluff, Stevie and Bones. They carried the bags for some of the greatest players in the game named Nicklaus, Price, Mickelson and Tiger. But at the Valspar Championship 2025 there was a caddy named Rick. Yep, me, Rick Zurak.
It was only the Pro-Am, but there I was, a looper on one of the best tests on the PGA Tour, the Copperhead course at Innisbrook Resort in Palm Harbor, Florida. I was on the bag for former Major League Baseball Manager Joe Maddon. You know Joe. He managed the Angels, Rays and Cubs. In 2016 he led the Cubs to their first World Series Title in 108 years. He spent 9 years managing the Rays so he is loved in Tampa Bay.
There we were at the famed Copperhead Course, along side three other amateurs from the Ameri-Life company and a 17-year old PGA Professional named Blades Brown. That’s right, the kid is only 17 !!! He’s playing on the PGA Tour and he’s really, really good.
The way it works is that you sign up as a volunteer caddy and show up on Monday at 7a.m. There’s no guarantee you are gonna go out. (I have been here before and been told there were “no more caddy spots needed, thanks for showing up”. ) Well, “Boo” to that! Made me want to go home and do nothing but take a nap. But not on this day. I was number 42 in the pecking order and I got the call. “Zurak, your up!”
When I went to get my caddy bib I was asked if I was a baseball fan? I said absolutely and the next thing I was shaking hands with my player for the day, Joe Maddon. If there really is an “average Joe”, it’s Joe Maddon. No big league ego here. It was like looping for one of my Saturday morning cronies. As nice a person as you can find. He just had more awesome sports stories and relationships to share that not even 18 holes and five hours could hold. As for Joe Maddon the golfer well “I’m an 8 handicap,” he told me. “I’m a member of Valley Country Club in Sugarloaf, Pennsylvania and a member of St. Petersburg Country Club here.”
On this day, Joe will be the first one to admit he’s played better. It was very windy, the rough was PGA Tour rough (and then some), and if he had two more yards he would have hit 10 more greens. It was that kind of frustrating day that “we” have all had.
“There is the good and bad (with my golf game),” he said. “Do NOT hit the ball in the rough at Copperhead. The rough is rough!” He should have told that to Justin Thomas before he hit his tee shot on the 72nd hole when he found the rough and made bogey to lose the 2025 Valspar by one.
As it turned out, the tough golf course and his play didn’t matter. The stories kept on coming. His attitude never wavered.
“I’m gonna take this five wood over that hill and on the green,” he said.
But the lip of the bunker was his nemesis, time and time again. It got to the point that you just write it off as one of those days. You move on to another walk and talk to a member of the group. It wasn’t just me that had a wonderful day with “The Coach”. He was gracious and fun and loving to the entire group.
Then there was “The Kid”. Not only does he have a great name in Blades Brown, but he is as long and straight as any player on Tour. A native of Nashville, Blades is still in high school. He studies online and travels all over the US and North America playing golf. He got into the Valspar on a sponsors exemption.
“I get seven exemptions and I’ve already had three. I missed the cut by one shot in two tournaments and I made the cut and finished T-30 in Mexico,” explained Brown.
That was good for a $30,000 check. As Joe Maddon and I joked, our parents didn’t make $30k when we were 17 !
On the 10th tee they had a set up to monitor your drive. Distance, spin rate and more. Blades calmly stepped up and drilled a drive down the middle. When he asked for his distance, the man behind the machine said 341. That’s right, the kid is 17 with a sweet swing and has no problem crushing it 341. That’s why he’s on the PGA Tour when most teenagers are hoping to get their drivers license and pass biology.
“I thought about college,” he told me. “I had it down to Tennessee, LSU and Illinois. But I decided to go pro. This (the perfectly groomed Copperhead Golf Course) is a pretty good place to call my office.”
I will be keeping an eye on Blades for a long time because I’m certain he’s gonna be on the PGA Tour for many years to come. A great kid with a great attitude and a great game. “I just take it one shot at a time,” he said. Some good advice for all of us.
So a lot of pro-am caddies here get just another amateur and a pro that doesn’t give you two seconds or two words. Yep, there are a few of those out here. But on this day, I was alongside one of the great managers in the history of baseball and a young man that is destined for greatness. I don’t need to be a famous caddy, I’m just glad that I was able to cherish the day like Blades, one shot at a time.
Finally back to Joe Maddon. As you probably know, analytics are taking over baseball as AI is taking over the world. Joe is an old school manager that looks at things differently and had these great words of wisdom as we walked off the 18th green.
“Take Shohei Otani (the two-time MVP for the world champion Dodgers) for instance,” said Joe. “He’s not an analytic maven, he’s more of an athlete that plays baseball. So I’d like to believe, not only in baseball, but in the rest of the world, that our society uses this stuff but don’t permit it to take the emotion out of our lives.”
Joe Maddon, I’ll never caddy for a better guy.
