At this point in time, the Jon Rahm caddie fight (or “fight” if you will) is old news but still has people talking and still has me clicking links.  The disagreement came shortly before Rahm tried to play a hero shot on Sunday at the 11th hole at Sawgrass which would essentially play him out of the tournament.  While I’m sure these disagreements happen on Tour more than we typically see, the insight captured during the broadcast was still fascinating.  I’d link a video, but it’s oddly not posted in too many places for some reason, so I’m just going to avoid the risk – maybe like Rahm should have done with his second shot on 11, am I right?  I’ll be here all day, folks.

Anyway, Golf Digest posted a cool reflection of the incident with input from pro looper, and arguably Twitter legend, Kip Henley to help us better understand the relationship between caddie and player.

“Ninety-eight percent of America looks at that and knows Adam was making the right call,” Henley said. “Birdie is great, but par doesn’t kill you, and a good caddie is able to look at the situation without as much emotion as the player.”

So Hayes does fight—at least to a point. As Henley said, the odds are always stacked against a caddie when player digs in his heels as well. He says a caddie wins these arguments about 10 percent of the time, so at some point, a caddie has to contemplate caving. That’s what you’re seeing when Rahm starts explaining why he doesn’t feel comfortable laying up because it will leave him an awkward lie. At that point it doesn’t matter that Hayes is still in the right. He knows he can’t win.

Henley goes on to elaborate on this point, but the part I enjoyed the most was his reflection on the aftermath.

“The one thing you don’t do is let it hang out there,” Henley says.“You remind him that he did what he thinks was right, and that it was a good decision. Maybe he lets it hang over him, but your job is to try to get him to turn the page.”

I couldn’t do it.  Good thing I’m not a pro jock.  I’d have the hardest time not being pouty, bitter, short, or having a puckered face the rest of the day.  Good for you, caddies, you’re a special breed.

By the way, this whole thing totally reminds me of growing up and yelling at your parents to “stop fighting!” anytime they’re remotely disagreeing about something and they sternly reply, “we’re not fighting, we’re just discussing.”  Then one day your kids are doing the same thing to you.

If you’re like me and can’t get enough of this kind of stuff, you can read the full article here.  Let us know what you thought of the whole thing.