Joe LaCava is the longtime golf caddie who became a
talking point after the 2023 Ryder Cup, when his animated celebration during
Patrick Cantlay’s putt led to a tense clash with Rory McIlroy and Shane Lowry.
Since then, he has mostly been in the news for trying to move past that
episode and keep the focus on golf.[3][4][5]
What happened
The
biggest recent “what happened” moment was the Ryder Cup incident in Rome,
where LaCava’s hat-waving celebration was seen as too much by McIlroy while he
was putting. That sparked a heated exchange and a lot of post-round attention,
with later reports saying LaCava apologized to McIlroy to help cool things
down.[4][3]
Background
Before that, LaCava was best known as Tiger
Woods’ caddie, and in 2023 he switched to caddying full-time for Patrick
Cantlay. Reports described that move as a difficult but professional decision,
tied to timing and Woods’ injury situation.[2][6]
Current context
More recently, coverage has framed LaCava as someone trying to avoid another
controversy, especially around Ryder Cup-related storylines. In 2025, he said
he was not looking for “any controversy” and wanted the focus to stay on the
competition.[1][5]
In one line
If you mean the recent buzz, Joe
LaCava is mostly being discussed because of the Ryder Cup “hat gate” fallout,
not because of a bigger scandal or off-course incident.[5][3]
TL;DR
\- Joe LaCava is Patrick Cantlay’s caddie and Tiger Woods’ former longtime
caddie.[6][2] \- He got major attention after the 2023 Ryder Cup clash with
Rory McIlroy.[3][4] \- Later reporting says he apologized and has tried to
move on from it.[5][3]