'My caddie fired me,' Singh jokes

Reunion with former caddie leads to first win in 3 years

Vijay Singh (Fiji, right) embraces caddie Wayne Dehart on the 18th green at Prestonwood Country Club in Cary, North Carolina, after winning the PGA Tour Champions SAS Championship on Monday. [Getty Images]
Vijay Singh (Fiji, right) embraces caddie Wayne Dehart on the 18th green at Prestonwood Country Club in Cary, North Carolina, after winning the PGA Tour Champions SAS Championship on Monday. [Getty Images]

Vijay Singh, a three-time major champion, won the SAS Championship despite his caddie abruptly quitting on him just days before the tournament began.

According to Golf Monthly and other international golf outlets, Singh was scrambling to find a new caddie ahead of the PGA Tour Champions event after his regular bag man told him he was walking away.

Singh described the situation with a laugh. "My caddie fired me," he said. "I think I was nagging him too much."

The split came just three days before the tournament opened. Singh reached out to Wayne Dehart, a caddie he had worked with before, and the two agreed to team up again. The timing worked out: Dehart had just parted ways with a player on the Korn Ferry Tour, the PGA Tour's second-tier circuit.

"It was all a coincidence," Singh said. "I called Wayne and asked if he was ready, and he said yes. I missed what he brings to the team. Having someone who knows what to do made the round so much easier."

Dehart has previously caddied for Ernie Els of South Africa and Cameron Young of the United States, and he had also worked with Singh at this year's Masters Tournament.

Despite the last-minute caddie change, Singh closed out the SAS Championship on Monday at Prestonwood Country Club (par 72) in Cary, North Carolina, posting a final total of 9-under-par 207 to beat Els by two strokes.

Singh carded three consecutive rounds of 3-under-par 69 to claim his sixth PGA Tour Champions title — his first since the Ally Challenge in August 2023, nearly three years ago. After sealing the victory on the 18th hole, he and Dehart shared an embrace.

At 63 years and seven months old, Singh also set the record as the seventh-oldest winner in PGA Tour Champions history. The six records ahead of his are all held by Bernhard Langer of Germany.

A World Golf Hall of Fame inductee with 34 PGA Tour victories, Singh surpassed Tiger Woods of the United States to reach world No. 1 in 2004.


yjc@heraldcorp.com