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When golfer Bryson DeChambeau mysteriously broke up with his caddie, Tim Tucker, the golf world didn’t have many answers as to why. Now, the real reasons are coming out, and they are coming from an unusual source.

NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport broke news on The Pat McAfee Show relating to what he hears from sources about why DeChambeau’s caddie “quit” and how that plays into DeChambeau’s feud with Brooks Koepka.

Bryson DeChambeau’s and caddie Tim Tucker went ‘their separate ways’ leading up to last week’s PGA tournament

Bryson DeChambeau of the United States stands with his former caddie Tim Tucker on the 12th green during the second round of The Genesis Invitational at Riviera Country Club on February 19, 2021 in Pacific Palisades, California.
Bryson DeChambeau and former caddie Tim Tucker | Photo by Sean M. Haffey/Getty Images

Tucker caddied for DeChambeau during the practice rounds leading into the Rocket Mortgage Classic PGA tour stop in Detroit. However, the two abruptly split prior to the tournament’s first round, where DeChambeau would ultimately miss the cut.

In a statement reported by ESPN DeChambeau’s agent explained the breakup, saying:

[DeChambeau and Tucker] have gone their separate ways for now. That doesn’t mean forever, but it means they are not working together now. They met last night and decided to move on. It’s just an accumulation of things, and it’s never easy when a player and caddie split up. They just decided the best situation for now was essentially to not be together anymore.

This is not the first time DeChambeau and Tucker have taken a break from each other. The two split in 2017 before Tucker returned a year later.

NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport broke news on why DeChambeau and his caddie broke up and how it relates to his feud with Brooks Koepka

“Rarely do I bring golf scoop,” NFL insider Ian Rapoport told The Pat McAfee Show gang, “but today I do have a little bit of golf scoop.”

That golf scoop is the explosive revelation that DeChambeau’s caddie quit after taking verbal abuse from the player for some time. Rapoport told host Pat McAfee and co-host AJ Hawk:

I have heard that DeChambeau and his caddie have long been at odds. DeChambeau, I would say, the way he has dealt with his caddie was not something that others on the Tour really appreciated, just honestly.

The NFL scoop-meister continued dishing the dirt on DeChambeau. He reported that the former SMU Mustang’s treatment of Tucker is what set off Brooks Koepka’s eye-rolling during an interview at the PGA Championship in May and started the public feud between the two golfers. 

Remember the viral clip of Koepka kinda rolling his eyes? As [DeChambeau] walked by, he kinda had to stop the interview. That was, from what I understand, according to a source, that was because DeChambeau was yelling at his caddie, and Koepka had to listen to it, and he didn’t like it. So that’s why he stopped the interview.

Rapoport’s inside info seemingly lends a lot of context — of which there was previously little — to the DeChambeau Koepka feud and DeChambeau’s caddie quitting.

DeChambeau played in ‘The Match’ with Aaron Rodgers against Phil Mickelson and Tom Brady

DeChambeau’s 2021 season started with a bang. In March, he won the Arnold Palmer Invitational at Bay Hill and finished third at The Players Championship the next week, per ESPN.

Since then, his best finish is ninth place. In his other events, he’s finished 46th, 55th, 38th, 18th, 26th, 19th, and missed the cut at his most recent tournament in Detroit.

He got a break from the rigors of the PGA Tour on July 6, however, when he teamed up with Green Bay Packers QB Aaron Rodgers to face off in an exhibition against Phil Mickelson and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers’ Tom Brady in The Match.

The star-studded round benefited Feeding America and other charities and was played at The Reserve at Moonlight Basin golf course in Montana. It featured other notable sports figures commentating on the match, such as former NBA legend Charles Barkley, veteran NFL wide receiver Larry Fitzgerald, and LPGA and PGA pros Cheyenne Woods and Trevor Immelman.

The participants were mic’ed up the entire round so viewers will get to hear the banter and trash talk between the players. Mickelson or Brady weren’t savage enough to bring up Koepka or the real deal with the caddie situation during the round.

DeChambeau and Rodgers beat Mickelson and Brady 3 and 2 in The Match.

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Staff Writer, Producer - NFL

Tim Crean

Tim Crean started writing about sports in 2016 and joined Sportscasting in 2021. He excels with his versatile coverage of the NFL and soccer landscape, as well as his expertise breaking down sports media, which stems from his many years downloading podcasts before they were even cool and countless hours spent listening to Mike & The Mad Dog and The Dan Patrick Show, among other programs.

As a longtime self-professed sports junkie who even played DII lacrosse at LeMoyne College in Syracuse, New York, Tim loves reading about all the latest sports news every day and considers it a dream to write about sports professionally. He’s a lifelong Buffalo Bills fan from Western New York who mistakenly thought, back in the early ’90s, that his team would be in the Super Bowl every year. He started following European soccer — with a Manchester City focus — in the early 2000s after spending far too much time playing FIFA.

When he’s not enjoying a round of golf or coaching youth soccer and flag football, Tim likes reading the work of Bill Simmons, Tony Kornheiser, Chuck Klosterman, and Tom Wolfe.