Yep, you’re seeing that image correctly. Lindsey Weaver opted for a pushcart instead of a caddie at the AIG Women’s British Open at Royal Troon.
The 26-year-old, who played her rookie LPGA Tour season in 2018 and got her card back at Q school in 2019 for the 2020 season, usually hires local caddies. Part of the LPGA’s return protocols included disallowing local caddies. In conjunction with that, the tour allowed the option to not use a caddie at all. So now Weaver is out pushing her bag around Royal Troon, near the top of the leaderboard. She began the weekend one-over, two shots off the lead, and was alone in fourth late in Saturday’s round, which included an incredible par.
From another angle, what an incredible moment for Weaver! pic.twitter.com/QLr4koJgpc
— AIG Women’s Open (@AIGWomensOpen) August 22, 2020
But it’s not just about rolling the bag. Weaver is also raking her own bunkers, doing her own yardages, grabbing divots, reading putts, selecting clubs. Sure, these are all things any professional golfer is completely capable of doing, but when you’re out there having to do it all yourself, and you’re the only one doing it by yourself, whilst atop the leaderboard of a Major, it can add up.
Weaver doesn’t seem to be feeling any heat, though. She’s comfortable doing it alone.
“I feel like it’s kind of back to the basics,” Weaver explained earlier in the week. “This is how junior golf was. This is how college golf was and on the Symetra Tour when I played there for a year. I mean, it’s still just golf. Like I’m still making the final decision at the end of the day.”
“I was in one bunker and my pushcart flew into another bunker and toppled over and I’m still trying to get a lot of the sand out of my bag,” Weaver said.
The cart flew away despite Weaver having set the brakes. She didn’t harbour any resentment towards the cart, though. It’s not the cart’s fault: it’s more than a decade old.
Weaver also didn’t get the pleasure of fist-bumping her caddie after her remarkable par.
