Who Is Harris English’s Caddie?

Who Is Harris English's Caddie?

English currently has Eric Larson on the bag who has an interesting story to say the least. Larson has caddied for other players who have won four PGA Tour titles – two each by buddy Mark Calcavecchia and Anthony Kim – and helped Kim and Jeff Overton make Ryder Cups in 2008 and 2010 respectively.

He has been on the bag for English for a number of years now and yet he lost his freedom for almost 11 years.

Back in 1979 he moved from Wisconsin to Florida and thought he was a good golfer. He met Mark Calcavecchia and Ken Green at a club and realised he wasn't as good so he took up their bags. He caddied first for Green and then Calcavecchia. The living was good but not great which pushed him to the decision of selling cocaine.

According to The Caddie Network, it started on a small scale as he had friends in the Midwest who wanted cocaine, and he had contacts in South Florida who could provide it. Larson would then take a cut.

“I did it for monetary purposes only,” Larson said to the website. “I didn’t use it, and I never brought it out on Tour. Was I a major drug dealer? No. Did I drive fancy cars? No. That doesn’t make it any better.”

Eventually he got caught, and because it was across state lines, it was a federal charge. He got 13 years in federal prison, five years of probation and a $25,000 fine.

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Larson, as annoyed as he was at the harsh sentence, took to prison probably as well as someone could. He earned a college degree in business administration and stayed fit by playing sports and working out. His close friends were amazed at how well Larson handled the situation when they visited him in jail.

He served time in four federal prisons, one of which was in California and he met Tommy Chong from the comedy duo; Cheech and Chong.

“Tommy knew I had been there for a while, and he wanted to know how to best handle prison life,” Larson said. “I gave him all the advice I could.

“I had my own garden where I was growing things, and he wanted to do that with me. But the warden wouldn’t let him. He said he was afraid Tommy was going to start growing marijuana in the prison.”

The pair remains friends to this day.

Upon getting out, Larson immediately worked with Calcavecchia again and they managed to have some success together with the plan being that Larson would move on to a younger player. This happened in 2008 with Anthony Kim giving him a four-week try-out.

They won the second event together.

“I definitely think with him on the bag that I’ve grown,” Kim said in 2008. “He just brings a new perspective, a great attitude every morning, and I feel like if there was something lacking before a round, it was being positive and being happy to be there. I feel like with everything that Eric has gone through, he feels happy to be out here.”

They eventually split, with Larson moving on to Overton's bag. This ended too and Larson bounced around bags for Henrik Norlander, Chris Kirk and Andres Gonzales. He eventually wound up on English's bag and has remained since.