Caddie changes hit the PGA Tour (and DP World Tour) this week - Golfweek
Two significant caddie changes headline the latest moves this week for the caddie carousel on the PGA Tour.
The first will have more immediate ramifications on the DP World Tour. Justin Rose’s veteran caddie Mark Fulcher is sidelined with an injury and unable to work this week’s BMW PGA Championship on the DP World Tour and announced he’s out for the remainder of the year, which likely will include a start or two for Rose in the Race to Dubai.
“Sadly going to have to skip the rest of the season,” Fulcher wrote in an Instagram post on Sept. 9, noting he enjoyed a campaign capped by an emotional win at the PGA Tour’s Farmers Insurance Open back in January. “It’s time to take care of a small problem in my right hip. Look forward to having the new one this month and being pain free. Few months of rehab and targeting a return at the Amex event in January 2027 if all goes to plan.”
Fulcher is being replaced by David Clark, who most recently had been on the bag of one-time Tour winner Stephen Jaeger. The German is competing this week at the Biltmore Championship Asheville and has Julien Trudeau on the bag. Trudeau, a Canadian, had spent several seasons working for Mackenzie Hughes before switching to another Canadian, Sudarshan Yellamaraju, through the FedEx St. Jude Championship.
The other notable change is that two-time Tour winner Nick Dunlap has parted ways with Hunter Hamrick at the end of the FedEx Cup regular season and has Jeff Curl listed as his caddie this week. Hamrick, who was a member of the 2012 University of Alabama team that lost to Texas in the National Championship and played professionally for nine years before returning to Alabama as an assistant coach in 2021, coached Dunlap during his time in Tuscaloosa and has been on the bag since he won The American Express as an amateur in 2024 and elected to turn pro.
Dunlap, 22, could use a spark as he's made just seven cuts in 18 starts and enters the week at No. 167 in the FedEx Cup standings. Curl, the son of former Tour pro Rod Curl, competed on the Korn Ferry Tour before becoming a mentor to promising young golfers. He met Dunlap at Greystone Golf & Country Club in Alabama when he was 10 years old, and Curl caddied for him during his victories at the 2021 U.S. Junior Amateur and 2023 U.S. Amateur. It’s unclear at this time whether Curl is filling in or jumping on the bag full time.
Things didn't start well for Dunlap this week in Asheville as he posted a triple-bogey on the opening hole.
Reached by phone, Hamrick said he is weighing his options and hopes to return on another bag soon.
Also of note, journeyman pro Tom Gillis, 58, is jumping on the bag of Tom Hoge full-time. Golfweek told you that he left his job with George McNeil on the senior circuit to team with Hoge at the Wyndham Championship, where he finished T-29 and missed out on the playoffs.
Gillis made the last of his 92 PGA Tour Champions starts in 2024, and tallied 188 PGA Tour and 99 Korn Ferry Tour appearances. The Detroit News's Tony Paul caught up with Gillis earlier this month. Gillis replaced Travis McAlister, who found a new bag this week with Norway's Kris Ventura.
Adam Schupak is a senior writer for Golfweek, covering the PGA Tour.
