Golf
US Open star ‘got his wife to sack caddie’ after almost fighting on golf course
Michael Collins claims that former PGA Tour golfer Daniel Chopra got his wife to sack him after the two almost came to blows on a Chicago golf course
Caddie-turned-analyst Michael Collins claims that he was sacked by former US Open and PGA Tour star Daniel Chopra after tensions almost left the two fighting on the course many moons ago.
It was on a golf course in Chicago where Danny Chops and Collins had some choice words for each other, with the verbal altercation resulting in the caddie dropping his bags and asking the Swede if he wanted to ‘go’. Speaking with Dan Katz and PMT Commenter on the Pardon My Take podcast, Collins reflected on the ‘volatile’ world of caddying.
He said: “People thought ‘oh cool man, you’re a caddie so you got guaranteed this and’. Nah man, it don’t work like that. I got fired on a Thursday after the first round – there’s no contracts, there’s no guarantees for caddies out there. And you’ve got to pay all of your own expenses – airfare, hotel, rental car, food all of that stuff.
“So, if you’ve got a guy who’s missing four or five cuts in a row and you’ve got a family at home and bills to pay it can get a little scary.” Collins was then probed by Katz on why he was fired that aforementioned afternoon, prompting him to burst out in laughter before making his claims about his fallout with Chopra.
He added: “I was working for a dude – me and him almost got in a fight on the golf course. I literally put the bag down and was like ‘you wanna go?’ whilst I was a caddie. So lets just say of all the people that I’ve caddied for, we’re all friends now – but at the time, what seemed like a good connection ended horrifically.
“I caddied for Daniel Chopra for like three months maybe, and at one point we were just not getting along – so bad that I put the bag down in the middle of the tournament and was like ‘do you wanna go right here, in front of everybody? I’ve gotta embarrass you in front of all of these people?’.
“When it got to its worst point ever – we were in Chicago and he shot six over and was in the locker room – he sent his wife, Samantha out because he didn’t want to do it face to face. Maybe even scared. And she was like ‘we’re going to make a change’ and I was like ‘yeah, it’s probably a good idea’.”
Since retiring from his ten-year career of caddying, Collins has gone on to join the ESPN golf team, working as a host and an analyst on a range of the network’s golfing programmes. Chopra, who came T24 at the US Open back in 2004, would go on to pick up his first PGA win at the Ginn sur Mer Classic at Tesoro in 2007, before claiming a second at the Mercedes-Benz Championship of 2008.
The US Open tees off on Thursday (June 13) at North Carolina’s Pinehurst No. 2.