Justin Thomas confirms shock split on eve of The Masters

At The Masters, Justin Thomas will have a new caddie on the bag following his “parting ways” with Jim “Bones” Mackay.

On the eve of The Masters, Justin Thomas announced on social media that he had “participated ways” with caddie Jim “Bones” Mackay.

On September 30, 2021, Mackay, then 58 years old, started working full-time for Thomas, 30.

The Florida native, who was born in Surrey, was an on-course commentator for NBC/Golf Channel before joining Thomas.

That followed twenty-five years on Phil Mickelson’s bag.

In 2017, Mackay and Mickelson broke up.

Though it was Thomas’s second US PGA title overall, Mackay and Thomas’s only victory together on the PGA Tour came in 2022.

Despite having a terrible run of form in the first few months of 2023, the former World No. 1 was nevertheless selected as a wildcard in Zach Johnson’s US Ryder Cup team, which lost in Rome by five points.

After that, Thomas gradually got back on track, putting together seven straight top-12 finishes between August 2023 and February 2024.

However, Thomas has missed two cuts in his last four PGA Tour starts, which has caused him to fall behind the pack once more in recent weeks.

Thomas has had a lot of difficulty on the greens, where he is currently ranked a pitiful 169th in SG: Putting (-0.674).

Only one week before the first major of the season at Augusta National, Thomas has made the difficult decision to split ways with Mackay. It appears that Thomas needs a new start and a new perspective on the PGA Tour.

Thomas tweeted:

It pains me greatly to announce that Bones and I are no longer together. I will always be appreciative that he came along on the bag in 2021. The Presidents Cup, the Ryder Cups, and the PGA Championship in 2022 were all incredible experiences that we will never forget. Throughout a challenging phase of my career, his guidance both on and off the course has been a boon, and he has been there at every turn.

“I’m confident that the future holds great things for the two of us. I will always consider him and his family to be friends, and I wish him the best of luck.”

According to Todd Lewis of Golf Channel, Thomas will now have Matt Minister on his bag at The Masters next week.

Minister used to be on Patrick Cantlay’s bag, the former FedEx Cup winner.

Both Jim “Bones” Mackay and Justin Thomas are masters of their trades. Certainly, considering the timing, the split is unexpected.