Legendary caddie Jim ‘Bones’ Mackay is returning to television on a full-time basis following his split with Justin Thomas in April.
Mackay will return to the broadcast booth for NBC Sports/Golf Channel’s coverage of the US Open next week.
Sam Flood, the executive producer of NBC Sports and president of production, confirmed that Mackay is back working with the company full-time.
“He will be part of NBC Sports for years to come as we’re going to partner for a long time with him,” Flood said via Golfweek.
Mackay, who is one of the most popular and respected caddies in the sport, first joined NBC in 2017 as an on-course reporter following a successful 25-year spell looping for Phil Mickelson.
He linked up with Thomas in 2021, winning the 2022 PGA Championship together, while still occasionally working in TV.
On the eve of this year’s Masters, Thomas announced that he was parting ways with Mackay, saying on social media: “While incredibly difficult for me to say, Bones and I have parted ways. I’m going to be forever thankful for him joining me on the bag in 2021."
Speaking to Golfweek about his new role with NBC, Mackay said he “couldn’t be happier about the situation”.
“In terms of where I am in my life this is the perfect scenario for me and I couldn’t be more pleased.”
Mackay said TV will be his main focus going forward, but left the door open for potential caddying duties in the future.
“Television is my No.1 priority and I’ll do what I did before – if someone is sick or between caddies and needs a guy for a week and it’s not an NBC event, then I’d be happy to help out, but beyond that I will be doing TV primarily as far as what I do for a living.”
