McKINNEY, Texas – For the last 25 years, Jim Furyk and Mike “Fluff” Cowan have gone together like Forrest Gump and a box of chocolates. But all good things must come to an end. Fluff has a new steady bag, working at this week’s CJ Cup Byron Nelson for C.T. Pan.
“It’s hard to part ways after 25 years,” Cowan said. “Sometimes the right thing to do is staring you right in the face and you’ve got to have the guts to do it.”
But to hear Fluff tell it, Furyk had to threaten to fire him — “Don’t make me do it because I will,” he joked — before Fluff would officially end what has been one of the game’s endearing partnerships of more than two decades dating to the 1999 Masters. It might be one of the few cases where a player and caddie truly split amicably.
“Love the guy,” Furyk wrote in a text while fishing with his father in South Carolina. “I’m still struggling with injuries and I pushed him to work for C.T. full time.”
The reason was a simple case of economics. Furyk, who has been dealing with injuries that sidelined him for much of last season, is 53 and has been able to make only limited starts on PGA Tour Champions.
“We play for $2 million. They play for $8-, $20-, $25-million,” Furyk said. “I knew it was a good opportunity for him, and C.T. has been playing pretty good (T-3 at the Mexico Open being his best result). (Fluff) was hesitant. Because he’s a great person at heart. But I pushed and we both knew it was best for him and his family.”
Fluff hooked up with Pan earlier this season in Hawaii and this week marks their ninth event together. Pan has banked $674,187 so far this season. Fluff worked for Furyk at two senior events, most recently at the Galleri Classic in late March. Furyk has earned $19,464 this season and hasn’t finished better than T-33.
Furyk, who had a friend from his junior golf days in Pennsylvania on his bag at the Invited Celebrity Classic two weeks ago in Dallas, said he expects to play next week at the Regions Tradition in Birmingham, Alabama, a Champions tour major. Who is going to caddie for him? His son, Tanner, a sophomore lacrosse player at Sewanee, is scheduled to work for his old man at 3-4 upcoming tournaments.
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On Wednesday, Fluff and his trademark fluffy, walrus mustache were as popular as ever. Fans, calling him “Mr. Fluff,” asked for his autograph and he obliged. At the tee of the sixth hole, a short par 4, Pan pulled a fairway wood and Fluff told him that there was an argument to be made for hitting the big stick but he loved the play for him. After the shot, a member of the Salesmanship Club of Dallas, the host organization that runs the annual Tour stop here, came over and hugged Fluff. It was Matt Weibring, son of D.A. Weibring, who turned pro in 1975 a year before Fluff showed up in a Tour parking lot looking for a bag. The iron man of golf caddies says he’s planning to caddie for at least one more year; that is until his daughter, who is wrapping up her junior year at Clemson University, graduates. “I’ve got one more year of payments,” he said with a sigh. A hole later, during a backup on the par-3 seventh, Pan met a couple of young girls from Momentous Institute, the tournament’s main charity. Pan introduced Angela, 10, to Fluff and said if she could guess how old he was he’d sign a glove to her.
“Sixty-seven,” she said with a smile.
“You’re sweet,” said Fluff, whispering in her ear the correct age of 76.
“I came out for one summer 47 years ago,” he said. “It’s been a very long summer.”
The endless summer continues, just with a new boss.
