Jacob Bridgeman, the 25-year-old PGA Tour pro, currently has GW Cable on his bag. Cable is a veteran of almost two decades on tour. As of now, they are yet to win a title together, but Cable is no stranger to winning on the PGA Tour. In fact, he is no stranger to winning in tournaments, having had a few titles as an amateur.
GW Cable was a promising junior golfer
Like most caddies on tour, Cable was a golfer himself. He was a 1994 Rolex Jr. All-American from Oakmont, Virginia. Cable was also a three-time All-Met Champion in school. He has AJGA tournament titles under his belt as well.
The 1997 Dixie Amateur title deserves a special mention. Cable was actually working as a golf club salesman. He was 20 and needed cash, and hence instead of driving to the range, he was driving to work. In fact, before landing at Bonaventure Country Club, he hadn’t stepped foot on a golf course for about a month.
After a last-minute approval from his boss, Cable traveled to Florida. A few days later, he walked away with the title, defeating top collegiate golfers and etching his name in the winner’s list of Dixie Amateur. Jesper Parnevik, Lanny Wadkins, Nolan Henke, Hal Sutton, and Andy Bean are also past winners of the tournament.
The career went on the path exactly as you would expect. GW Cable turned pro soon after. So, how does this path lead to caddying? It’s another interesting story.
Transitioning to caddying was an unplanned decision
After turning pro, Cable teed off in a few Tour events. As a journeyman, he plied his trade in different tours, trying to find a permanent place in the top tier of American golf. And like most on mini-tours, he was surviving on double-shift jobs and side money to cover his entry fees and then fighting for survival outside the green.
However, injury stopped him from doing even that. In 2007, Cable made it to the final stages of Q-School. The grind almost paid off, but he missed the mark by a slim margin.
“My body was simply worn out. I had severe back problems, and I never knew when I would swing and my back would lock up. I was so stressed, not by worrying about my game—I knew I had the game and still do,” Cable recounted to Sporting News a decade back. He left the greens for good. And joined a South Florida club as a pro. Then Steve Marino called him up one day. He needed some help for a few weeks.
They worked together for 14 years.
GW Cable spent over a decade with Steve Marino.
Before looping for Jacob Bridgeman, GW Cable was on the bag for PGA Tour winner Chris Kirk, Steve Marino, Chris Kirk, Morgan Hoffmann, Heath Slocum, Matt Every, and some others. He had been caddying for over 16 years now.
While working with Marino, Cable met Chris Kirk. Marino and Cable teamed up for a team-play match against Kirk and Ben Martin. Cable shot 62, the best score among the four. Both Kirk and Martin would go on to win on Tour, and Cable would caddie for one of them: Kirk. The veteran looper had won the Crowne Plaza Invitational with Kirk.
But even in 2012, Cable was winning. Marino and Cable teamed up in the 2012 Bear Lakes Scratch Pro-Am. They won by two shots over Brooks Koepka and Robbie Wright. Koepka would of course go on to win five majors. Cable, on the other hand, would caddie for Kirk and then be on the bag for youngster Jacob Bridgeman.
His composure on the course might not give it away, but Cable is what Gen Z dubs as ‘cool dude.’ He is a married man with a happy family, but that doesn’t mean he stays away from all adventures (or misadventures).
Cable’s nickname reflects his mischievous personality
Nicknames are part of the caddie’s world on the Tour. You know, it’s not just Jim Mackay; it’s Jim ‘Bones’ Mackay. It’s not just Mike Cowan. It’s Mike ‘Fluff’ Cowan. Similarly, those who call Cable a friend also call him ‘Juicy G.’ The reason? Nothing specific, apparently. Just that he likes to defeat pros in friendly gambling. The bets are mostly placed on him doing some seemingly impossible physical feat.
“If the price is right, you never know what I might do,” Cable told Sporting News in 2015. “I’m an entrepreneur, and one time on a flight to the British Open, I took enough of their money to pay for all my expenses that week.”
Another ‘juicy’ one he recounted to GolfWRX: “British Open trip. It’s pretty nasty, but I started it off with… it was a thing of dip, and somebody said, ‘Will you drink that for a thousand dollars?’ And I chugged it, with the chew in it. So I made a quick grand on the way to the British Open. And then there was some stuff to follow that I’ll leave out. But it paid for my rent for the week.”
Cable likes to have a little fun now and then. He is also a football fan, rooting for the Virginia Cavaliers all the way. Other than that, not much is known about his personal life. He is married and has two children. Occasionally, Cable shares pictures of him with his children.
The post Meet Jacob Bridgman’s Caddie GW Cable: Veteran Looper’s Lifestyle, Career & More appeared first on EssentiallySports.
