Last week, PGA Tour player Alejandro Tosti and his caddie, Cliff Ellis, made headlines when Ellis removed his bib and abandoned Tosti’s bag in the 18th fairway — halfway through the pair’s round at the Cliffs at Walnut Cove, host of the Biltmore Championship Asheville.
Golf Channel cameras captured Tosti and Ellis having what appeared to be a brief but animated interaction just short of the 18th green right before Ellis walked off. Tosti continued his walk to the green and reportedly employed a fan from the gallery to carry his bag for the nine holes that remained in his first round. Tosti ultimately fired a 72, followed by a 71 in the second round with a new caddie, to miss the cut.
Tosti told Golfweek’s Adam Schupak that he thought Ellis had gone to a restroom on the 18th hole. What sparked their disagreement? Earlier this week, Ellis shared his side of the story with The Tee Box Golf Show.
Ellis, who had worked for Tosti since the CJ Cup in May, began by describing their relationship as “tumultuous,” though he conceded that Tosti is “a very nice, off-the-course gentleman” and “cordial to fans.”
The two made only three cuts during their run together before Ellis walked off the course last Thursday in North Carolina.
“The whole week was just ludicrous,” Ellis said. “A lot of just off-the-wall and insane things were going on all week between him and I. Then Thursday morning we got off to a real hot start. We were on the range getting warmed up and we got into a little tussle over the placement of the bag … at the driving range. Which was just insane. So I’m like trying to call him down. Like, ‘OK, let’s stay focused on this here.’ So just the day was bad. It was just terrible.
“So as you see on that video, we’re coming up the 18th hole, which is our ninth of the day. We had 136 [yards] in, we bang this wedge in there. We couldn’t really see the green or where the ball was, but there’s a big grandstand behind there, so by the reaction of the crowd, I knew it landed close to the hole and stayed close. I knew it was something that was very makeable. And I pick the bag up. He [Tosti] looks at me and says, ‘Why is this umbrella in the bag?’ I said, ‘What if it rains? Or what if you want to use it for sun?’ Which is something he does often. He’ll pop the umbrella open for the walk and get under it so he doesn’t get in the sun. He said something like, ‘Well, it would be stupid to have it out here.’ I was like, ‘Are you planning on carrying this bag? What difference does it make to you?’”
“I just tried to brush it off,” Ellis continued. “We have a hand sign we use to say ‘Hey, let’s stay focused,’ but he goes, ‘No, I just don’t understand why you’d bring this.’ He said ‘Sounds like you’re a —’. He took a personal attack. He used a word I can’t use here on the radio. In the video you can kinda see me pointing to myself, I’m like, ‘You’re gonna call me that over this?’
“I said, ‘I’m gonna let you walk that back real quick and we can go forward.’ Well he doubled down on it, so I said ‘You know what, I am done with you, and I’m outta here, I quit.’ He said ‘Are you kidding me?’ And I said, ‘I’m not kidding you. Who would put themselves through this?’”
Ellis says he has not heard from Tosti since the incident but would be open to caddying again for another player in the future. Tosti is currently No. 188 in the FedEx Cup fall rankings.
You can listen to Ellis’ full interview on The Tee Box Golf Show here. Ellis’ segment begins at the 37-minute mark.
