Justin Thomas is changing caddies and hiring a familiar face

Just days after a raucous celebration at the Ryder Cup, news has arrived from the camp of Justin Thomas: he’s got a new caddie on the bag. 

Not just any caddie, of course, but Jim ‘Bones’ Mackay, one of the most successful caddies in PGA Tour history. Bones famously caddied for Phil Mickelson for much of Lefty’s career until taking a gig as an on-course reporter for NBC and Golf Channel.

This comes via a report from Golf Channel’s Rex Hoggard, who spoke with Mackay on his new gig. “It was an incredible phone call to get and I said yes,” Mackay said. Thomas himself has yet not commented on the caddie change. 

Thus ends the successful partnership between Thomas and Jimmy Johnson, who has been there for nearly every one of Thomas’ 14 PGA Tour victories in his young career, and has routinely been ranked in the top 5 in the world. Johnson was involved as recently as last weekend’s Ryder Cup at Whistling Straits. 

The transition to having Bones as his caddie should be easier than most caddie changes. Mackay actually caddied for Thomas early in the 2018 season when Johnson was rehabbing from plantar fasciitis. Bones also looped for Thomas in 2020 for a brief stint, helping Thomas win the 2020 WGC-FedEx St. Jude Invitational. 

At the time, Thomas gave his fill-in caddie a ringing endorsement: “Bones knows my game well enough not only from when he caddied for Phil, but just watching me play a lot of rounds when he’s commentating to where if I do ask him a question, you know, he’s not just saying something to make me happy, he actually has input and feels like he knows enough about my game to where he can contribute and be a help, and he was.”

According to the report from Golf Channel, this stint for Bones is expected to be a full-time gig, which will keep him from regularly appearing on the Golf Channel broadcast. Mackay will report from next week’s event in Las Vegas, the Shriners Children’s Open. You can check out the entire report here. 

Sean Zak

Golf.com Editor

A senior editor for GOLF.com, Zak joined the GOLF staff three weeks after college graduation. He is the utility infielder of the brand, spanning digital, print and video. His main duty is as a host for various GOLF.com video properties and its award-winning podcasts. When the Masters comes around, be sure to tune in to hear him and fellow staffers recount the most memorable tournaments in Augusta National history on A Pod Unlike Any Other.