Until April 2025, Collin Morikawa had one full-time caddie, JJ Jakovac, and a look at his record shows why he was so faithful to the former professional golfer.
With Jakovac alongside him, Morikawa won two Majors and multiple PGA Tour titles, while the pair were also together for two editions each of the Ryder Cup and the Presidents Cup.
It wasn't all plain sailing, with Morikawa suffering a dip in form that at one point saw him briefly drop out of the world's top 20 in 2023, but eventually, his class started to tell, with a sixth PGA Tour title coming later in the year at the Zozo Championship.
While Morikawa didn't win in 2024, there were further strong showings, including - in his words - finishing top of the "fake leaderboard" of the Tour Championship, even though Scottie Scheffler won the tournament thanks to his six-shot advantage over Morikawa at the start of the event.
Morikawa started strongly in 2025, too, with runner-up at The Sentry and the Arnold Palmer Invitational, so it was a surprise when he and Jakovac parted ways, with Joe Greiner coming in as his immediate full-time replacement.
Later Morikawa justified the move, explaining on Dan Rapaport's 'Dan On Golf Show'"Firstly, it doesn't take anything away from what JJ and I have done over the last six years, but sometimes things just aren't feeling right.
"I think when people look at it in the macro perspective of 'OK, Collin's playing great, he's contending, he's trying to close out tournaments'. Even at the beginning of the year everything looked very, very good, but sometimes, on the golf course things just don't feel right."
While Morikawa's decision to end his and Jakovac's six-year working relationship raised eyebrows, in Greiner, he certainly has a ready-made replacement.
Greiner had been childhood friend Max Homa's full-time caddie, until the six-time PGA Tour winner opted to make a change after an alarming drop-off in form. While he appointed Bill Harke in a bid to arrest the slide, Greiner began working alongside Justin Thomas on a temporary basis, when his full-time caddie, Matt Minister, sustained a back injury.
The short-term arrangement reaped almost immediate rewards, as Thomas won the RBC Heritage with Greiner's help - his first title in nearly three years. Soon, Minister returned to his regular role, meaning Greiner moved on again, this time to a new full-time post with Morikawa.
Morikawa explained to Rapaport why he had turned to Greiner, saying: "For me, what I've seen with Joe, he's someone who wants to continue to learn and get better. We've already talked numerous times on how we're going to get started.
"He's a great caddie, he's one of the best out there, obviously what he did with JT. Sometimes when you have a new caddie it frees people up and obviously it helped JT for those two events."
The duo's first tournament together was the Truist Championship, and the early signs were encouraging, where Morikawa was tied for fourth at the halfway stage in pursuit of his seventh PGA Tour title.
