Moline caddie Navarro earns Caddy after Scott wins Byron Nelson Classic
PGA Tour star Adam Scott’s playoff-winning 48-foot putt on Sunday in Irving, Texas, very literally was a stroke of good fortune for veteran caddie Tony Navarro.
By winning the EDS Byron Nelson Championship, Scott won his Moline-based bag man a 2008 Cadillac XLR-V convertible valued at more than $100,000.
The unprecedented reward for the tournament’s winning caddie was the idea of tournament sponsor EDS, whose CEO presented Navarro the keys on the same 18th green where Scott made his monstrous winning putt.
“It was nice of EDS to think of the old caddies,’’ said Navarro, a 30-year Tour veteran who has carried for dozens of victories by such well-known players as Greg Norman, Raymond Floyd, Jeff Sluman and, for the last four years, the promising young Australian Scott. “They said they thought that would be a nice gesture, and I tend to agree.’’
Sunday’s was Scott’s fourth PGA Tour victory with Navarro at his side. He also won a rain-shortened event in Los Angeles in 2005 that is not included in that total.
Fate was working in Navarro’s favor in more ways than one near Dallas. He originally was scheduled to be carrying for Norman at an event in Shanghai, China, this week while Scott vacationed at home. But Scott decided late last week that he liked the way he was playing, entered the Nelson and flew back to the States from Australia.
The world’s 10th-ranked player, Scott took a three-shot lead into Sunday’s final round. But on a windy and cold day he had to sink a 9-foot birdie putt at 18 to force a playoff with Ryan Moore.
Then, on the third playoff hole, Scott dropped the 48-foot putt at that same 18th hole to claim a victory for himself and that nifty Caddy for his caddie.
“It’s an unbelievable Cadillac — it looks like a Corvette,’’ Navarro said. “It’s a two-door, hard-top convertible. It’s some rig.”
So did Navarro agree to waive his not inconsiderable wages after Scott’s heroics?
“No. No. No,” he said. “I’m still working for that check. I’ve got some girls to put through college.”
Besides, he might not see much of that sporty Cadillac if his wife Sara has anything to say about it.
“Tony didn’t need a Cadillac that bad,” she said Sunday evening, “but his wife sure will look good driving it.”
Craig DeVrieze can be contacted at (563) 333-2610 or cdevrieze@qctimes.com.