Last man standing

The old Augusta National caddies are long gone. All but Carl Jackson, who has a couple of records -- and a lot of stories.

Jackson has caddied in 45 Masters, starting at 14, and has been with Crenshaw for 30.

By Ron Whitten

Photos By Dom Furore

April 2007

Carl Jackson holds the record for caddieing in the Masters. Even if it's not in the books.

Because, for all the records that have been kept since the first Masters in 1934, nobody ever bothered to keep track of who caddied each year.

But it's a record just the same, supported by anecdotal evidence, news accounts and common sense.

Not that Carl Jackson, at age 60, would ever make a fuss about it. "I guess I hold the record," he says, in a soft voice that belies his commanding 6-feet-5 presence.

Of course he does. Nobody else comes close.

Jackson caddied in his first Masters in 1961, at the age of 14, and with just one notable exception, he has caddied in every Masters since then. That's 45 Masters and counting, 30 of them on the bag of Ben Crenshaw, carrying for Crenshaw in two victories (1984 and 1995) as well as in one they should have won.

Jackson was on the bag for a Masters contender when he was 17, became a last-minute substitute after a death threat six years later, and was close to an Augusta National member who went on to become the club chairman. (Close enough that it earned Jackson another record.)

The best we can figure, the record for caddieing previously belonged to the late Willie Peterson. He began in 1949, took Jack Nicklaus' bag in 1959 and carried for five of Jack's six titles. When Augusta National agreed in 1983 to allow players to use their regular tour caddies in the Masters, Peterson's streak ended at 34.

With that change in policy, tour caddies or family members soon replaced the Augusta National caddies in the Masters. Except for Jackson, who keeps adding to his record. To put it in perspective, Tiger Woods' caddie, Steve Williams, would have to caddie well past age 60 to match Jackson's achievement.

As Jackson prepares for his 46th Masters, he shrugs at the possibility of breaking another record: Arnold Palmer's 50 appearances. (It's a record Gary Player will match this year and likely surpass in 2008.) The onus is on Crenshaw, now 55, to keep using his eligibility as a past champion.

"I don't know if I can last that long," Crenshaw says. "Especially with as much course as they've got out there now. If and when I give it up, I'll do everything in my power to make sure Carl has somebody's bag during the Masters for as long as he wants to continue. I do know this: Everything I've achieved over the years in the Masters, I owe to Carl Jackson."

A KID MEETS A TYCOON

Jackson was the prototypical Augusta National caddie in the 1960s, joining the many young black men who worked at the all-white golf club because that's where the money was. Jackson quit school at 13, unable to afford the clothing required by a new dress code. After a stint at Augusta Country Club, he started caddieing full-time at Augusta National, where the club provided uniforms, caps and sneakers. A skinny 6-footer, he competed successfully for bags against caddies twice his age. He made $5 a bag, plus a tip of two or three times that amount, which he'd give to his mother to help feed his six brothers and two sisters.

His big break came at age 14, when he filled in as caddie for member Jack Stephens, who would become the club and Masters chairman in 1991. Carl caddied for him all season, usually Thursday through Sunday, and Stephens paid him $500 a week, a fortune for someone whose mother was earning $5 a day as a maid. Jackson worked as an Augusta National caddie, Stephens' caddie mostly, all through the 1960s. When the club's two most prominent members, original Masters chairman Clifford Roberts and former president Dwight Eisenhower, expressed concern about employing a truant, Stephens prodded Jackson to enroll in home study. Carl would earn his high school diploma at 17.

In Jackson's first Masters, "I got a ceremonial player, Billy Burke," he recalls. [Burke had tied for third in the first Masters, in 1934.] "He was one of the last guys to play in a necktie," Jackson says. "He told me, 'I'm going to teach you how to caddie in the Masters.' "

Burke, who missed the cut, spent the two rounds showing young Carl where to stand while players teed off, where to stand while they putted and which fairways to forecaddie.

During the next few years, Jackson developed a knack for reading the greens and analyzing the wind. "Anyone can tote a golf bag," he says. "I had instincts for the game. And I got to know the golf course pretty well. Like, a lot of people misread 12 green. If you're putting toward 13 tee, it's downgrain, but they don't know that. They think it's flat. Augusta's got its little secrets."