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Everyone's new favorite caddie on Twitter isn't actually on Twitter (yet)
Sam Greenwood
A delightful result of Keith Mitchell's maiden PGA Tour win at the Honda Classic was the emergence of his caddie, Pete Persolja. The man known as Crunchy Pete drew comparisons to the caddie from Happy Gilmore, and his happy-go-lucky, nature-loving persona on Twitter—his bio states he's the "Caddy version of Bear Grylls" and that "I only shower under waterfalls"—quickly earned him even more followers than his boss. Turns out, though, someone else was crunching the keypad on Crunchy Pete's account.
Following the publication of Ryan Lavner's fantastic profile on Persolja, Aaron Flener, a fellow PGA Tour caddie, admitted to being the guy behind all those entertaining tweets that have surfaced since Sunday evening. At least, he's the guy typing them. As Flener explains, he and Mitchell started the account for Crunchy Pete two years ago, but in that time, "every tweet that has ever been posted to this account was inspired by something Pete said or did. None of the tweets are made up."
Phew. For a minute, this was like finding out Santa Claus wasn't real all over again. Anyway, here's the full statement that was posted on the Crunchy Pete Twitter account:
And here was a subsequent tweet from Flener, who caddies for J.T. Poston:
If you read Lavner's piece—and you should—it will make more sense that Persolja isn't behind the tweets. The dude doesn't have time to tweet amid all his outdoor adventures. Not to mention, he doesn't have the data on his phone, which is why he still relies on old school road maps to get around.
But Flener promises to teach Pete how to tweet, and the plan is for him to take over the account. Well, after Pete uses some of the money from his recent big payday to buy a new phone.