Rosaforte: Toms, Gneiser reunite

BLOOMFIELD TOWNSHIP, Mich. -- With 12 wins, including the 2001 PGA Championship, David Toms and Scott Gneiser were among the best player-caddie teams in the 21st century. But after eight years, the relationship grew stale and Toms pulled the rip chord and fired Gneiser in the middle of last year's FedEx Cup playoffs.

Gneiser, who grew up 30 minutes from Oakland Hills at St. Clair Shores, could see it coming. "We weren't communicating," he said. "I wasn't talking and he wasn't talking."

It was an awkward time to make the change, with all that FedEx Cup money on the table. Gneiser bounced around, from Toms to Anthony Kim to Parker McLachlin. Toms went with Brent Everson, the former caddie for Justin Leonard.

But almost a year later, Toms made the call many tour players make, getting Gneiser, who had just been released by McLachlin, back on his bag for the WGC-Bridgestone Invitational. "I started talking [with McLachlin] and five minutes later he told me it was time to go separate ways," Gneiser said. "Five minutes after that I was on the phone with David telling him, 'Parker just fired me.'"

McLachlin won the Reno-Tahoe Open with a local caddie, while Toms finished T-48 at Bridgestone, but Gneiser believes he's on the correct bag. After shooting 69 Friday to move into a T-5, Toms acknowledged it was good to have a familiar face carrying his clubs, giving him yardage and talking through shots again.

"David is a mega player," Gneiser said.

-- Tim Rosaforte