By Peter Owen
HE’S most likely the best-known and hottest caddie within the golf world. And when you suppose Mike ‘Fluff’ Cowan has been round ceaselessly, you’re not far off the mark.
Cowan, together with his trademark bushy white moustache and hippety-hop gait, has been lugging the heavy baggage of a few of the world’s finest golfers for a half century. And at 76, the veteran caddie has no plans to stop anytime quickly.
He’s simply ended a 25-year partnership with veteran Jim Furyk and agreed to hold the bag of promising younger Taiwanese professional C.T. Pan for the remainder of the yr, or so long as his aching again permits.
Why does he proceed to stride the world’s fairways at an age approach when his contemporaries have lengthy since handed into retirement?
“Doing what you like,” Cowan mentioned. “Cash is a superb sidelight, however cash isn’t what makes you content. It’s a must to do issues that you simply get pleasure from and let the dangerous instances roll off your again and simply proceed to proceed.”
Furyk, whose latest appearances on the PGA Tour Champions have been restricted via damage, speaks extremely of the person who started his profession as a caddie with Ed Sabo in 1976.
Mike ‘Fluff’ Cowan caddied for a younger Tiger Woods.
“He’s only a pricey buddy,” Furyk mentioned. “I like quite a lot of issues about Mike, however what I actually admire is how he’s capable of hop out and in of various relationships.
“He’s all the time going to be a buddy and now it’s change into the place I really feel like he’s a buddy first, however after we get on the market on the golf course and he’s carrying the bag and we’re working, he type of has to play a unique function.
“He’s out right here at 76. I believe he simply actually enjoys what he does,” Furyk mentioned. “He exhibits up for work as a result of he loves being a caddie, he loves being with the boys on the wall whether or not it’s smoking a cigarette, hanging out and speaking concerning the day, or carrying the bag and dealing.”
Cowan has additionally caddied for Peter Jacobsen (1978-1996), Tiger Woods (1996-1999) and for 13-year-old Michelle Wie for one event again in 2003. He’s additionally carried the bag of 4 totally different golfers – Jacobsen, Woods, Furyk and Fred {Couples} – in 11 Ryder Cups.
His public profile reached its peak when he partnered with rising celebrity Woods as his first PGA Tour caddie. Their first event collectively was Woods’ skilled debut on the Larger Milwaukee Open in September 1996.
Cowan was additionally on Woods’ bag for his first main title on the Masters in 1997, their solely main victory working collectively.
The partnership got here to an finish in February 1999 when Woods sacked his caddie, reportedly due to {a magazine} interview by which Cowan publicly revealed his wage – $1000 per week and bonuses as much as 10 p.c of Woods’ winnings.
Although he shuffles across the course as of late and appears to wrestle with the burden of the 23kg bag on his again, Cowan was as soon as a multi-sport athlete who performed on the golf group at William Penn School in Iowa, and as soon as dabbled with the notion of enjoying golf professionally.
He was an assistant professional at a rustic membership in Maine previous to changing into a caddie, and was inducted within the Maine Golf Corridor of Fame in 2005. He’s a member of Congressional Nation Membership in Maryland and lives with spouse Jennifer and daughter Bobbie at close by Rockville.
Cowan additionally struck up a protracted and profitable partnership with American Jim Furyk.
Cowan’s been referred to as ‘Fluff’ for many of his profession, the moniker coming from a pair of caddie mates who thought he appeared like former professional golfer and broadcaster Steve Melynk, who additionally bore the nickname ‘Fluff’.
“They began calling me Quick Fluff, and fairly quickly it was shortened to Fluff,” Cowan remembers. “I do not know why they began calling me that. I believe they had been making an attempt to get my goat as a result of Steve Melnyk isn’t precisely probably the most good-looking man.”
Golf’s been good to Cowan, although he didn’t contemplate it as a profession in these early days. “I’ve by no means deliberate something in my life,” he mentioned. “I’ve all the time gone with the stream.
“Making a dwelling was not even a part of the equation. My first bag was $20 a day and three p.c. A bunch of us would share a room, low spherical of the day would get the mattress, and the remainder of us would make do.
“When you had an excellent week, you partied onerous; when you didn’t, you bought by. It wasn’t like we had been on the market saving cash.”
And when will he finally retire? “My daughter is in highschool now,” he mentioned. “She’s acquired three extra years so I’d prefer to go no less than that lengthy.
“When you noticed me after the spherical getting out of my automobile on the lodge, you’d say how the hell is he going to caddie tomorrow? However one way or the other or different I get out right here and I put one foot in entrance of one other.
“What number of extra years? Simply think about if I could make it to 80; then I could be actually crotchety.”
