"Conflict brewing between PGA Tour, caddie association"

Rex Hoggard with the increasingly tense back-and-forth between the PGA Tour and the Association of Professional Tour Caddies over loopers entering into sponsorship arrangements along with other matters.

Letters have been written...

According to the letter, caddies were also told that any potential sponsor that would conflict with an existing marketing partnership the Tour has would also not be allowed; yet players aren’t subject to the same rules. Lee Westwood, for example, has an endorsement agreement with UPS which would appear to be in direct conflict with FedEx which sponsors the circuit’s season-long points race as well as an annual tournament in Memphis.

Officers with the APTC were also told that any sponsorship agreements involving the caddie bib would not be allowed and that the circuit already has an “exclusive agreement” with Nature Valley for headwear, a deal that also includes a “caddie pool” that awards an estimated $500,000 to caddies based on the performance of their player.

“The caddies have not joined in any ‘exclusive agreement,’” the letter read. “Through the Tour’s actions, caddies have affectively been restrained from competition in the marketplace.”