The old adage good things happen to good people comes to mind this week. One of the most popular caddies on the PGA Tour, Brennan Little, PGA, is making his first-ever start on the PGA Tour Champions at the Senior PGA Championship starting Thursday at Congressional Country Club as a member of the Corebridge Financial Team.
Little played for a number of years in Canada and eventually started caddying for Mike Weir, for whom he was on the bag in the Canadian superstar’s win at Augusta in 2003. For Weir to see his old looper in the same field with him in a major championship this week is a thrill.
“It’s just fantastic, I’m so pumped for him,” Weir said Tuesday. “We played in Hawaii early in the year when he already knew he was in. Just super excited for him. He’s playing good golf. He played as good a golf as I’ve ever seen him play in his life when I played with him, so I hope he has a great time too.”
Little can’t wait for this opportunity ahead of him, and feels grateful to have qualified through his local section and then national qualifying at Sunriver Resort last September in the Senior PGA Professional Championship.
“It’s great, it just feels good. I told myself when I drove in that I was going to make sure I let myself have fun this week,” Little said Tuesday. “It’s kind of funny running into all of these senior players that I’ve known for 25 years as a caddie. And now I see all of them look funny at me because I’m playing, but it’s been really good. Played the course a couple times (by Tuesday evening) and have really enjoyed it.”
Many players have told Little how excited they are for him to be playing instead of looping this week.
“I’ve seen Paul Stankowski and Kenny Duke, and I’ve seen Steve Stricker, Rod Pampling from back home in Dallas. These guys are all basically my age, and I’ve been out on Tour for 26 years now,” Little said. “Some of the guys I’ve known from college, so that shows my age too (laughs). Everyone’s been great, they’re excited for me for this Senior PGA, and I am as well.”
Stankowski had an ear-to-ear grin on his face as he greeted Little again late on Tuesday on Congressional’s expansive putting green next to the clubhouse.
“I’m sure being on the other side of the bag this week is both exciting and scary for him,” Stankowski said.
It’s also very different from what Little is used to. He’s admittedly not a stop and smell the roses kind of guy when he’s caddying. The Senior PGA Championship week on the other side of the ropes allows him a chance to be more sentimental.
“I want to really soak in and enjoy the experience. I don’t really do a good job of that with things in life. I do my work on the golf tournaments,” Little said. "I’ve been fortunate to be on the bag for two major wins, and as I get older, I know my time is limited. Who knows if this is my last one, it probably is, but I just want to enjoy it and have a good time.”
Originally, when Little first qualified for the Senior PGA Championship last fall, the plan was for his boss Gary Woodland to caddie for him. Unfortunately, Little had to can his boss — nothing personal — for practical reasons.
“He’s been texting me. I wanted to fire him, so I kind of fired him because he missed a couple weeks with a bad back, and this really isn’t a good course for a caddie to have a bad back,” Little smiled. “Plus, I wanted him to play (Charles Schwab Challenge) because it’s much more beneficial to try and get into Memorial next week if he does that. He’s playing really well. I wanted him to keep playing. It was the right thing. I know he’s a little disappointed he didn’t come, but it’s the right thing.”
A role reversal for @GaryWoodland!
— PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) February 27, 2025
Brennan Little (Woodland’s caddie) is competing in this year’s Senior PGA Championship.
Woodland will be on the bag for his right-hand man. pic.twitter.com/Te2CYvlRqk
It would have been the ultimate role reversal had Woodland caddied for Little because they started their working relationship at this golf course nine years ago.
“I’ve been here a few times over the years with the (Tour events), U.S. Opens and such,” Little said. “Believe it or not, the Tour event here in 2016 was the first time I caddied for Gary Woodland, so it would have been kind of funny if he was looping for me.”
Little says he feels grateful to have made it this far because he knows how hard it is to make it through a couple of stages of qualifying as he did. “I was grinding really hard because not many guys make it.”
But now the start of the tournament is upon us, and Little has the chance to walk in another set of shoes — one that the humble Canadian is still not really sure he’s comfortable in.
“It’s just great to finally be on the other side of the ropes for once," Little said. "It’s kind of fun to enjoy it.
"I’m sure I’ll be nervous. It’s weird, it’s hard for me to go into player dining and eat.”
“I’m not really using the locker room. I’ve got some friends here. It’s weird to be honest with you. It’s just totally different. It’s hard for me to eat in player dining because I’m one of the guys who says let the players do their own thing on Tour. We have our own caddie area and we enjoy our time there, so it’s different, but I hope even with the nerves to give it a good showing.”
