Jordan Spieth ‘shocked’ but Rory McIlroy not surprised about Phil Mickelson-Bones split

With the golf community still stunned by Tuesday’s news that the PGA Tour’s longest-running player-caddie marriage between Phil Mickelson and Jim “Bones” Mackay had come to an amicable end, Jordan Spieth and Rory McIlroy offered contrasting views on the breakup.

Spieth, whom Golf Channel’s Tim Rosaforte mentioned as a possibility as Mackay’s potential next employer, pronounced himself “very shocked” the 25-year, five-major run of Lefty-Bones was over.

“I really don’t know any kind of inside information I can share. I don’t really know much about what happened,” Spieth said Tuesday from TPC River Highlands, where later this week he will make his Travelers Championship debut. “Bones had a couple knee surgeries and Phil, obviously, putting a lot of time into his family and that’s most important to him. So eventually, something was going to happen.

“But still certainly shocked,” repeated Spieth, who noted he saw Mackay walking Erin Hills ahead of last week’s U.S. Open, which Mickelson skipped in favor of his daughter’s high school graduation.

McIlroy, also playing in the stacked Connecticut event for the first time, had a decidedly different reaction to the news heard ’round the golf world.

“Not surprised,” said McIlroy. “A caddie-player relationship is very different and every relationship like that runs its course. I’m sure Phil and Bones are still the best of friends off the golf course but there comes a time when you need something a little fresh … I totally get it.”

McIlroy noted that a quarter of a century was a long time for such associations (see: 12-year liaison between Tiger Woods-Steve Williams, which ended far less convivially than Lefty and Bones).

“It’s been a great partnership and very successful,” McIlroy said. “Every player-caddie relationship sort of runs its course and 25 years is better than most.”

With speculation flying about what’s next for both guys, one bag Mackay will be not be lugging, apparently, is that of Jon Rahm, who has a tight affiliation with Mickelson and his brother, Tim. Rahm, who was an outstanding player on men’s golf coach Tim Mickelson’s Arizona State team and is represented by Phil’s brother, has been among the names rumored to be Bones’ next boss.

Rahm shot down that hearsay on Tuesday in a video in which he pledged allegiance to his bagman.

“I just wanted to clarify a couple things I’ve read on social media,” said Rahm, who threw a temper tantrum on his way to missing the cut last week. “The rumor about me and Bones is both really unfair and untrue. I love the relationship with my caddie, Adam Hayes. He’s a great guy, we work well together. There’s no way I would ever change it.”

“Ever” is a long time, as the Phil-Bones saga certainly proved.