Mark O’Meara and his caddie Jerry Higginbotham’s relationship was very unique as O’Meara won both of his major tournaments with him in 1998. Surprisingly, the golfer hasn’t won any tournament after that on the PGA Tour. Could their split in 1994 be the reason? It’s hard to say! But what caused their separation despite their success?

Mark O’Meara joined professional greens back in 1980. However, Jerry Higginbotham joined him as the bagman in 1994 and they were partners together till April 1999. But in April, O’Meara suddenly announced that he was parting ways with Higginbotham. When asked about the reason, the 67-year-old simply said back then ”It’s time to go forward,” to Golf Channel. Surprising isn’t it? well, Higginbotham had the same reaction.

”It totally shocked me and I’m in major disbelief,” said Jerry Higginbotham. He further noted, ”I like Mark very much, and in time, he and I will talk about this. Right now, it’s pretty disappointing, but he’s the boss,” as revealed on the New York Times website. During their five years together, O’Meara claimed eight PGA Tour victories, including two major championships. In 1998, the year before their separation, Mark O’Meara won both the Masters and the Open Championship.

The golfer is set to retire after the PURE Insurance Championship at Pebble Beach this year. Speaking of Pebble Beach O’Meara has claimed victory at Pebble Beach in three different decades. He first won the 1979 California State Amateur, and then he claimed the PGA Tour’s AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am a whopping five times. Yes, it certainly sounds tempting but is it better than the golfer’s first major win?

Story of Mark O’Meara’s first major win

The story dates back to 1998 Masters. However, what’s special about that field was that golfers like Tiger Woods, Phil Mickelson, Fred Couples, and more were on the field. Certainly, the pressure was high, especially considering Woods who was in his prime and was also the defending champion. Mark O’Meara wasn’t off to a great start as he carded 74 in the first round, but was still only five off the lead, it was certainly no disaster.

Following that, things improved for him as he carded 70 and finished 36 holes on level par. Despite that, he wasn’t on top of the leaderboard. Coming to the third round, O’Meara shot a 68 and finished in second place. However, things weren’t still easy for him as there were 12 players within five shots of the lead, including Woods and Jack Nicklaus. After Nicklaus carded 70 wind started to shift in favor of him and O’Meara could have lost his moment but he didn’t.

After a surprising turn of events the tournament a dramatic turn in the final round. It was a battle between David Duval and Couples. Meanwhile, Mark O’Meara simply said to his caddie Jerry Higginbotham while walking up to the 17th fairway, “Two birdies and this tournament could be mine,” and then holed an eight-foot putt on the 17th green. Following that Couples and O’Meara were tied with Duval on eight under and then he shot a 20 feet of the pin to claim his first major win.

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