The Legendary Willie McRae Retires
On May 19, 1943, Willie McRae turned 10, and his father asked him if he was ready to caddie at Pinehurst.
Seventy-four years later, McRae is still willing to caddie.
He’s just finally ready to slow down a little.
McRae, one of the last two remaining men alive to have participated in the 1951 Ryder Cup on Pinehurst No. 2, officially retired from day-to-day caddying at Pinehurst this month. McRae still plans to take special requests, but they will be limited.
“I love Pinehurst. Everybody has always been so good to me here,” McRae says. “This place has been my whole life.”
He began a legendary career that led to enshrinement into three different Halls of Fame on that spring day with his father, earning $1.75 a loop.
“I’d bring that $1.75 home to my mother, but I’d get 50 cents for a tip, and that would be mine,” McRae recalls. “I’d spend 25 cents of that on candy, and I’d have candy for the whole week.”
McRae’s career at Pinehurst parallels much of the great history of the game of golf. He has caddied for five presidents, celebrities from Mickey Mantle to Michael Jordan and many of golf’s greatest players, including Bobby Jones, Gene Sarazen and Sam Snead. Along with American player Jack Burke Jr., McRae is one of just two living participants of the 1951 Ryder Cup, and he remembers looping for Donald Ross on Ross’s crown jewel, No. 2. Read more...
