Rory McIlroy’s caddie isn’t like other caddies.
Instead of having a seasoned veteran of the game, well-versed in precise yardages and reading greens, McIlroy has his childhood friend, Harry Diamond, on his bag.
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Diamond was an accomplished player in his own right. He played for Ireland at the international level as a youngster and won the 2012 West of Ireland Championship. But he had limited caddying experience before being recruited by McIlroy in 2017.
He caddied for McIlroy at the 2005 Irish Open, the 2011 Masters Par-3 Tournament, and the 2014 Alfred Dunhill Links Championship, but he had never served as a full-time professional caddie.
The pair have enjoyed success together, the biggest being last year’s Masters win, but this relationship has also attracted a heap of criticism. This reached a fever pitch after McIlroy’s late collapse at the US Open in 2024 after some questionable club choices.
This criticism died down when McIlroy completed the career grand slam, but his recent comments suggest that his caddie is holding the Northern Irishman back from competing with Scottie Scheffler.
Photo by Jed Jacobsohn/Getty Images
Rory McIlroy says his reading of greens cost him at Riviera
Diamond has frequently been criticised for being a less vocal caddie, failing to step in during crucial moments to correct McIlroy’s mistakes before they happen. So unlike many of the top players in the game, McIlroy’s green reading isn’t much of a collaborative effort.
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That reared its head last week. McIlroy came one stroke away from winning his second PGA Tour appearance of the season, the Genesis Invitational, but his performance on the green cost him the win against Jacob Bridgeman.
He admitted as much after the round, “Once I started to trust my reads a bit on the back
nine, and I went more with my first instinct, I putted a little bit better.
“I was reading too much into them, and then I’d see like Jacob’s putt from the other side do something, I was like, oh, that looked like it went more left than he thought it would, so I’m sort of factoring that in.
“I was almost just, yeah, giving them too much thought and not going with my first instinct and that sort of cost me, I feel.”
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It’s the role of an elite caddie to recognize this mid-round and step in before McIlroy falls out of contention, but Diamond didn’t. And by the time McIlroy figured out his reads, it was too late.
Imagine the result if McIlroy had someone like Ted Scott, Scheffler’s caddie, on the bag during the Genesis Invitational. It’s hard to imagine him not winning it.
How Ted Scott saved Scottie Scheffler’s putting at the Paris Olympics
Scheffler is the undisputed number one player in golf. He’s a four-time major winner and an Olympic Gold Medalist, but by his own admission, he wouldn’t be without Scott on his bag.
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While Scheffler’s ball-striking is up there with some of the best to ever play, his putting has historically been his Achilles’ heel. This narrative reached a fever pitch heading into the 2024 Paris Olympics, where Scheffler appeared to be treading water through the first two rounds.
However, a pivotal mid-tournament intervention by his caddie effectively saved his week and paved the way for gold.
Speaking to Pardon my Take in 2025, Scheffler explained, “At the Olympics last year, it was a great example of a week where I was struggling on the greens and we made the turn on Sunday. I missed another easy birdie putt on nine and all of a sudden the tournament was getting away from me.
“I am arguably out of medal contention at this point and I look at Teddy and I’m like I don’t know what I am doing out here. He was like let me read some putts, so he started reading putts for me the whole back nine on Sunday in Paris and I basically made everything and we played great and ended up winning the gold medal.
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“We got off the course when the tournament was over and I said Teddy I literally do not think I could have won this golf tournament without you on my bag. I don’t think there was a way I could have done it. That was a really cool moment for us.
“In golf Teddy is just such a huge part of what we do, but I think sometimes in golf we focus so much on what we do but Teddy is a huge part of what we do and it was really cool to be able to share that medal with him and say I literally could not have done this without you on my bag.”
Trailing by four shots at the start of the day, Scheffler went on a historic tear, carding a 9-under 62 to tie the course record. The back nine was a masterpiece of clutch putting, as Scott and Scheffler worked in lockstep as Scottie birdied six of his final nine holes, including four straight from the 14th to the 17th.
And none of it would have been possible without a green-reading maestro on the bag.
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Most of McIlroy’s success early in his career came with veteran caddie JP Fitzgerald on his back, who helped him to four major wins before his firing in 2017. So if McIlroy wants to get on Scheffler’s level, it’s time for another change.
