Jeff Steffler has been a LPGA Tour caddy for over 30 years. He’s not quite sure yet just how good Emma Talley will be as a player, but he’s already confident about one other thing.
“She is the nicest girl I have ever worked for. She almost doesn’t worry because she is so nice. It’s hard to describe that,” said Steffler during the Indy Women In Tech Championship last week in Indianapolis where Talley finished 14-under par and tied for 20th place.
“She is a regular person. She is not like a lot of these other girls (on the tour) and it’s nice. She is a pleasure to work for. You can be yourself with Emma. I like to goof and joke around and have fun. So does Emma. Neither one of us is serious all the time and that works well for both of us.”
Rain impacted play two days at the Indianapolis event. Steffler says that can make for long, difficult days — but not when he’s working for Talley, the Caldwell County native who already has four top 10 finishes this year, ranks third in the rookie of the year points and has won over $350,000.
“You wake up and it’s supposed to rain and you are expecting a crappy day and then I think, ‘No, I am working for Emma.’ I have had times where you felt like you had to go to work but I love her. Every day is fun with her,” Steffler said.
He didn’t start the year working for year. He got fired by the player he had worked several years for and was driving to Phoenix for the LPGA Bank of Hope Founders Cup hoping to find work. Talley’s caddy couldn’t come because of a family issue and Talley’s boyfriend, caddy Patrick Smith, suggested she call Steffler. They worked three weeks together before Steffler had to switch to a player he had made a previous commitment to before getting a chance to work with Talley.
“I had never met her, but she was great,” Steffler.
The feeling was mutual because when Talley decided to make a caddy change, she called Steffler.
“I said, ‘No I am not giving this bag up again.’ She was too great. I was a jerk and quit the other girl to go back with Emma and I am loving it,” Steffler, who has been with Talley about 10 weeks now, said. “I don’t know how great a caddy I am, but I get the other side and keep her happy and we try to have fun out there.”
Fans, volunteers and other players can all vouch for how outgoing Talley is. She thanked scorekeepers after her rounds. She thanked volunteers on the course. She never walked away before each player in her group finished the hole. Once she even held the rope up to let players, caddies and volunteers all get through as they headed down a fairway.
“She’s the only one that does it and she is sincere with the fans. She truly appreciates fans and the course volunteers,” Steffler said. “There are other girls that might say it and you can kind of tell they are doing it when we are paired together. But she is always on top of that and means it.
“She talks to everyone. She knows if others don’t want to talk, but we are all trying to do a job so why not enjoy yourself out here. If you are happy, you play better. Some people don’t even know that. When they are having a bad time and get down, they want a caddy to talk to them then. I don’t have to worry about that because we talk all the time. It’s good.”
Steffler knows Talley recently hired her first putting coach to help with her quest to become the world’s top-ranked player. That’s a lofty ambition for a tour rookie still looking for her first win, but Steffler likes that drive.
“She can do anything she wants to do. For some of these girls, their whole life is golf. They have no other life. We were talking about that the other day. She wants to be world No. 1 but she also wants to have a life. She thinks she can do both and I think that’s great and actually think she can, too,” Steffler said.
(STORY BY LARRY VAUGHT)
