Steve Duplantis (September 20, 1972 – January 23, 2008) was a pro golf caddie. He worked with several golfers until his death.

Career and personal life

Duplantis was born in

Brampton Brampton ( or ) is a city in the Canadian province of Ontario. Brampton is a city in the Greater Toronto Area (GTA) and is a lower-tier municipality within Peel Region. The city has a population of 656,480 as of the 2021 Census, making it ...

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

. He began caddying for Clarence Rose in 1993, after his own golf career failed. He worked with

Jim Furyk James Michael Furyk (born May 12, 1970) is an American professional golfer who plays on the PGA Tour and the PGA Tour Champions. In 2010, he was the FedEx Cup champion and PGA Tour Player of the Year. He has won one major championship, the 200 ...

early in his career from 1994 until 1999, but he is best known for his time with Rich Beem which was chronicled by the writer Alan Shipnuck in the best-selling book ''Bud, Sweat and Tees'', during which Beem won the

Kemper Open The Kemper Open was a golf tournament on the PGA Tour from 1968 to 2006. Perhaps more so than any other "regular" PGA Tour stop, the event wandered about, not just from course to course within a given metropolitan area, but along the East Coast. ...

. Duplantis also caddied for

Tommy Armour III Thomas Dickson Armour III (born October 8, 1959) is an American professional golfer. Armour first joined the PGA Tour in 1981 at the age of 21. He has two career PGA Tour victories, winning the 1990 Phoenix Open and the 2003 Valero Texas Open. ...

when he set the PGA Tour's 72-hole scoring record at the Texas Open in 2003 and had also caddied for other golfers on both the

PGA Tour The PGA Tour (stylized in all capital letters as PGA TOUR by its officials) is the organizer of professional golf tours in the United States and North America. It organizes most of the events on the flagship annual series of tournaments also ...

and

European Tour The European Tour (currently known as the DP World Tour for sponsorship reasons), legally the PGA European Tour is the leading men's professional golf tour in Europe. The organisation also operates the European Senior Tour (for players aged fi ...

, including

Daniel Chopra Daniel Samir Chopra (born 23 December 1973) is a Swedish professional golfer. Chopra was born in Stockholm, Sweden. He represents Sweden and his mother was Swedish, but his father was Indian and Daniel moved to India at age seven where he was ...

Garrett Willis Garrett Michael Willis (born November 21, 1973) is an American professional golfer who plays on the PGA Tour and the Nationwide Tour. Willis was born in Charlotte, North Carolina. He attended East Tennessee State University where he was member of ...

Gabriel Hjertstedt Gabriel Hjertstedt (born 5 December 1971) is a Swedish professional golfer. Hjertstedt was born in Umeå, Sweden. His family relocated to Australia when he was eleven and he learned to play golf there. He turned professional in 1990 and spent ti ...

and

David Branshaw David Sean Branshaw (born September 25, 1969) is an American professional golfer who plays on the PGA Tour Champions. He formerly played on the PGA Tour and the Nationwide Tour (now known as the Korn Ferry Tour). Branshaw was born in Oswego, ...

. At the time of his death Duplantis was working with

Eric Axley Eric Allen Axley (born April 22, 1974) is an American professional golfer. Career Axley was born in Athens, Tennessee. He turned professional in 1997. He is one of the few natural left-handers to win on the Web.com Tour and PGA Tour. In 2006, ...

.SI's Alan Shipnuck reacts to the death of PGA Tour caddie Steve Duplantis
''golf.com'', January 23, 2008 Beem's victory at the Kemper Open in 1999 was only his 12th start on tour, and Duplantis was hailed for playing a big part in the victory, which

Jim Nantz James William Nantz III (born May 17, 1959) is an American sportscaster who has worked on telecasts of the National Football League (NFL), NCAA Division I men's basketball, the NBA and the PGA Tour for CBS Sports since the 1980s. He has anchor ...

hailed as one "of the greatest caddying performances you will ever see.". However, Beem and Duplantis would stop working together soon afterwards; Shipnuck attributes this to their similarities. Duplantis featured prominently in Shipnuck's book ''Bud, Sweat and Tees''. The book, which followed Beem and Duplantis as they played various events during Beem's rookie season on the PGA Tour, spoke about Duplantis' relationship with his ex-wife and his young daughter Sierra. After Beem won the

PGA Championship The PGA Championship (often referred to as the US PGA Championship or USPGA outside the United States) is an annual golf tournament conducted by the Professional Golfers' Association of America. It is one of the four men's major championships ...

in 2002 the book became a best-seller. Duplantis was referred to as "Asbestos" because he was thought to be fireproof. He had a well-earned reputation for tardiness, and this led several golfers to fire him. Despite this, he maintained a reputation as one of the best caddies working the circuit.

John Maginnes John Maginnes (born July 14, 1968) is an American professional golfer who played on the PGA Tour and the Nike Tour and is currently a golf analyst with his own show on Sirius XM Radio. Playing career Maginnes joined the Nike Tour in 1994. In 199 ...

wrote in his column on pgatour.com that "Even on those mornings when the night's activities lingered in the air, Steve was still an exceptional caddy". After his death caddy Patrick Smith said that "He raised the level of every player he worked for. He could take guys who were marginal and they would play well".

Death

In the morning of January 23, 2008 shortly after midnight, Duplantis stepped off a curb in

Del Mar, California Del Mar (; Spanish for "Of the Sea") is a beach town in San Diego County, California, located on the coast of the Pacific Ocean. Established in 1885 as a seaside resort, the city incorporated in 1959. The Del Mar Horse Races are hosted on the De ...

, and was hit by a

taxi A taxi, also known as a taxicab or simply a cab, is a type of vehicle for hire with a driver, used by a single passenger or small group of passengers, often for a non-shared ride. A taxicab conveys passengers between locations of their choice ...

cab driver. Sgt. Randy Webb of the

San Diego County Sheriff's Department The San Diego County Sheriff's Department (SDSD), is the primary and largest law enforcement agency in San Diego County, California, and one of the largest sheriff's departments in the United States: with over 4,000 employees, an annual budget ...

reported that he died at the scene. Duplantis was to caddie for

at the

Buick Invitational Buick () is a division (business), division of the United States, American automobile manufacturer General Motors (GM). Started by automotive pioneer David Dunbar Buick in 1899, it was among the first American Brand, marques of automobiles, and w ...

later that week. On the opening day of play many caddies wore ribbons to commemorate Duplantis.Duplantis on golfer's mind
''San Diego Union Tribune'', January 25, 2008.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Duplantis, Steve 1972 births 2008 deaths American caddies People from Brampton Pedestrian road incident deaths Road incident deaths in California