Shane Lowry’s – Shane Lowry has parted ways with Darren Reynolds after missing the cut at the U.S. Open and is using former caddie Dermot Byrne for the Travelers Championship on short notice. The switch comes amid a wider wave of PGA Tour and developmental-circuit bag changes
CROMWELL, Conn. — Shane Lowry didn’t wait for the season to settle before making a move. After missing the cut at the U.S. Open last week at Shinnecock Hills Golf Club, he parted ways with Darren Reynolds.
For this week’s Travelers Championship, Lowry made a quick call to the bullpen. Dermot Byrne, his former caddie, is the one on the bag for the event’s start—Lowry said Byrne was there for the first 10 years of his career.
Lowry also made clear this isn’t necessarily a permanent reset. “We’ll see what the plan is going forward. No idea really,” he said. “This was just for the Travelers Championship because I needed a caddie on short notice and I’m still in the process of figuring things out on a future bagman.”
The timing carries extra weight. Lowry won the 2019 Open Championship with Bo Martin by his side, and since then his caddie path has continued to shift. Martin had been working for Min Woo Lee until the Aussie switched to Shane Joel.
Lowry’s switch is just one of several notable caddie changes taking place as the PGA Tour moves into signature-event territory.
John Ellis is filling in this week for Chris Gotterup. Ellis had been on the bag for Wyndham Clark when Clark won the U.S. Open in 2023. Gotterup’s regular caddie, Brady Stockton, took the week off because his wife is expecting a baby.
There are also changes farther down the bag line. Julien Trudeau—formerly with Mackenzie Hughes—has a new gig. He rode Ryder Cowen to co-medalist honors among the amateurs last week. and now he starts working with Sudarshan Yellamaraju. the Canadian rookie who has been one of the biggest surprises of the season.
Welcome back, Travis McAlister. He previously worked for Maverick McNealy and most recently was on the bag for PGA Tour U grad Gordon Sargent earlier this year. McAlister is now hopping onto the bag of veteran pro Tom Hoge.
On the Korn Ferry Tour side, Steve “Pepsi” Hale has dipped down after a longer stretch with Ryan Gerard. Hale had been on Gerard’s bag for more than a year until the PGA Championship. and now he is landing recent University of Arizona golfer Filip Jakubcik and Micah Fugitt. Fugitt had been on Billy Horschel’s bag until The Memorial. and in Springfield. Illinois. Fugitt is working for Chez Reavie at the KFT event.
As the Travelers Championship gets underway, the message from the caddie world is simple: plans are changing quickly—sometimes because results demand it, sometimes because timing does.
Shane Lowry Darren Reynolds Dermot Byrne Travelers Championship PGA Tour caddies Bo Martin John Ellis Chris Gotterup Brady Stockton Julien Trudeau Ryder Cowen Sudarshan Yellamaraju Travis McAlister Tom Hoge Steve Pepsi Hale Filip Jakubcik Micah Fugitt Chez Reavie Adam Schupak