This unnecessary item in Keegan Bradley’s bag makes caddie’s ‘blood boil’

Scott Vail, the caddie for Keegan Bradley, said he hears it from the bag room attendants all the time. He’ll go there to retrieve Bradley’s bulky staff bag, and they always say the same thing: “It’s so heavy; this is the heaviest one!”

Vail, of course, already knows this.

“I’m like, ‘Say it when he’s around!’” Vail says.

The long-time looper was the guest on this week’s episode of GOLF’s Subpar podcast and discussed caddying for Bradley, Ryder Cup preparation and some of his most memorable moments on Tour, but a large portion of the chat focused on his relationship with the 2025 U.S. Ryder Cup captain.

One (touchy?) topic: the weight of Bradley’s bag. Co-host Drew Stoltz asked Vail to name the most unnecessary item Bradley keeps in it.

“Don’t get me going,” he joked. “This will make my blood boil. He’s got this, what he calls his, ‘If Things Go Horribly Wrong Kit.’

“He’s got contacts, he’s got glasses, he’s got eye drops because he wears contacts. I’ve never seen it used — ever. And it’s like this tin box. Tin box — heavy. And it’s loaded up with stuff, and he goes, ‘That’s if things go horribly wrong.’ And I’m like, ‘Well, they haven’t gone horribly wrong yet? When can we get rid of this?’”

Vail said Bradley is quick to point out his caddie is certainly strong enough to handle carrying the bag — but Vail has a rebuttal.

“Have you heard of the straw that broke the camel’s back?” Vail said. “It was a straw; let’s get rid of that stuff — we don’t need that stuff. I don’t even know what’s in it. I know there’s contacts, there’s this little kit, first-aid kit. I don’t know, do I got to do CPR when things go wrong? That’s the one thing that’s in the bag that I don’t even know why it’s in there.”

You can listen to the complete interview with Vail here, or you can watch the entire video below.

Josh Berhow

Golf.com Editor

As GOLF.com’s managing editor, Berhow handles the day-to-day and long-term planning of one of the sport’s most-read news and service websites. He spends most of his days writing, editing, planning and wondering if he’ll ever break 80. Before joining GOLF.com in 2015, he worked at newspapers in Minnesota and Iowa. A graduate of Minnesota State University in Mankato, Minn., he resides in the Twin Cities with his wife and two kids. You can reach him at joshua_berhow@golf.com.