Golf: Caddies Giants jerseys in honor of San Francisco

SAN FRANCISCO - The American caddies endeared themselves to the gallery at Harding Park on the final day of practice by wearing San Francisco Giants jerseys with their players' name stitched on the back.

Fittingly, the caddie for Tiger Woods wore No. 24.

Not surprisingly, Steve Williams had never even heard of a guy named Willie Mays.

"I told you I don't know him," Williams said. "Your job is to tell me who he is."

Williams made no apologies for not being aware of one of baseball's greatest players.

"That's probably the one sport I have never followed," he said. "I don't watch ESPN, and I don't know anything about baseball."

The idea came from John Wood, the caddie for Hunter Mahan who grew up in Sacramento and is a huge Giants fan. Since he couldn't get them playoff tickets this week, he arranged for the jerseys.

The jerseys will be auctioned off for charity.

Steve Stricker's caddie wore No. 25 - Barry Bonds - which was a peculiar choice since most didn't see any similarities between baseball's all-time home run leader and Stricker, whose game is built around the shortest club in the bag. And it most likely had nothing to do with their personalities.

Even more peculiar was Justin Leonard's caddie wearing No. 44 - slugger Willie McCovey.

Phil Mickelson's man went with No. 51 - Cy Young Award winner Tim Lincecum. Lest anyone forget, Mickelson tried out for a Triple A baseball team as a pitcher in 2003.

"Mickelson thinks he can pitch, but that's not the case," Mahan said with a laugh. "They're both lefties (Mickelson actually throws right), but Phil thinks he can do everything. He can't pitch for nothing."

Wood, meanwhile, took No. 22. The caddie has always been a Will Clark fan, and one of the highlights as a caddie came in 2006, when Clark played in the pro-am at the Zurich Classic in New Orleans and Wood caddied for him.

Well, he was supposed to caddie for him. Just his luck, the pro-am was rained out.