Interviewed By Matt Ginella
Illustration By Christoph Niemann March 2009

Thomas “Boo” Weekley, 35, lives in Jay, Fla. He has two wins on the PGA Tour (both at the Verizon Heritage) and had a 2-0-1 record at the 2008 Ryder Cup, which he discussed at his appearance on “The Tonight Show” with Jay Leno. (Interviewed on Dec. 10, 2008.)

Do you ever take an annual golf buddies trip?
No. Not golf. No golfing. Usually if I’m going buddy/buddy, it’s to go hunting and fishing.

Let’s get into hunting. Where is your favorite destination?
It just all depends. We hunt in Florida, where I live in Jay. I hunt in Alabama a little bit, on my uncle’s land. I go to Illinois and hunt with some friends up there. I hunt in Mississippi and Missouri.

In terms of getting hunting tags, how does that happen?
I got a buddy of mine, kind of my right-hand hunting man down at the house who handles all of my tags. He has all my information. He has everything that I need.

In 2008, how much hunting did you do?
I went to Missouri. I did an outing in Missouri, and when I got done I went up and hunted with my buddy there. That was in Poplar Bluff. As soon as I left there I went to Illinois and hunted in Illinois for three days. And then I left and went back home.

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Monte Burke, 03.25.09, 06:00 PM EDT
Forbes Magazine dated April 13, 2009

Salt-of-the-earth Boo Weekley is exactly the kind of player the PGA Tour needs to get it through the recession.

It’s impossible to tell the story of professional golfer Thomas Brent (Boo) Weekley without bringing up the orangutan. When Weekley was 15 he and some friends went to a county fair near Milton, Weekley’s hometown on the Florida Panhandle. A man at the fair had an orangutan in a cage and was offering $50 to anyone who could lay a hand on the ape. Weekley jumped in the cage. “The next thing I remember I was in the back of my buddy’s pickup truck, bleeding,” he says.

This type of thing never happened during the childhood of Tiger Woods, who was groomed from birth to become the greatest golfer in the world. Weekley wasn’t supposed to be a PGA Tour golfer (even though his Milton high school has miraculously produced three of them). He’ll tell anyone within earshot that he’d rather be bass fishing than taking a stroll down the fairways of Augusta National. He likes beer in cans and eats at Hooters. He flunked out of college after one year. He cleaned chemical tanks during 12-hour shifts at a Monsanto (nyse: MON – news - people ) factory until he got laid off. When he finally gained entrance to the PGA Tour in 2002 he flunked out of that, too, and nearly gave up on the game. “I took golf for granted for a long time,” he says.

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We at www.booweekley.com caught up with Boo’s caddie Joe Pyland for a little Q&A session that many of you have been requesting for a while. Joe called us from Orlando while he was working on this course for this week’s Arnold Palmer Invitational presented by Mastercard.

Booweekley.com(BW):Thanks for joining us here on www.booweekley.com for this Q&A session Joe.

Joe Pyland (JP): No problem.

BW: We know you are busy so let’s get started….2009 started off good for you guys with both a top 10 and a top 20 in Hawaii. After those successes ya’ll headed halfway across the world to compete in Quatar. Boo didn’t make the cut there. How do you think that extreme travel affected Boo’s play?

JP: Man we were definitely jet-lagged…we didn’t get there til Tuesday night and we normally arrive at a tournament Sunday night or Monday morning so that was a big change. Plus we arrived there and lost a day so we were really screwed up on the time thing. It took us quiet some time even after we left to get our times straight. In this case I would say yes it affected us but it was a great experience all the same.

BW: Boo took a month off and did some appearance things and other events. How did you spend your time off?

JP: Well, I played a lot of golf. Took the time to hang out with my family and friends. I stayed around the house for the most part.

BW: Now that you guys are back in the grind we see that you are playing 12 events in 13 weeks. That is a long stretch even for the most seasoned veteran. How do you get in a routine that makes sense and keeps each week situated to getting ready?

JP:I try to keep our schedule the same…Monday is considered our day off but what this translates to is we go out there and take it easy. I use Monday to scope out the course and make sure there aren’t any significant changes to the layout then we go out and just take it easy. Remember it is our “off day”. Tuesday is practice and then Wednesday we normally have a Pro-Am. Thursday starts competition. We played several tournaments in a row on the Nationwide Tour and it didn’t affect us so I know this won’t.

BW: What is the part of your job that you enjoy most?

JP: I just enjoy being out on the golf course playing well and competing in tournaments. It’s the competition that I really love. I love us being in the hunt and making the shot. I get excited about competing.

BW: When you and Boo are out on the course what do you guys talk about?

JP:  Well, obviously we talk about the golf. I mean we discuss each shot and how to approach the shots. The main part of those discussions are the hazards and where we don’t want to be on the green. We always discuss how to stay away from trouble. But I mean we talk about other stuff…(laughs) football, basketball and stuff like that. Boo is calm on the course I would say 90% of the time so its just like any time you would be talking to him except we are at work so obviously we talk more about work.

BW: It has been said that since you started carrying Boo’s bag his game elevated. What do you think has been the key you brought that helped unlock this rise in his game?

JP: Well, I always try to work hard. I have a military background so I like things structured and I try to bring that work ethic to the table every day. I always want us to be prepared and that we are ready for the course in front of us. I don’t want Boo to ever get out there and we not know everything we can know to be ready.

BW: What is your favorite course on tour?

JP: Hands down Augusta National.

BW: It’s unusual for a caddie to say that being that Augusta is known to be one of the toughest to work.

JP: Sure it’s a tough course but the history that exists there and being given the opportunity to work it… Man, there’s nothing like it and I wouldn’t trade that for anything.

BW: If you could have a dream golf outing who would be in your group?

JP:  Boo, my brother, myself and Jack Nicklaus. That would be the group I would love to play 18 with no doubt.

BW:Joe thank you  so much for taking time out of your day to speak with us. Good Luck this week at Bayhill!

JP: No problem. I enjoyed it and thanks I’m looking forward to this week!

Joe Pyland is a PGA TOUR caddie from Milton, Florida. He served eight years in the Army with two tours in Iraq. He has been carrying Boo Weekley’s bag since 2006.

Today Boo started out with a birdie on Hole #1.

Hole #4 didn’t workout so well as Boo double bogeyed to make his overall +1.

Hole #5 was another bogey which brought the overall score to +2.

Hole #7 Boo got there in 3 shots making a birdie and taking his overall score back to +1 over par.

Through 10 Boo is currently +1 and T38.

UPDATES TO FOLLOW

Hole #11 brought a birdie with a 10 foot putt. Boo’s overall is now EVEN and T32.

Boo double bogeyed hole #13 to bring overall to +2 and T42.

After bogeying holes #15 and 16, Boo’s overall at +4 and T47.

Boo ended the day +5 and currently T53.

Next up for Boo is the Arnold Palmer Invitational at Bayhill. Please check back with www.booweekley.com for the latest news on Boo and the upcoming tournament in Orlando.