Major-winning caddie Damon Green, former TOUR pro Arron Oberholser among mentors in ascent to PGA TOUR

Frankie Capan III’s PGA TOUR education began on a Saturday night in Orlando, a college kid seeking a master’s-level understanding of professional golf.

A promising golfer at Florida Gulf Coast, Capan (pronounced sap-IN) had ample firepower and artistic flair, but was prone to reckless decision-making. He’d had mentors, most prominently NBA Hall of Famer Kevin McHale (a fellow Minnesotan) and former top-50 pro Arron Oberholser (who designated a 6-year-old Capan as ring bearer in his wedding), but knew he could benefit from another voice as he worked toward his PGA TOUR dreams.

Cue Damon Green, the longtime caddie known for his major titles (and celebratory birdie dances) alongside Zach Johnson. Green and Capan connected through Capan’s dad Frank, manager Terry Reilly, and mutual friend Alan Pope. They met in Orlando, a three-and-a-half-hour drive from campus, on a Saturday. To say they clicked would be an understatement. After playing two rounds of golf (Green, a former pro, has played in the U.S. Senior Open), they had dinner and then hung out at Green’s house until 2 or 3 a.m. Capan peppered him with questions about the game, various courses and the ins and outs of professional golf. Green flipped through old yardage books and reflected on various nuances gleaned along the way.

Green caddied at times during Capan’s two years on the Korn Ferry Tour, an extra edge as Capan, 25, learned to be a true pro. From adjusting his wedge flight – “When I was with him the first time, I was hitting my wedges a lot higher than what’s optimal,” Capan said – to gamifying his range sessions, the lessons added up to a TOUR card via the 2024 Korn Ferry Tour season-long standings. Today, Capan is a PGA TOUR rookie, with the sometimes-retired Green still making occasional appearances on the bag.

“I probably wore him out that night, but it was a lot of fun learning with him,” Capan said of their first meeting. “I hadn’t really met a caddie that had experienced as much success as him, so for him to come out here and caddie for me is really special. Just constantly learning from him has been a lot of fun for me."

Added Green, “He came up and he was just like a sponge. He was asking all the right questions. I gave him what little feedback I had, and now he’s on the TOUR … It doesn’t matter where he hits it, he always finds a shot, and he’s got a great short game and putts it well.”

The Capan-Green story is indicative of Capan’s ethos. He’s motivated to be great, but he’s also motivated to connect with others. It’s an inherited trait for the proud Minnesotan, whose dad Frank describes their family as “people-based and process-based,” and who relishes the world of professional golf largely for the countless people that cycle through its orbit across tournament venues, cities and regions.

During his PGA TOUR rookie interview last fall, Capan was asked what he’d like to discuss in an interview 10 years from now. Most players’ minds drift to TOUR wins, major wins, and success on paper. Capan argued that the memories are more important than the trophies.

“I think if we were doing this interview in 10 years, I’d probably want you to ask me about random stories or fun experiences that I’ve had with people,” Capan said. “I try to be a relational person, and I think winning’s great, but at the same time, I think the relationships that you develop over the years are probably some of the most fun.”

Capan earned his first Korn Ferry Tour card via 2022 Q-School, advancing from pre-qualifying through Final Stage with his mom Charlynn on the bag. She admits she isn’t the most well-versed in green reading or strategy, but it’s not about that. It’s about the comfort level inside the ropes.

Showing promise but still inconsistent, Capan finished No. 51 on the Points List as a Korn Ferry Tour rookie. As the PGA TOUR card ceremony unfolded on the 18th green at Victoria National Golf Club, he remained on the practice green some 100 yards away, working through some drills. Like a football player who lingers on the sideline to watch the opposing team celebrate a title with confetti ringing down, Capan wanted to feel the elation by proxy and ensure he wouldn’t be on the other side again.

Sure enough, he earned his PGA TOUR card at No. 3 on the 2024 season-long Korn Ferry Tour Points List, comfortably inside the top 30 to become #TOURBound. Highlights included a first-round 58 on the way to a solo fourth at the Veritex Bank Championship outside Dallas (breaking Scottie Scheffler’s course-record 59 at Texas Rangers Golf Club, which wasn’t in competition) and a win at the season’s penultimate event, the Nationwide Children’s Hospital Championship at Ohio State University Golf Club. He wasn’t far from home. Some of his fondest memories are from his peewee football days back in Minnesota, and his parents feel the same way. He’s an avid Minnesota Vikings fan and can rattle off names from the Vikings’ late-2000s rosters. He remembers his first Vikings game (a victory over the San Francisco 49ers in September 2003); he keeps the ticket in his Bible. It wasn’t lost on him that he crossed the Korn Ferry Tour points threshold to clinch his first TOUR card on a Sunday in September – 21 years later. He sports a Vikings logo on his golf bag, and Green quips he has learned “a lot about the Minnesota Vikings that I don’t care to know” from their time together. During his two years at the University of Alabama before transferring to Florida Gulf Coast, Capan occasionally visited the football facility to kick field goals. He once made a 50-yarder barefoot.

Capan’s love for football, like so many things in his life, traces to a core connection. This one: throwing the football around with his dad.

“I would run so hard and do things to the limit where when I would get home, I would just crash, fall asleep and take four-hour naps all the time,” Capan said. “But it was just fun; I didn’t have an older brother growing up, so I think my dad was almost like an older brother to me … he was kind of just my buddy growing up, which was a lot of fun. We just played sports and fell in love with golf and football.”

The Oberholser connection traces to early childhood. Oberholser’s then-girlfriend, now-wife Angie was working at The Country Club at DC Ranch in Scottsdale, Arizona, where the Capan family took up membership in Frankie’s youth. Oberholser recalls losing a putting contest to Capan, 7 or 8 at the time, and a match against a 14-year-old Capan who insisted on playing the back tees (7,300 yards) and shooting 67 with nine birdies despite hitting long irons or fairway metals into par 4s. “The shortest iron he hit into any of the par 4s was a 7-iron,” Oberholser recalled.

Oberholser served as Capan’s statistician for the 2023 and 2024 U.S. Opens (Capan qualified for both through 36-hole Final Qualifying), and he has lent unique insights through the years. One example: even after you’ve clinched your TOUR card on the Korn Ferry Tour, keep the pedal down because your spot on the TOUR’s Priority Ranking could be crucial for getting into early-season events. Capan took that advice to heart. After clinching his TOUR card at the Simmons Bank Open, he won the next week – with Green on the bag.

Early that week, Capan was asked what he had learned from Green. “So many things,” he said, shaking his head with a smile.

Green recalled a moment that week on the par-5 fourth hole at Ohio State, where Capan had missed the fairway left and wound up in a divot. Facing a 208-yard approach with ample tree trouble, conventional wisdom might suggest laying up and playing a longer third shot from back in the fairway. Capan, though, saw a window to curve the ball and push it near the green. He’s an artist at heart, learning the right brushes to use at the right times.

“He hits some shots where I just shake my head,” Green said. “He’s so creative that you can’t pull the reins on him. He’s like a stallion … you can’t hold stallions back; you’ve got to let them go sometimes. The way he can curve it, I thought Bubba (Watson) was one-of-a-kind, but seeing this guy, he can curve it both ways.

“The sky’s for limit for him, in my opinion.”

Capan has Green, among many, to thank for that. Capan would be the first to tell you so.