From the 2025 U.S. Open at Oakmont, Nick Taylor’s caddie Dave Markle joins Adam Scully to talk about the brutal setup this week—including Oakmont’s infamous rough and fast greens. Markle also reflects on Nick Taylor’s stellar season, his unforgettable win at the 2023 RBC Canadian Open, and the experience of looping at Augusta National during The Masters.
Watch now for insights into life as a PGA Tour caddie, what makes Oakmont a true major championship test, and how Nick Taylor continues to elevate Canadian golf on the world stage.
#nicktaylor #usopen #oakmont #themasters #golftalkcanada #rbccanadianopen #pgatour #interview #golflife #davemarkle
now joining me here on Golf Talk Canada Dave Markle the caddy for Nick Taylor and Dave you’re joining us from Oakmont where you’re sitting in some deep rough tell our audience where you are that’s right hey Adam thanks for having me on i am uh I’m on the in the right hay here on the par 51 12 pole uh just got in this morning and uh getting my first look at the course it seemed like a good spot to sit down and have a chat there you go i love that now we’ve seen lots of rumors of images and videos about what Oakmont looks like how tough it’s going to be you’re there you’re sitting in the rough how thick is the rough right now yeah it’s pretty juicy off the fairways um it’s going to like I said it’s going to be a good test for the boys this week uh premium on hitting the fairways hitting greens and and yeah it’s going to be good and we’ll get back to the US Open here shortly but we’re coming off another RBC Canadian Open where your man Nick Taylor was the low Canadian just overall how was how’ the week go yeah it was a fun week it’s always it’s always uh fun coming back home obviously with what happened two years ago nick’s a bit of an icon in Canada uh rightfully so so um no he had a good week uh his game looks great and uh we kind of had a chance at the end there and and just didn’t really just didn’t go our way this time and and it’s nice to it’s always nice to be in the hunt at home and and the support feeling the support from the fans it’s uh yeah it’s second to none it’s interesting too right because we’re in a super busy time of the year and it’s going to be your third consecutive really hard test of golf the memorial a couple weeks back where Nick played really well rbc Canadian Open we know how penal the rough was there how long that golf courses and now the US Open what’s it like for you as a caddy to make sure Nick is balancing both preparation and rest yeah it’s a uh it’s a it’s a big stretch here this is the third of four weeks and like you said the last couple weeks have they’ve been demanding in different ways uh Jack’s place is I think every every shot you hit at Memorial is pretty stressful um and then last week you know dealing with kind of the demands of of obviously Nick being uh fan favorite and and past champion um yeah I think uh he kind of chilled with his family last night and they they’re getting into town right about now had the probably a slow morning a little bit of a travel day and and it’s it’s supposed to rain here this afternoon I think and and the weather’s maybe not supposed to be great so you know if he didn’t get out here today it might not be a bad thing sometimes rest is uh is more important right 100% and you mentioned something there that I want to touch on here and that’s stressful golf shots and for you as as a caddy you’re obviously you’re getting yardages for your guy but you’re also monitoring how he’s feeling and that’s one I want to ask you about in getting a yardage h how much does does Nick fluctuate in terms of if he’s under the gun with adrenaline that sort of thing like how much are you adding or taking off different yardages yeah there’s certain situations like uh you know the ball went pretty far in the ring pole yesterday um you know he might have been amped up a little bit there i’m not sure you’d have to ask him but um you know I I think the stress the stress for me is is you know you want to make the right decisions and get him in the right places and and you know try to make things as easy on him as it can be and so that he can just kind of go ahead and execute right um so yeah you know you don’t you don’t want to screw things up but when you start thinking like that it’s it’s you’re going to screw things up so you just got to kind of do your job and support him as well as you can and and you know let them kind of go and hit the shot right yeah well and we’re coming off the RBC Canadian Open where Nick played very well and everyone remembers where they were back in 2023 the iconic 72 foot putt whether you’re watching on your couch or watching from the golf course or where you were watching right beside him seeing history unfold two years later what kind of fond memories do you have from that moment yeah it’s uh I definitely had the best seat in the house for that um it was kind of a blur you know you see you see the puck kind of getting closer to the hole and and thinking like man this could go in and how good it looked and boom it disappeared and and kind of mayhem um you know it’s it’s hard to believe it’s been a couple years now and uh but I still I think Nick would probably echo these thoughts that it’s cool to hear from you know other Canadians or anybody in general that uh you know where they were when the pot went in and and you know kind of how they felt and it’s going to be one of those moments in Canadian sports that uh you know uh we’ll probably both get uh told those stories for a long time right especially Nick 100% and it was one of the greatest moments we’ll ever see in Canadian sports history period which uh which is awesome now we’re at the US Open we’re at Oakmont and it’s a practice round day so I just I’m just so curious day in the life for you let’s say Tuesday morning nick is on the ground you’ve got a practice round schedule what’s a day in the life for you Dave yeah it’s um it’s busy it’s busy from Monday to Wednesday afternoon and then I feel like once Wednesday gets here you can get a little bit of rest in the afternoon because usually there’s a proam or at a major week they’ll shut the course around four or five and you really can’t get back on it so it’s kind of nice to have that uh that hard uh finish line or stop so that you know that you can go home and get a bit of rest but yeah they’re busy days like uh tomorrow morning i don’t know what our schedule is yet but I imagine we’ll play it’s probably weather depending this afternoon how many holes we get in but uh definitely nine probably 18 tomorrow um but uh depending on what time we play I’ll probably try to sneak a few holes in before that uh just walking the course and kind of rolling balls on the greens to different hole locations that we might expect for the week um you know and then we’ll play and then I’ll probably come back out and throw a few discs down on on the rest of the greens and try to roll as many balls uh as possible and and just get a good feel for the greens before uh heading into the tournament into the tournament on Thursday so um you know we always want to kind of get on the course a couple times without our player so that we have our bearings and um know where the putts are going know what our lines are off the tea you know maybe the rough’s thicker in some areas than it is in other areas and and you know you you kind of need to know that if you maybe get out of position or if you know a pin’s in a certain spot like where you can miss it and where you can’t miss it and uh there’s a lot that’s going on out here and and um you know you just want to know and be ready for your guy and and and when a situation kind of comes up that you’re you know you know the best kind of spot and and can help him as best you can right yeah for sure so that that’s a practice round but how about a how about a tournament day so let’s say Nick has a call it a 1:30 p.m tea time this coming Friday what are you doing during the morning are you watching morning coverage are you out on the course as much as you can what are you doing on Friday before you tee off yeah the coverage the coverage these days has become so good that um you know you you kind of see when the first tea time is and and you know you fire up your computer and your phone and see as as many different like featured groups or main feeds as you can and you get your yardage book out and have breakfast and a cup of coffee and and um you’re tuned in you want to see kind of what you know how how receptive the greens are or aren’t um you know at certain whole locations like you know he like I said you want to know where you’re going out there and and it’s become so good with the coverage that um you don’t really you know if you’re out here kind of walking around I think you know obviously we used to do that in the old days or uh guys that have been out here a long time they would kind of probably walk the course before but it’s almost like not very find beneficial now with how how you know what access you have to coverage these days yeah 100% we’re so excited for the US Open and to see Nick back in action but Dave before we let you go we got to talk about the last time we actually saw each other in person and it was a funny experience because we were both in the merch shop at Augusta National doing what two guys do best and have a good retail moment so it was hilarious seeing you there in the Augusta National the Masters the Pro Shop there but I got to ask you about cattying at the Masters as we were saying before we went on the air as well I had the great fortune of of winning the media lottery and playing Augusta National which is still crazy that it actually happened but as a caddy and caddying for Nick at the Masters just how different of an experience is it caddying at Augusta National versus any other golf course yeah it’s uh yeah a little jealous that you got to play um but uh no catting there it’s it’s um you know this was my second time and I think nerd Nick’s third time there um so you know the first time around like it’s easy at times it’s easy to kind of you go through that stretch when you come up over the hill on 11 and and you kind of see hey man Corner for the first time and it’s like it’s almost like you’re in a video game right her like you’re it’s a little it’s a little crazy but um you know once you kind of get when you’re almost like you got to snap back into it if that’s your thought or if you if you let your mind go there and um I think it was the second time around it was much easier to kind of be in the moment and just kind of you know golf is golf no matter where you are you can’t uh you can’t put this place or that place on a pedestal even though it might you know even though it is Augusta um it’s it’s cool to be out there and uh you know you just got to try to stay present as much as possible and and you know be cool and and calm and and try to yeah be present in the moment right 100% well Nick Taylor’s playing some great golf heading into this week’s US Open we’re certainly looking forward to seeing him back in action and Dave hopefully looking forward to seeing you uh during the coverage late on Sunday afternoon thanks so much for taking some time today enjoy the rest of this practice round and we’ll talk to you soon thanks Adam appreciate it
