The man behind the Mick: profiling Jim Mackay, Phil's caddy

Golfers may play for decades, but it's the rare player-caddy relationship that lasts more than a few years. Players may not work their way through caddies like football teams switch coaches, but there's nonetheless a sense of impermanence in the looping ranks. Virtually every major player has rotated through at least a couple of caddies through the years.

One significant exception to that rule is Phil Mickelson, who's had Jim "Bones" Mackay on the bag for almost his entire career. Mackay, normally a modest, private person, consented to a far-reaching Golf Magazine profile that's well worth some time this offseason.

Among the revelations:

• Bones and Mickelson met when both were just starting out in professional golf, a fortunate coincidence of timing that paid untold dividends for both. In their first outing together, Phil broke the course record at a 1992 U.S. Open sectional qualifier in Memphis.

• Before meeting Mickelson, Mackay had hoped to caddy in just one Ryder Cup. He's now looped in eight, as well as eight Presidents Cups and all four of Mickelson's major wins.

• Mackay doesn't foresee Mickelson playing much, if at all, on the Champions Tour. Where does he visualize Mickelson in a few years? "In the owner's box at a