Alejandro Tosti’s opening round at the PGA Tour’s Biltmore Championship Asheville took an unusual turn on Thursday when caddie Cliff Ellis quit midway through the round, leaving the 30-year-old to finish the day in difficult circumstances.
Tosti was on the 18th hole, his ninth of the day, when Ellis dropped the bag, removed his bib and walked off. By then, the pair had already been at odds in practice, according to a source on the scene, and the split only added to the sense that this was a relationship heading toward a break.
The result on the course was not disastrous. Tosti made par on the first 11 holes and signed for 1-over 72, with his second round scheduled for Friday at 1:49 p.m. ET. But the bigger story was what happened beside him, not in the scorecard.
Why this matters for Tosti
A caddie quitting mid-round is rare on the PGA Tour, and it is especially notable in Tosti’s case because his career has already included clear signs of friction. In 2023, he was suspended during the Korn Ferry Tour playoffs for conduct unbecoming a professional after expletive-filled outbursts with players and rules officials. Ryan French of The Monday Q also chronicled a separate occasion that year when Tosti repeatedly cursed at caddie Ray Yoel during a Korn Ferry Tour event.
That background helps explain why Thursday’s split felt like more than a one-off disagreement. Late in 2024, after securing his Tour card at Q-School, Tosti told Golfweek, “It’s been the challenge for me my whole life, dealing with myself.” It was a revealing line then, and it feels even more relevant now.
A familiar pattern around the 30-year-old
There is also a broader history here. Tosti is not the first player to run into caddie turnover, but the comparison to Robert Allenby is hard to avoid, with Allenby having at least four caddies quit during a round at different stages of his career. That does not make Tosti’s situation identical, but it does underline how unusual it is for a bagman to walk away in the middle of a competitive round.
A veteran of the Tour once described Tosti as a “Dr. Jekyll, Mr. Hyde type,” and that kind of assessment now sits in the background whenever a new incident emerges. Tosti himself appeared to address the moment with some humour by text, saying: “He couldn’t keep up with eight pars in a row.”
For Tosti, the immediate task is straightforward: get ready for Friday and make sure Thursday’s disruption does not spill into the rest of the week. But the larger question remains whether this is simply another messy chapter, or further evidence that the toughest battle for Alejandro Tosti is not only against the course, but against the pressure around him.
