Karrie Webb and longtime caddie split after 15 years

One of the longest player/caddie relationships on the LPGA has come to an end. Karrie Webb and her caddie of 15 years, Mike Paterson, worked together one last time Sunday at the the Toto Japan Classic.

It was an amicable split, with Webb telling Paterson that if he ever got an offer on the PGA Tour, to not feel beholden to her.

“As a friend, I want the best for him and want him to take on new challenges,” Webb told Golfweek in an email.

Paterson will be working for another Aussie in the Tour’s John Senden.

“The highlight of our working relationship will certainly be when I holed a wedge from 116 on the 72nd hole of Kraft Nabisco in 2006,”

Webb told Golfweek in an email. “I think we were both 10-foot tall and bulletproof the moment the ball went in. Mikey definitely was considering he had the bag on his back and caught me jumping into his arms!”

Webb has only the CME Tour Championship left on her schedule in 2015 and will have veteran looper Jonny Scott on the bag. The LPGA Hall of Famer has said that she plans to evaluate how much longer she’ll compete on the LPGA full time following the 2016 Olympics.