'US Open star got wife to axe me as his caddie after we nearly fought - I was ready to go'

Michael Collins, a former caddie turned analyst, alleges that he was relieved of his duties by former US Open star Daniel Chopra after the pair almost came to blows on the golf course.

Their disagreement occurred on a golf course in Chicago where Danny Chops and Collins had a heated exchange, which led to the caddie abandoning his bags and challenging the Swede to a fight. Recounting the events on the Pardon My Take podcast with Dan Katz and PMT Commenter, Collins described the 'volatile' world of caddying.

Collins said: "People thought 'oh cool man, you're a caddie so you got guaranteed this and'. Nah man, it don't work like that. I got fired on a Thursday after the first round - there's no contracts, there's no guarantees for caddies out there. And you've got to pay all of your own expenses - airfare, hotel, rental car, food all of that stuff."

He continued: "So, if you've got a guy who's missing four or five cuts in a row and you've got a family at home and bills to pay it can get a little scary."

Collins then responded to Katz's inquiry on why he was discharged that particular afternoon by bursting into laughter before levelling his assertions about his dispute with Chopra, reports the Mirror.

He revealed: "I was working for a dude - me and him almost got in a fight on the golf course. I literally put the bag down and was like 'you wanna go? ' whilst I was a caddie. So lets just say of all the people that I've caddied for, we're all friends now - but at the time, what seemed like a good connection ended horrifically.

"I caddied for Daniel Chopra for like three months maybe, and at one point we were just not getting along - so bad that I put the bag down in the middle of the tournament and was like 'do you wanna go right here, in front of everybody? I've gotta embarrass you in front of all of these people?'.

"When it got to its worst point ever - we were in Chicago and he shot six over and was in the locker room - he sent his wife, Samantha out because he didn't want to do it face to face. Maybe even scared. And she was like 'we're going to make a change' and I was like 'yeah, it's probably a good idea'."

Since hanging up his caddying gloves after a decade-long career, Collins has joined ESPN's golf team as a host and analyst across various golfing programmes. Meanwhile, Chopra, who finished T24 at the US Open in 2004, went on to secure his first PGA win at the Ginn sur Mer Classic at Tesoro in 2007, followed by a second victory at the Mercedes-Benz Championship in 2008.

The US Open is set to commence on Thursday (June 13) at North Carolina's Pinehurst No. 2.