Alejandro Tosti has left.
In his Instagram story late Thursday afternoon, the Argentine pro posted video of what appeared to him aboard a two-seater seaplane flying over the mountains near Asheville, NC — a quick joy ride between the first and second rounds of the PGA Tour. Biltmore Asheville Championship. There was a post of him about to board. Another showed his plane on the side of a commercial plane near takeoff. Others showed him in the air, and one showed that his plane touched down in a lake.
All this, however, preceded another departure.
His caddy.
On Thursday, Tosti and his looper, Cliff Ellis, started the Biltmore Championship on the 10th hole at the Cliffs at Walnut Cove, played the new again, then things got weird. As previously reported by golf weekit’s Adam Schupak and then shown on Friday on the Golf ChannelEllis stopped carrying Tosti’s bag – on his ninth hole.
At that point, Tosti had parred his first eight holes, but, according to Schupak’s report, Tosti and Ellis had a disagreement on Tuesday during a practice match, and it apparently spilled over into Thursday. On the Golf Channel, the two were seen going back and forth as they approached the 18th green, then Ellis dropped Tosti’s bag in the middle of the fairway, took off his caddy bib and walked away. In a text exchange, Tosti told Schupak that he thought Ellis on Thursday had gone to the toilet on the 18th. Schupak also said that Tosti wrote: “I couldn’t keep up with eight pars in a row,” followed by a laughing emoji.
In his eight years as a professional, Tosti has made a few titles, including one with a caddy in March — at the Tour’s Valspar Championship, caddies wear custom bibs, and this year, Tosti’s caddy bib. read: “I needed a wife.” In 2023Tosti was also forced to withdraw from a Korn Ferry Tour event due to what was called “a disciplinary measure”. In 2024Tosti and Tony Finau were at odds over their playing order at the PGA Tour’s Houston Open.
On Thursday, Tosti shot a one-over 72 — and Golf Channel reported that he pulled a fan from the crowd to tote his bag for the back nine. At the time of writing on Friday, Tosti was through seven holes in his second round and still at one over, four outside the projected cutline. He also had a new looper in his bag, Patrick Talledo.
Below is the Golf Channel footage of what happened: