Past haunts English's caddie: 'It just sucks'
UK denies Larson's visa application because of 30-year-old drug conviction
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Harris English and caddie Erik Larson at the PGA Championship at Aronimink (David Cannon/Getty Images)
NORTH BERWICK, Scotland — Harris English is a veteran golfer who’s been through a few things in the game. He was part of the losing U.S. Ryder Cup team last year, where he lost two matches and had to sit out the singles due to any injury to his European opponent. He also finished runner-up at the 2025 Open Championship at Royal Portush.
He’s won five times in his PGA Tour career and amassed more than $42 million in career earnings.
So English is going to be fine playing this weekend’s Genesis Scottish Open and next week’s Open Championship without his longtime caddie, Erik Larson.
That still doesn’t make it right, he says.
Larson is stuck at home in Florida, unable to travel to the United Kingdom. A 30-year-old drug conviction in the United States is haunting him — even though he’s been to the UK several times in the past decade and has been out of prison since 2005.
Larson was unable to obtain an Electronic Travel Authority visa, a new program that the UK instituted for Americans last year.
“Yeah, it’s wild; it just sucks,” English said Wednesday at the Renaissance Club. “He did everything he was supposed to do. He’s caddied for me for at least five or six Open Championships. He’s had a couple of Senior (Open) Championships. It’s been fine for so long, and then all of a sudden, it’s not. It’s frustrating. He’s doing everything the right way. It’s disappointing.”
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Larson’s story dates to the early 1990s, when he began caddying but also got involved in selling cocaine. He has maintained that he never used the drug, he never brought it on tour and that he didn’t deal in high-level distribution. It was just a way to make some extra money, for which he paid a heavy price.
“I am not nor ever was part of the cartel,” Larson said in a phone interview from his Palm Beach Gardens, Florida, home. “But I broke the law.”
Erik Larson was at Harris English’s side at Shinnecock but won’t be at Royal Birkdale (Logan Whitton/USGA)
Larson began caddying for Ken Green starting in 1991 and later switched to Mark Calcavecchia in 1994. Calcavecchia, who won the 1989 Open at Royal Troon in a playoff over Greg Norman and Wayne Grady, always remained loyal to Larson, who was indicted in Tennessee on charges of conspiracy to sell cocaine in 1993 — for which he was acquitted. But he was also indicted in Michigan, meaning it became a federal charge due to the activity crossing state lines.
Despite never being a user and insisting he was not a big-time dealer, Larson was given a harsh sentence: 13 years, with five years of probation and a $25,000 fine. He ended up serving a little more than 10 years, in four different federal prisons.
Larson, now 65, was released in late 2005 and later had his probation reduced so he could resume caddying later that year. Calcavecchia put him to work quickly and gave
