A month ago, when Muni He needed a new caddie, Norman Xiong raised his hand.
“We grew up playing junior golf together and he’s just an amazing golfer himself and still playing on the PGA Tour,” said He.
“He’s a very unique guy I would say. He kind of decided that he wanted to see competition golf from a different perspective.”
At the Walmart NW Arkansas Championship, He opened with a 6-under 65 on Friday to sit in a share of ninth. It marked her lowest round on the LPGA since 2023. Xiong, 26, won the 2018 Jack Nicklaus Award as the Division I college golfer of the year and Haskins Award winner while at Oregon.
“Of course, the past few weeks he’s been doing more work than just being a caddie with me,” said He. “He’s been not really coaching, but kind of telling me how he feels about my equipment and certain areas in my game where I can improve, which has been really helpful.
“Actually last week we completely changed my whole club setup to something that was extremely unfamiliar. We were both in a bit of a confused state since I missed the cut last week.”
More specifically, He went 20 to 25 grams heavier in all her shafts and switched from graphite to steel. Changes, she notes, typically aren’t made in the middle of a season.
“Really good to see it paying off,” said He, “and I feel like it’s changed for the better.”
Unfortunately for He, their run in Arkansas was cut short as the event was shortened to one round due to bad weather and deemed unofficial. He currently ranks 129th on the CME points list. The top 100 keep their cards for 2026.
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