Caddying at the Island Paradise

Our Hong Kong-based teaching professional Nathan Goulding shared his experience caddying for Brandt Snedeker, who romped to an emphatic win to finish 16 under at the Fiji International last October

His tee shot found the fairway bunker leaving 190yds to the flag with a big crosswind left to right. He hit the sand slightly first out of the bunker and the wind slung the ball to the right into the bushes and lost. Now he has to re-drop in the bunker which becomes all important on the lie after the drop. It was obvious to me that this could be catastrophic and staring at a big number on this hole, which in turn could cut his lead in half. The ball fortunately doesn’t plug and he hits an awesome shot on the green to 30ft.

He then proceeds to make the long putt for bogey which he couldn’t ask for a better outcome. At that time, I knew from his experience as an elite player he was going to play quite conservatively from there on out and would maintain his lead.

Walking up the last hole with a 9-shot lead was surreal. Because he was so in control of his game and built up such a large lead there was no nervous energy that usually transpires towards the end of a big golf tournament. We had a fun walk up the last fairway. He reminded to me that his regular caddy who had been with him for so long would be bummed with taking the week off and I appreciated once again them giving me this opportunity. I mentioned to Brandt to finish this tournament off and get up and down out of the bunker for par. He played a great bunker shot to around 8ft and like many other times throughout the week rolled the putt in from close range.

It was an awesome finish to a great week in Fiji. What impressed me the most about Brandt’s game was his ability to hit the ball out of the middle of the clubface. Only once did he not hit with perfect contact for the entire week. His demeanor on the golf course was also impressive, always positive and was quickly to move on from an errant shot. His ability to control the distance with his wedge shots and short putting was also first class. I guess this is the reason he is ranked number 23 in the world and won many big events previously.

It was an experience I will never forgot and hope to endure something similar again.

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Written by Nathan Goulding

Photography by PGA of Australia Media

Click here to see the published article.

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