“I have the car sales and the financial advising to fall back on if it goes pear-shaped. It can be a ruthless business.”
The life of a tour caddie is never dull. Paul Drummond will vouch for that.
His first event as an official bagman on the DP World circuit — formerly known as the European Tour — ended up with him spending 10 days in a quarantine hotel and forking out an additional $4,000 in expenses.
Instead of enjoying three events in South Africa with new boss Norwegian golfer Espen Kofstad, Drummond got 36 holes in at the ill-fated Joburg Open before the whole Omicron palaver kicked off and led to a frenzied scramble for flights that was as chaotic as the Keystone Cops trying to co-ordinate air traffic control.
“There were caddies who have been out on tour for 35 years and they said to me, ‘if you can handle this week, then you can handle anything,’ ” reflected the 31-year-old of a tumultuous introduction to the tour. “Some of them said it was the worst week they’d ever experienced. It’s not put me off, though.”
Drummond, a qualified accountant who is also a car salesman in the family business, was thrust into the limelight earlier this season when he was employed by American golden girl Lexi Thompson for the week of the AIG Women’s Open in his own backyard of Carnoustie.
He had caddied numerous times before over his hometown links but guiding someone with the global profile of Thompson through its abundant rigors was a whole new ball game. It whetted his appetite for more, though.
“I’d always wanted to do full-time caddying but it’s quite hard to get into,” he said. “A mate of mine, Matthew Southgate, who is a tour player, told Espen about me and that’s how it started.
“It was a good time for me to give it a go. I have the car sales and the financial advising to fall back on if it goes pear-shaped. It can be a ruthless business. If the player is not getting the results, then the first thing to change is the caddie or the coach. With caddying you never know when the next paycheck is coming but I want to go out and do well. I want to climb the ladder and I’d like to caddie for someone in the top 50 and do the majors. I’ve got a foot in the door so that’s a start.”
Telling a professional golfer that ‘you’ve got 212 yards to the front edge with the wind coming in from the left’ may be slightly different from championing the fuel efficiency of a tidy little hatchback in the forecourt but confidently talking the talk is standing Drummond in good stead.
“The main attribute of a caddie is how you deliver the message, the yardage or whatever,” he said. “I’ve had people caddie for me in the past and if they are a bit wishy-washy then it doesn’t give you much positivity when you’re standing over the shot. You need to deliver the message with authority.”
In the wide and varied world of this very individual game, the approach of the men’s world No. 318 Kofstad is in stark contrast to the methods employed by women’s world No. 12 Thompson.
“I did everything for Lexi,” said Drummond. “Yardages, lines, everything because she doesn’t carry a book. So if she hit it off the back of the green then, unfortunately, it might’ve have been me who was responsible. Espen is totally different. All I do with him is verify the number he gets from his own yardage book. He likes to take complete ownership of his game.”
While further work with Thompson in the U.S. was a possibility — “we got on great but the time of the year was wrong and I would’ve had terrible problems getting a Visa” — Drummond is relishing the prospect of getting out on the European circuit with Kofstad in the new year.
“It’s a shame those first three events got wiped out but I think Espen can do well and I’m hoping we can get in the mix and get the juices flowing,” he said.
As for the here, there and everywhere traveling that the DP World Tour demands? Well, Drummond won’t mind that. He’ll just have to get used to caddie class, though.
“I used to work as a financial controller with St Andrews University and regularly traveled to Hong Kong, Canada and the U.S. on business class,” he said. “As a caddie, I have to turn right on the plane now,” he added with a wry chuckle.
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