Farmer Kevin reaps what he sows with Garrido win

Colin Byrne's Column: Ignacio Garrido played his approach shot to the final hole at the Volvo PGA Championship at Wentworth a couple of weeks back, handed the club to his caddie and walked towards the left side of the green.

As he doffed his hat to the appreciative crowd, his caddie, Kevin Woodward, walked to the opposite side of the green towards the scoreboard carrier, where he presented the young lad with one of Nacho's match balls.

This may not seem all that noteworthy - unless you knew the bagman. The victory had signified a mammoth comeback by his boss and a jump of over 200 places in the world rankings. To his caddie, it made up for a couple of self-imposed lean years.

Firstly, he did not want the standard-bearer to go away empty-handed in the melee that was going to follow the Spaniard's final putt; Kevin is always considerate to those who are usually left behind. His second purpose in walking a roundabout way to his man on the final green was to let Garrido enjoy the glory of the moment alone. Also, for the Zimbabwean, being the experienced caddie he is, there was a delaying tactic involved in his manoeuvre.

He was probably trying to slow his man down. Players always move more quickly when they are in a high-adrenaline situation. The last move didn't work, Nacho took the pin out himself; he was going to finish that round as quickly as possible. He two-putted comfortably for a final round of 65 and went on to win in a play-off.

Kevin Woodward has caddied intermittently since 1979. Always conscious of keeping some sort of balance in his life, he has taken breaks to pursue other interests. When he was last caddying in Europe, the situation in his native Zimbabwe was escalating to its present crisis.

When we were in Dubai early in 2001, he started to get the serious news about what was happening back in Zim. It seems most of the sheiks in the Emirates employ southern Africans to fly their planes for them. So the Zimbabwean ex-pat community is quite extensive. The news of home reached there more quickly than elsewhere.

Throughout the summer of that year we all became aware of the gravity of the situation in Zimbabwe. As most of Kevin's friends at home, many of whom traditionally ran farms, started a mass exodus out of their homeland, he went the opposite way. In September of 2001, he prematurely ended his season of caddying for Carlos Rodiles and went back home to see if he could help out in any way.

As most people are aware, about three years ago the Zimbabwe government decided white farmers were no longer of any use to them and decided to give the white owned farms to black "war veterans", many of whom had no knowledge of farming. People who had been farmers all their lives were now suddenly left with nothing but their expertise and nowhere to exercise it.

A friend of Kevin's from Tengwe, in northern Zimbabwe, used to be a farmer until he was warned away by the oppressive regime. Of the tobacco and maize plantations he had possessed all that remained was a small chicken farm. It would have been fatal for him to go back to run it. Kevin stepped in to take his place. He ran it for a year-and-a- half without getting paid.

He was living a frugal life amongst a community of 18 other farming families, acting in a selfless manner in order to try to slow down the collapse of the country he once knew.

When he returned to caddying a couple of weeks ago in Gemany, having felt he had at least tried to boost the morale of the small town of Tengwe, it was obvious the time he had spent back in his native land had taken its toll. You could get things you didn't need, like the latest golf clubs, but no basic food items.

Kevin, looking considerably thinner than I remembered him, eyed the bread roll he was given on the plane to Hamburg like it was a very strange and exotic piece of food. Not much flour in Zim.

For those who believe in karma or moral justice, Kevin Woodward's timely return to caddying would boost your belief. Having earned nothing for almost two years, the victory with Nacho Garrido, for whom he caddied in his previous victory in 1997, has probably just about made up for the lost earnings of the altruist. Given the nature of the man, it was undoubtedly the last thing on his mind as his man got up and down on the first play-off hole to beat Trevor Immelman. You can be sure that he wasn't counting his chickens before they had hatched either!