Garcia goes for luxury of reliability

NOT so long ago the caddie, if mentioned at all in press or television coverage, was relatively anonymous. As we watched the champion of whatever tournament being embraced by his faithful caddie on holing the winning putt on the final green, the commentator might give a cursory mention to the fact that "there's the caddie looking a little over excited, there should be a few extra shekels in the pay packet". How times have changed.

Last Thursday one of the headlines on the Sports Round-up slot on the World Service was that Fanny Sunesson had agreed to caddie for Sergio Garcia. I hooked up to the internet and there's the headline, "Garcia chooses Fanny Sunesson as new caddie". There was a quote from Sergio indicating that she is "professional, loyal and hard-working". I found the loyal part an interesting choice given that she had ditched her last boss due, I can only assume, due to a lack of form.

The "big cheese" wasn't flowing as freely as the Swede had become accustomed to over her successful decade at world beater Faldo's side. So it was time to find some young blood to continue churning the fame out with. Journalists, on the announcement of the split, were giving the impression that this was the final bitter twist in the demise of the Faldo empire. What would he do without her?

Faldo made Fanny Sunesson, Fanny did not make Nick Faldo. The caddie is only as good as the guy who is hitting the shots. Not that I'm feeling sorry for poor Nick, you would have to have a lot of compassion to feel sympathy for that man.

Fanny had a great decade with Faldo including four major successes. The bottom line is that Faldo probably could have had the same success with a monkey on the bag. He made his own on course decisions. Fanny was a reliable luxury.

As the money has increased in golf, so more players can afford to employ not only full time caddies, but they tend to get a wider choice these days. Never has a caddies job been so precarious. It is a players' market.

We caddies have gone from the car-park to the penthouse quicker than Tiger up most leader boards. Decisions made by a caddie today involve large sums of money, thus the added interest.

We can also end up back in the car-park quicker than we would like. Jerry Higginbottom, Garcia's recently released caddie has been on the end of a couple of harsh sackings in a row. Mark O'Meara got rid of Jerry after a successful year including two majors in 1998. He wound up mysteriously on Garcia's bag this year. With Sergio finishing third on the order of merit, Jerry could feel a little bit miffed at yet another dismissal.

Looking at "El Nino's" progress over the year from timid newcomer to irate shoe thrower in the space of a few months (Matchplay incident at Wentworth) it looks like "the kid" wants the world and he wants it now.

The general feeling in the caddie shack is that there will be some changes on the kid's bag until he finds a suitable assistant. This in effect means waiting for him to mature and be receptive to sage advice from the other side of the bag.

So the applications came flooding into the Garcia headquarters in Miami over the last few weeks. Sergio's handlers demanded cv's and interviews.

Management groups are good at arranging off course deals for their clients. They cannot distinguish between a good caddie and a bag carrier, only a player can. They are good at booking their clients first-class air tickets and five star hotels.

When it comes to choosing a caddie, assuming that the person knows the basics, it is the personality that is the most important quality to the player.

The upside, when things are running smoothly is not the test of a lasting player-caddie relationship. It is those moments of defeat and anger that are the acid test of a lasting partnership. So depending on how quickly "El Nino" matures as a person and golfer is the deciding factor for the longevity of this new relationship.

Suerte, Miss Sunesson.