Caddies are golf’s unsung heroes, but they are never to earn the riches made by some of the players and many are likely to struggle during the European Tour suspension caused by the pandemic, their chairman said.
The pandemic has also brought a halt to conversations that Sean Russell and his association were having with prospective sponsors after he negotiated a groundbreaking agreement with the European Tour.
“There is zero job security,” Russell said. “There is no contract. Some caddies have been sacked the week after a player has won a tournament. It is not like a normal job.”
Photo: AFP
His members — more than 150 active professional caddies — can from this season earn more money through branding on their caps or clothing, and in other ways, too.
Caddies are generally paid US$1,200 per week by the golfer, which can usually be topped up by 10 percent of the prize money earned in a tournament. Travel and hotel expenses then have to be deducted.
The schedule has been heavily disrupted with 12 European Tour tournaments postponed or canceled.
“At the moment with the stoppage, those chaps who caddied for golfers who were successful last year and those who started the season well will be alright,” said Russell, from his home in Newcastle, England. “But for the others they still have to pay the mortgages, put food on the table and there are bills to be paid.”
He said that the announcement by British Chancellor of the Exchequer Sajid Javid last week that the government would cover a percentage of self-employed people’s earnings was good news, “but it will still take a couple of months for those measures to come in.”
Russell said that members are having to find part-time jobs, even those who would normally earn extra money alongside their caddying by working at exclusive golf clubs.
Those clubs are closed because of the social distancing measures.
“Some are having to do jobs they would not normally be expecting to do at this time of year to make ends meet just about,” he said. “One lad I heard is delivering parcels. It is not unusual in the off-season for some caddies to work for Amazon or as taxi drivers. However, as we say, being a caddy is a ‘lifestyle not a job.’”
Russell said that although caddies’ work is financially precarious, they could at least look forward to a resumption of the season at some point, whereas other people are likely to be financially ruined by the crisis.
“Yes we are affected by the coronavirus, but ours is not a sob story because golf will resume,” said Russell, who works for French golfer Jean-Baptiste Gonnet. “But the guy who has the small business into which he’s sunk his life savings, whose component deliveries from China have dried up, whose customers go elsewhere and don’t return — that’s the guy who won’t have a business to go back to when this is all over. We will still have ours.”
The caddies hope that also awaiting them would be the chance to earn more money through potential branding deals.
Russell’s association has created the @thetourcaddies media brand, which he said would be used “to generate revenue for caddies.”
His goal is to be able to offer the members “income protection plans, pension advice and advice that is specific to their country.”
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