MYSTERY OF THE CADDIE CALLED RIZZ
Q Tell me about your friendship with caddie “Rizz” and how good he has been on the bag?
A We grew up together in country Victoria and have been best mates ever since high school. We always had the dream of going to work together and he is smart dude. He has a science degree and is currently studying his masters in education. He works online every night teaching English to overseas kids, predominantly Chinese. In 2017 he had just come back from a year overseas and we saw the opportunity for him to come to Queenstown with me. We navigated through the idea of him not understanding golf or ever being to a tournament or what he had to do as a caddie. We had a great week, finished fifth and partied the following week over there. We had a good summer that year and he caught the attention of the golfing world.
He is the most popular caddie you will see and it’s partly because he has a ‘Happy Gilmore’ caddie lookalike thing going on. He is also as genuine as they come. We are housemates as well on the Sunshine Coast. He knows more about me than anyone else.
In the role as caddie you have to stand up to the golfer sometimes. Often in his case it’s more attitude and the way I’m conducting myself. If he pulls me into line I know I’m out of place and if he says something, it is worth listening to. It’s great to spend as much time together as we do. No-one knows his full name, he is like Cher. Rizz the caddie has become his thing. When you see him with his hair tied back you don’t recognise who he is.
Q Have you been able to pinpoint what you need to do to reproduce your form of 2013?
A It’s tough out here. If it was easy there would be a lot for guys doing it. At the time I was working full-time and had security. It was all a bonus. The more I’m out here and the harder I work, from that moment on it has been my job. It’s expensive out here too so the pressure of having to make money to pay rent is a tough thing to deal with and one I never really understood.
Although I have had results over the time … I didn’t really have money. You get a taste for it and really want it. This is something I want to keep doing. I want to keep playing competitive sport for the rest of my life.