‘I’ll be down the pub trying to get some work’: How the caddies are feeling the pinch

This is Adam Drummond’s 22nd season on the European Tour caddies circuit. Having begun his caddying life at Royal Melbourne he started out on tour with Geoff Ogilvy before the usual merry-go-round that has included two wins with Paul Casey and four and a half very happy years with Soren Hansen.

More recently he has been with Miguel Angel Jimenez and Alex Noren and these days he’s on the bag with JB Hansen.

His last three starts have been missed cuts in Saudi Arabia, Oman, and Qatar. With Hansen having had a baby they were going to do Kenya and India and then have a break.

Now, though, with these two events cancelled he will officially next go to work at the Valderrama Masters at the end of April – and even that now looks fairly flimsy.

The Aussie wasn’t speaking to air his woes, more to offer some sort of insight into how the caddies will be affected by the uncertainty of the coronavirus outbreak.

“We were told on the range in Qatar that Kenya was off with Keith Pelley out there telling everyone,” Drummond explained. “Obviously we had flights booked from Doha and on our group caddie chat one of the boys said that any Spanish, German or French nationals would have their visas voided if they went to to India but that’s now been cancelled.

“I’ve heard that if certain countries can’t play then they will postpone the tournament out of fairness.

“So the next one will be Valderrama. It will definitely be a great field, everyone will be there, with a strong top end so that makes another difference. There might be the odd week later in the season to fit event back in but it’s going to be difficult.”

• Related: What does the European Tour schedule look like?
• Related: How has the coronavirus affected the tours?
• Related: Why the Masters was postponed

Drummond is part of the European Tour Caddies Association which covers caddies for travel insurance, cancelled flights and lost luggage. If you have to, say, change a flight for a missed cut or whatever then you just have to take the hit.

And then when the tour finally does get going, whenever that might be, as a caddie you have to go where the work is or risk losing your job.

“Travelling to the Middle East and Africa you will spend more money on flights and you might get some money towards that from the player but you are still spending more than you would in Europe,” he added. “If you don’t go and they play well then you could lose your job.

“Our lives are dictated by the players – we haven’t got the freedom to pick and choose where you go, players count on you for your reliability and loyalty and consistency that you bring to their lives. For the top handful of caddies that might be different but for everyone else you can’t really pick and choose.”

And other than ticking off an ever-increasingly long list of things to do around the house from his wife Drummond will be hoping to fill his time with some extra work.

“The guys will be texting mates looking for some casual work at places like Sunningdale, Queenwood and Beaverbrook but they will be at the back of the bus behind the local caddies. I’ll be down the pub later on and trying to get some work on the other side of the bar.”

Follow NCG on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram.