‘I would certainly think twice about getting on a plane and caddieing in another country this year’

Ican’t remember in my 16 years as a caddie being at home for nearly three months straight. Normally I work 30 weeks a year for David Horsey, but the last tournament I was at was the Qatar Masters in February.

I’ve managed to suspend the mortgage payments on our house and apply for the Selfemployment Income Support Scheme, but we’ve still got to find £1,500 a month to cover everyday bills. We’re lucky I’ve got generous parents because my wife is only getting 80 per cent of her wages coming in because she’s been furloughed by British Airways – and I only get paid for the weeks I work.

As a caddie, the big money you make is when your player gets through to the weekend. The average is around 7.5 per cent for making the cut and then you earn about 10 per cent for a win. Unfortunately, we had a bit of a slow start to our 2020 season so I’ve only earned about £300 in commission since the end of October. Ordinarily, I would be supplementing my earnings in my weeks off, caddieing for amateur golfers as part of the Tour Caddy Experience business I setup in 2017, but I can’t even do that. The week after we were due to play the Indian Open, I had 10 bookings scheduled for the next three weeks, which all had to be postponed.

There are going to be some caddies who are in dire straits, which is why we’re all so grateful to Ian Finnis, who caddies for Tommy Fleetwood. He started an online raffle with just a couple of signed flags and in the space of just four weeks, he raised £125,000 for the European Tour Caddie Association. He’s a superhero to all of us. He actually gave me the idea to raffle off some of my memorabilia for the NHS and Autism Dogs CIC. I managed to raise £1,464 and I’ve got a charity day lined up on August 15. Hopefully it will go ahead, but we just don’t know.

I’ve been recording some podcasts, called Life in the Loop, to keep myself busy and I spoke with Phil “Wobbly” Morbey, who has over 35 years’ experience on Tour, and he revealed he’s been packing food boxes for supermarkets. He’s only getting paid the minimum wage, but it’s not about the money for him. He just wants to be doing something. I totally get that and that’s why I applied (unsuccessfully) for a couple of driver jobs.

Personally, I think they should seriously consider cancelling the European Tour for the rest of the year because so many tournaments and opportunities have already been lost.

Whatever they decide to do they won’t please everyone, but I would certainly think twice about going to caddie at any tournament in another country this year, knowing there’s a chance one person on the plane could have symptoms and pass them on. I’ve got a family and young children to think about and it’s not fair on them.