What
Sergio said
before...
“I noticed him
the first time
from the first
Tw e e t h e
posted at me. I
thought it was
quite funny
and it was very
sincere, and
obviously I was
wondering
how long it
was going to
keep going.
Angela and
I, we kind of
talked about it,
and I said how
long should
we make him
wait? We
decided that
probably 200
days; if he held
on for 200
days, it would
probably make
the cut. So I
think that he
showed a lot of
perseverance
and a lot of
strength
and energy
throughout it.”hashtags #Letmecaddieforyou and
#Day2. After I did that, I knew I had to
keep it going and what started with a
one-off message turned into a 206-
day campaign. There was only one
day when I didn’t tweet him, and that
was when I went away for my 40th
birthday. And the only reason I didn’t
was because I had no wifi.
The hardest part was not knowing
whether he was reading the tweets.
Eventually, he started liking a few and
that gave me the motivation to keep
going. Even so, I’ll admit I nearly gave
up – it did take 206 days after all –
but eventually he relented and said I
could caddie for him during the
British Masters Pro-Am.
When he messaged, I was in the
bathroom cleaning my teeth before
work and ended up jumping around
with my toothbrush at 5.30 in the
morning. For the next week, my
phone was going nuts and I was
getting calls in the middle of the night
from journalists. The Washington Post
and New York Times contacted me,
but the most surreal thing was seeing
my appear name on the tickertape on
Sky Sports. That all happened back in
January, so I had more than six
months to mull everything over.
In the months leading up to it, Iwent to play the course at Close
House but didn’t actually hear
anything from Sergio or his people.
That was slightly disconcerting as I
was unsure whether it was going
ahead. It didn’t help that my mates
were taking the mickey out of me,
saying I was going to turn up on the
day and get turned away at the door!
A week before, I sent Sergio’s
management company an email,
explaining the version of events
(which I admit probably sounded
ridiculous), and they emailed
straight back telling me that
everything was all sorted, just
turn up on the day. I ended up
travelling to Newcastle with
my wife, two kids and parents
the night before, which is
when I got a call from adidas
asking me to collect a box of
goodies from the TaylorMade
tent in the morning.
When I arrived, there was a
note attached which read:Hi Mark!
Carrying my bag is no easy task.
Here’s some gear to help you get
ready!
SergioInside, there was a jumper, polo shirt
and a pair of shorts. That was a nice
touch, especially as adidas had
already sent me a pair of shoes,
trousers, belt, hat and top earlier in
the year. They’ve certainly been
incredibly generous, but caddieing for
Sergio was never about getting
freebies or selfies with celebrities
like Alan Shearer in the
hospitality tent. The biggest gift
was always going to be
meeting him for the first time.
Sergio’s management team had
asked me to be on the driving range
for 8.30am, but my family and I
found Sergio on the putting green
five minutes before. There were a
few autograph hunters clambering
for his attention, and when heeventually looked up he instantly
recognised me. He shook my hand,
gave me a man hug and then asked
whether I was ready for this. Honestly,
I wasn’t really sure how you can
prepare yourself to caddie for a
Masters champion, especially when
you’ve never done it before.
One of my first duties was soaking
a quarter of a towel in water so I could
clean his clubs going around. That
was easy enough, and then he got me
lobbing golf balls at him – just like
Tiger and Steve Williams used to do –
so he could tee them up on the range.
It was only then, being in such close
proximity, that I was able to
appreciate how pure his ball-striking
really is. If he wanted to shape a shot,
there was only about a three-foot
movement either way. I’ve never seen
such a controlled ball flight in my life.
Although he was trying get into the
zone, he showed a lot of interest in
my game and wanted to know my
handicap and where I played. The
funniest bit was when he asked where
I lived. I told him Peterborough, to
which he replied: ‘Is that near
Manchester?’ I ended up giving him a
bit of a geography lesson as we got
on a buggy and headed for the first‘What really stood out was how
Sergio came across as just a normal
bloke. He wasn’t arrogant at all’
EXCLUSIVE
OK, boss
What do you
say when Garcia
asks ‘6- or 7-iron?’EXCLUSIVE
62 ISSUE 367 TODAYSGOLFER.CO.UK