Ur numbers are close not all make 7 per throughout the earnings. 2500 is prett high weekly as well. The big miss is what a caddy spends on the down weeks. 20 off weeks a year !
Met George Coetzee's caddie in 2011 while we were waiting in the queue for our British visa application, when I was living in South Africa. I overheard him say he's a caddie on the European Tour when the guy sitting next to him asked him what he'll be doing in Europe/UK, so I started chatting to him, asking as many questions as I could before one of us got called to the application window!
He told me he's always been involved with golf and George's dad had asked him to go with George to Europe as it was his first time abroad.
From what I can recall George had done well enough in the first couple of events of the year in South Africa (which were co-sanctioned with the European Tour) to earn a conditional Euro tour card for the rest of the year, and would retain his card provided he made a certain amount of money.
I believe the caddie had his return airfare paid from South Africa to Europe, but then he was basically on his own when it came to travel and accommodation within Europe, while George had sponsors that took care of his 5 star travel. Also bare in mind that the European Tour has events on 6 continents, so travel can get very expensive.
He was paid 750 euro per week and then 6% for a win, 8% for a top 10 and 10% for everything else, but every caddie has a unique deal - this was also ~ 12 years ago.
Anyway, I started following George's career closely after this and kept track of his season:
First 3 events were in Spain, Italy and Morocco and resulted in 3 missed cuts.
I kept on thinking about the poor caddie and how much money he's losing.
I do remember telling me that a lot of the South African caddies will room and travel together from tournament to tournament to cut costs. Whoevers golfer made the cut that week would pay for petrol for the long drive ahead etc.
George then skipped the Asian leg of the tour, made the odd cut here and there, still wasn't making money but then hit the lotto when he finished T3rd at the BMW International Open in Germany and won 88k euro - a sweet payday for the caddie!
This then qualified him for The Open which was 2/3 weeks later where he finished tied for 15th and won 75k euro. This ensured he retained his tour card for the following season as well as boosted his World Ranking to just outside the top 100 and into some more events.
He finished the season with 900k euro winnings and the caddie ended up with over R1m, which was a ton of money in 2011. I believe he caddied for him for at least another 6 years or so.
Just had a quick google, the caddie was Alan Burns, who then went on to Justin Hardings (another South African) bag.
Ur numbers are close not all make 7 per throughout the earnings. 2500 is prett high weekly as well. The big miss is what a caddy spends on the down weeks. 20 off weeks a year !
Met George Coetzee's caddie in 2011 while we were waiting in the queue for our British visa application, when I was living in South Africa. I overheard him say he's a caddie on the European Tour when the guy sitting next to him asked him what he'll be doing in Europe/UK, so I started chatting to him, asking as many questions as I could before one of us got called to the application window!
He told me he's always been involved with golf and George's dad had asked him to go with George to Europe as it was his first time abroad.
From what I can recall George had done well enough in the first couple of events of the year in South Africa (which were co-sanctioned with the European Tour) to earn a conditional Euro tour card for the rest of the year, and would retain his card provided he made a certain amount of money.
I believe the caddie had his return airfare paid from South Africa to Europe, but then he was basically on his own when it came to travel and accommodation within Europe, while George had sponsors that took care of his 5 star travel. Also bare in mind that the European Tour has events on 6 continents, so travel can get very expensive.
He was paid 750 euro per week and then 6% for a win, 8% for a top 10 and 10% for everything else, but every caddie has a unique deal - this was also ~ 12 years ago.
Anyway, I started following George's career closely after this and kept track of his season:
First 3 events were in Spain, Italy and Morocco and resulted in 3 missed cuts.
I kept on thinking about the poor caddie and how much money he's losing.
I do remember telling me that a lot of the South African caddies will room and travel together from tournament to tournament to cut costs. Whoevers golfer made the cut that week would pay for petrol for the long drive ahead etc.
George then skipped the Asian leg of the tour, made the odd cut here and there, still wasn't making money but then hit the lotto when he finished T3rd at the BMW International Open in Germany and won 88k euro - a sweet payday for the caddie!
This then qualified him for The Open which was 2/3 weeks later where he finished tied for 15th and won 75k euro. This ensured he retained his tour card for the following season as well as boosted his World Ranking to just outside the top 100 and into some more events.
He finished the season with 900k euro winnings and the caddie ended up with over R1m, which was a ton of money in 2011. I believe he caddied for him for at least another 6 years or so.
Just had a quick google, the caddie was Alan Burns, who then went on to Justin Hardings (another South African) bag.
Well done once again !