Donald fired by his caddie

Luke Donald is on the lookout for a new caddie after admitting his shock at being sacked by his old one.

Luke Donald is on the lookout for a new caddie after admitting his shock at being sacked by his old one.

Published Oct 9, 2015

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Luke Donald is on the lookout for a new caddie after admitting his shock at being sacked by his old one. Yes, you read that right: a partnership that yielded £18million in prize money over six years was broken up by the bagman rather than the golfer.

Adding to the mystery is the fact that the former world No 1 is clearly on his way back following a couple of lean seasons. The 37-year-old shot 67 on the opening day of the British Masters at Woburn to lie three shots off the lead held by an exciting 21-year-old Englishman whose tidy, compact game mirrors Donald’s own — Matt Fitzpatrick. Among other notable scores were 65s by Scot Marc Warren and in-form Lee Slattery from England, while host Ian Poulter shot 68 and Lee Westwood 69.

So what’s going on? Why would Englishman John McLaren (right, with Donald) give up a highly- prized job that is estimated to have brought him earnings of £2m? As one of the best in the business, has McLaren been poached by another big name? Contacted by Sportsmail last night, he denied that. ‘No, I don’t have another bag to go to,’ he said. ‘There were a couple of things that stuck with me that I don’t want to talk about, but basically I just felt we’d run our course. I’ve nothing bad to say about Luke.

‘We had six great years. I guess Luke’s ego might feel slightly dented because it is not often a caddie leaves a player.’

He can say that again — but then, Donald’s ego has been dented by lots of things during his descent from the world’s best player to 60th in the rankings. There’s a huge event going on in China next month, for example, that he’d love to play in but Donald needs to get back into the top 50 for that. Three more rounds like his first, of course, will take care of it. In the meantime, he’s looking for someone to fill a role where the wages are uncertain — typically, PGA Tour caddies earn £1,000 per week plus a varying percentage figure of any winnings, with 10 per cent for a victory — but given the calibre of golfer will surely be well into six figures per annum. If that sounds steep for carrying a bag, it shows that modern caddies do a lot more than that. They need to be more psychologists these days, knowing exactly what to say at exactly the right time. There is a reason top golfers hand over big bucks and it’s not because someone can read a yardage chart.– Daily Mail

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