ROGERS — “I went to school at Ohio State and caddied around there at some events,” Funk said. “When I graduated, I couldn’t find a job I liked so I loaded up my pickup and headed for Myrtle Beach (S.C.).”
Funk said a guy in Myrtle Beach liked the story about a pickup and taking off and found him a job in 15 minutes.
Funk’s been a caddie for 15 years, he said Tuesday, as he and Ueda prepared for the opening round of the Walmart NW Arkansas Championship at Pinnacle County Club.
“It’s intense being in competition,” Funk said. “Carrying the bag is second nature. Giving advice is what we live for.”
Financially, one can make a living as a caddie, but the caddie has to be able to strike his own bargain, Funk said.
“It varies from player to player and it varies a lot,” Funk said of a caddie’s income. “Usually, it’s a weekly salary and a percentage of the earnings. Then you try to negotiate travel expenses whether it’s pay all, pay half, pay for overseas travel — there are all kinds of different ways to work it. As a rule, you make more money caddying for the better players.”
Funk had been looking for a break from traveling so much, he said. When Ueda’s representatives reached out to him just before Christmas, they made him a deal he couldn’t refuse.
“They’d heard I was looking for a more limited schedule,” Funk said. “They proposed that I caddie for her in the U.S. and have another caddie for her in Japan — she plays the Japanese tour — and overseas. She plays 36 tournaments a year.”
Funk said, besides the heat, he faces an added challenge this week.
“Currently, my hardest job is trying to communicate with someone who doesn’t speak a whole lot of English,” Funk said. “She’s from Tokyo, Japan. She does good with numbers so we’re OK on yardage and clubs. Psychology, trying to keep making the point, is different.”
This is only the pair’s fifth tournament together, Funk pointed out.
“We made progress last week,” Funk said. “I’m trying to strike that balance between trying to keep things simple, but also get the point across.”
Communication is not a problem for Benito Olguin, a caddie from Mexico City who said he has been a caddie for 30 years.
Olguin caddies for Kathleen Ekey of Akron, Ohio.
“My job is to keep her focus on the game,” Olguin said. “In case we have a bogey on a hole, I’ll tell her the next shot is more important than the one before.”
Olguin said he grew up on a golf course and was a good golfer. He said he has caddied in the Futures Tour for many players now on the LPGA Tour.
Olguin’s favorite thing about caddying on the LPGA Tour is simple and to the point.
“They pay you for getting good exercise,” Olguin said with a laugh.
Meanwhile, Steve Shellard from Vermont, who caddies for Wendy Doolan of Sydney, Australia, has a love-hate relationship with one aspect of the job.
“The hardest thing about being a caddie is the travel,” Shellard said. “The best thing about being a caddie is also the travel. It’s not hard for me because I love to travel. This has become a global tour. I’ve gotten to go to China, Japan, Thailand, France, the British Open and Hawaii.”
Shellard was a PGA caddie, took about 20 years off to be a mortgage banker, and has caddied again for the past six years — while seeing the world.
“The good thing is, that it seems like when we’ve lost a sponsor for a tournament in the United States, it’s been picked up overseas,” Shellard said.