Austin Kaiser has been a reliable looper for Xander Schauffele for over a half-dozen years, and the duo even took home Olympic gold three years ago in Japan.
Kaiser and John Ellis, caddie for Wyndham Clark, were the guests on this week’s episode of GOLF’s Subpar Podcast, and they went deep on caddie life, the best caddie/golfers, players on the rise and more. (This podcast was recorded just days before Ellis and Clark won the U.S. Open at LACC, too.)
One of the stories told involved Kaiser from his early days caddying for Schauffele, and he joked it was “the lowest point of my life, at that moment right there.”
“That was probably the time I thought I was going to get fired,” he said.
As Kaiser explains in the video (check it out above), it was Schauffele’s rookie year at the 2016 AT&T Byron Nelson, and they were a relatively new player/caddie duo at the time. Schauffele missed the cut, and Kaiser and another caddie decided to go out that night in Dallas. They eventually found a bar that offered bottle service for $300 and got comfortable.
“Next thing you know I drink a fifth of Grey Goose and end up in the middle of a thunderstorm, dumping rain, in a cemetery, doing snow angels,” Kaiser said.
Kaiser eventually called his wife, she used a tracking app to find his phone and was surprised to learn he was in a cemetery. She called Schauffele.
“This is at 2:30 in the morning,” Kaiser said. “Xander wanted to wake up and practice at 7 a.m. … I’m literally hugging a tree blacked out, and then Xander, being the good friend that he is, says ‘OK, I’ll find him, send me the screenshot of where he’s at.'”
Schauffele arrived, and with the help of a honking horn to alert Kaiser of his direction, found his caddie, who was also covered in mud.
“The courtesy car is destroyed,” Kaiser said. “He had me take my shirt off. He has pictures of it.”
Whether Kaiser was joking or not about being fired, it’s a good thing he’s still employed, as they’ve teamed up for seven PGA Tour wins together. They are coming off a T10 finish at last week’s U.S. Open, which included a record-tying 62 on Thursday. You can listen to the entire episode below.
