CADDIES'S ROLE:Playing as a recent winner is an experience that you cannot be prepared for

WHEN YOU win a professional golf event for the first time your world is likely to change quickly and dramatically. Just compare Shane Lowry before last May and his first victory on the European Tour, a rapid elevation to professional status a week later, and now in September he is a regular tour player.

The euphoria of the dramatic victory has subsided and the reality of being a tour pro has set in; a big golf bag, brash branding, caddie and coach in tow. Shane is very much part of the tour now, dealing with the mundane duties of bringing in a good score four times a week.

Playing on tour as a novice is a big learning curve. Playing as a recent winner is another experience that of course you cannot be prepared for. The best way to handle a win is to take the next week off, go home, celebrate and come back on tour when the dust has settled on the tour’s memory of the occasion.

As you may be aware my player, Alex Noren, enjoyed his maiden victory on the European Tour in Switzerland the week before last and not only got “the monkey off his back” as a much tipped prospect who had yet to deliver but also got himself into the following week’s event in Germany, which was played in Cologne last week; he had to win to gain exemption.

As a winners’ tournament and with a limit on the number of contestants to about half that of a normal tour event it was an exclusive affair for which most players were flattered to be included.

With the energy that is expended in winning and the extra media and other duties expected of the winner it is often best to take the following week off from tournament golf as the distraction makes it difficult to give enough attention to the event at hand.

For Alex there didn’t seem to be any thought of not playing last week, but I sense, in hindsight, he may consider the options when it arises in the future.

He was as tired as I have seen the exuberant young Swede. The show goes on in golf as it does in any other professional sport. Alex had committed to a sponsor’s evening on the Sunday night of his victory which would have been less inconvenient if he had not won.

His manager had made a decision to travel from Sweden early on the Sunday of the European Masters to witness his client’s first victory. It was a huge effort on his part and something that only someone as conscientious as he would have done. Conveniently, he was able to accompany Alex to the sponsor’s evening and help the new winner deal with the instant demands of victory.

So I was left in the rarified air of Crans-sur-Sierre as the sole representative of the victorious Noren team to celebrate. With the following week being over the other side of the Alps in Germany it was a rare week where many players and caddies stayed around on Sunday night and we had a chance to celebrate at the scene of the victory.

When you win you have the usual initial congratulations from your playing partners and particularly in our situation in Switzerland, from our main protagonist, Bradley Dredge, and his caddie. With a holed 70 yards pitch shot, a chip in and a holed bunker shot in the space of seven holes in the final round, the talent of these golfers never ceases to amaze me.

When you have such a final round battle as we did with Dredge there is a huge amount of mutual respect and a sense of being part of something special that envelopes the final grouping as the unpredictable nature of the game of golf unfolds under the pressure of competition late on a Sunday afternoon.

I was touched by the support and heartfelt good wishes from my colleagues. With Alex being such a polite, friendly and considerate golfer there is no doubt the accolades were genuine.

Graeme Storm, who played with us during the first two rounds, along with Tano Goya were both effusive in their good wishes.

Tour officials, TV production crews, other players, caddies and friends all took the time to say a special word of congratulations to me, which of course is embarrassing when I am with my player because naturally, it was he who won. As I have been aware so many times with my previous employer Retief Goosen, he could have done it without me, but I could not have done it without him.

Alex had mentioned in his recent blog he felt he had a caddie who was more famous than him and it was about time he changed it. He has, of course, a dry sense of humour.

As is the Sportsyard management team’s democratic way, Johan Elliot, the group’s founder, got the Noren team together last week in Germany. Each part of the Noren cog got to air their views on the present and the future. As important as it is to be successful it is equally important to manage that success efficiently.

It is exciting as a more mature caddie to be part of a rejuvenating young golfing team which is very much part of a bigger, close knit group of touring professionals and caddies who can play hard but very much enjoy each others’ success at the end of each round. It only takes a week in golf to change your life considerably for the better.