St Andrews caddies form guard of honour on Old Course in show of appreciation

Fund to support for loopers in Auld Grey Toun raised more than £100,000

Today's scene on the Old Course at St Andrews as the Links Trust caddies showed their appreciation for the money raised from an appeal launched during the Covid-19 lockdown. Picture: St Andrews Links

The caddies at St Andrews Links formed a guard of honour today to thank golfers for supporting the Caddie Support Fund established in response to the Covid-19 pandemic.

The fund, which was established by Fraser Riddler, caddie manager at St Andrews Links, in April this year has generated more than £100,000 to support caddies suffering financial hardship over the year.

The caddies used the final day of the Royal & Ancient Golf Club of St Andrews Autumn Meeting to form a guard of honour to recognise the contribution of the club, its members and to thank the global golf community for their support.

“The Covid-19 pandemic has had a huge impact on so many businesses and people within the golf industry," said Riddler. “Unfortunately, this has also been particularly true of the caddies who regularly stride the fairways at St Andrews Links.

"As soon as we established the fund in April we were incredibly touched by the response, both close to home and abroad.

"The caddies are incredibly grateful to everyone for their support, including the Royal and Ancient Golf Club of St Andrews (The R&A), the Links Trust and participants from every club in St Andrews in the recent Town Match.

"The caddies wanted to recognise the generosity, not least of the membership of the R&A, but golfers around the world by forming a guard of honour today.

“In recent weeks, we have slowly started to see caddies return to the Links in small numbers, which has been great to see. The monies donated have helped to ease concerns over financial hardship that has faced and continues to face many caddies.”

There are traditionally 210 caddies working at the courses in St Andrews on an annual basis.

Riddler, who has been caddie manager since February 2016, has amassed thousands of rounds himself at St Andrews in a career which included stints with bags on the European, LET and Challenge Tours.

* The fund account is being operated by Fraser Riddler as an individual and is not linked to St Andrews Links Trust.

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