PGA Tour Caddie Instructed to ‘Look for a New Job’ Has the Last Laugh After $4 Million PGA Tour Event

Garrick Higgo won the Corales Puntacana Championship on Sunday, which had a $4 million purse. With that, the 25-year-old left-hander snagged his second PGA Tour victory after taking advantage of Joel Dahmen’s late meltdown. But, upon reflection, it won’t be a stretch to say that this was the start of a new professional relationship: “My caddie, Austin, he was great. This is only our second week, but he was great,” Higgo, who is now $720,000 richer, said about Austin Gaugert. Yes, this is the same Gaugert who once caddied for Ryan Moore.

Moore was having a tough 2023 season. In fact, he had to wait until the last event of the FedEx Cup fall to secure his status. But when he did secure his place, Moore didn’t back away from praising Gaugert, “I changed up caddies for these fall events, and I think we hit it off right away and had good mojo and just played well together. I think he was a big part of it. Just a good, positive guy that was encouraging me and keeping my stress level pretty low.” But who would have thought that a caddie with a decade-long experience would eventually be jobless just months away?

After being on the Tour for almost two decades, Moore’s biggest struggle was his lost desire to compete. There were multiple reasons cited for this: Injuries, including a surgically-repaired left wrist, a family and young children to take care of. Attending their soccer games or ballet concerts seemed to take priority over the game, for instance. At the time, Gaugert had already been working with Moore for a year and a half. But Moore was tired. He had a nest egg worth $33 million for all he cared. But that also meant that Gaugert now had to look elsewhere. In an interview with SiriusXM PGA TOUR Radio, Gaugert shared how that went. He began: “It’s actually been one of the weirdest caddie years of my career.

“So I was like okay. I started the year with an asterisk of unemployment, and then I went and caddied for Dylan Wu on the Korn Ferry and then at Torrey Pines. Then I got asked at Torrey Pines to do a one-week trial with Sami Välimäki. I was flying home from the one week in Arizona, Patrick Rodgers called me. I filled in for him three other times. He called me. His caddie was having a hernia surgery. He’s like, ‘Hey, do you wanna work the next three weeks?’ We played so well at the Genesis, Mexico, and Palm Beach that we actually got in Bay Hill. 

“We finished third in Genesis, 25th in Mexico, 18th at Palm Beach. So then, I went and caddied Bay Hill for him too. Finished 22nd there. I was like okay, I made some money. So now, I don’t know. I am still unemployed because his caddie came back.” And so he decided to go on a skiing trip with his dad and brother. That’s when the real twist came through! Gaugert’s luck changed when he received a call from Garrick Higgo, who needed a caddie after his regular partner had left.

“He’s like, ‘Hey, do you want to come down to Savannah?’ And I’m like, I mean, not really. I just made some money. I was ready to sit at home. I was having a great time,” he said. Despite the initial hesitation, Gaugert joined Higgo and helped him secure a third-place finish in Savannah. This led to a three-week trial partnership, culminating in Higgo’s Corales Puntacana Championship win.

“I’ve been telling people I’ve had like, maybe like the greatest, one of the greatest seasons of unemployment ever,” Gaugert joked. After all, Higgo made $720,000 with his latest win.