Xander Schauffele turned pro in 2015 and quickly gained his PGA Tour card during the 2017 season. Throughout his entire career as a pro, Schauffele has only ever had one man on his bag - Austin Kaiser.
The pair have known each other since their college days at San Diego State between 2011-2015 when they were both a part of the Aztecs' golf line-up. After graduating, Kaiser had ideas of becoming a police officer but was persuaded to join his friend on tour as a caddie.
From there, they have secured two Major championships, an Olympic gold medal, two Presidents Cup wins, a Ryder Cup victory, and seven PGA Tour triumphs - including the 2017 Tour Championship - as well as over $50 million in prize money. Kaiser has likely received over $1 million in bonuses alone during 2024.
“We have a perfect balance of professionalism and friendship,” Kaiser told the San Diego Union Tribune back in 2020. “I told him many times, I don’t think I’d work for anyone else.
"If Xander fired me and Tiger or any of those guys came up to me, I wouldn’t caddie for anybody else. Because I don’t have that emotional attachment. It’s like being drafted by your favorite team growing up. You can’t get that with anyone else. I think I have the best job in the world."
But in their early days together, that statement was almost tested when Kaiser enjoyed a big night out in Dallas after Schauffele had missed the cut at the 2016 AT&T Byron Nelson.
The aspiring pro scheduled an early practice session on the range the next morning but gave his caddie and friends permission to go out and have a few drinks. Yet, Kaiser got a little carried away and ended up drunkenly doing snow angels next to a cemetery at 2am while the rain lashed down.
Kaiser's wife sent Schauffele a location thanks to a phone-finder app, and the now PGA Tour pro went out to rescue his caddie. Schauffele saw the funny side of the incident, though, later going on to tell the Tribune: "I'm pretty sure almost anyone else would have fired him."
A year or so later, at the 2017 Greenbrier Classic, the pair enjoyed their first PGA Tour win together. Months after that, the second came along in the form of the Tour Championship.
How cool is this post from Austin Kaiser, caddie for Xander Schauffele? (Via austin_kaiser/Instagram) pic.twitter.com/bUN19GvUz2December 31, 2021
There was another special moment in 2020 when Schauffele and his LA Lakers-supporting caddie landed Olympic gold. But due to only players receiving medals, Schauffele wanted to do something for his sidekick. He ended up buying a gold ring for Kaiser with the Olympic rings symbol engraved in.
Schauffele continued to progress on the PGA Tour and rise up the world rankings before his biggest moments arrived in 2024. After a maiden Major at the PGA Championship at Valhalla, The Open Championship followed just two months later.
Walking up 18 knowing Schauffele was the overwhelming favorite to lift the Claret Jug, the Denver Broncos fan who grew up in central California almost had another moment to forget.
After the Open win at Royal Troon, Schauffele told Sky Sports: “I was telling Austin, my caddie, on the 18th hole that I felt pretty calm coming down the stretch and he said he was about to puke on the 18th! I just tell myself to hit it down there like I have all day and really just kept moving along.”
At around the same point in the Championship, Schauffele entered the final stretch of fairway in front of the clubhouse to rapturous applause before noticing his caddie was not right beside him. The two-time Major winner waited for Kaiser to catch up so that they could enjoy the special moment together.
Discussing that decision afterwards, Schauffele said: "Pretty obvious [why]. I mean, Austin, he's one of my best friends, but it's a team thing. I'm the one hitting the shots, but at the end of the day, it's a team thing. It's a team environment that I like to have for my team, I guess.
"I was marching, and I was sitting there, and I was just trying to focus, and I sort of looked up, and I saw yellow leaderboards. In my head, I was like, you're about to have your moment here. No one better to share it than Austin because he deserves it as well."
