It was days to the Uganda Professionals Golf Open and Adrenalin was running high within the Title hopefuls. 2016 Champion Joshua Seale was the man to beat but he was not about to easily let go of his Title. If the South African based golfer was to make it too in a row, his Caddie Lawrence Marino ought to be in sync. It was barely 10 am and the two were on the greens for a practice round. Luckily, they had something to build on, it was this love affair that brought home the Pro Title last year. “It is important that saying Caddie knows what we did last year, you know having the same club selection, keeping it simple on the golf course and he knows my mind, he knows how we worked on the pressure and I feel that’s going to be much better and I have all the valuables...” Said, Joshua Seale – South African Professional Golfer. “He’s in good shape better than last year. Last year, really this game was not good; his shots were not good but if you stick on something doing the right thing you get it. But for me, this year really he’s going to win it.” Said, Lawrence Marino – Uganda Golf Club Caddie.
At the start of the recently concluded Amateur Open, Habitual Pressure Group President Ronald Rugumayo knew if he was to finally have a bite of the cherry, his game had to be picture perfect. His choice of who would draw for him the invisible lines would also have a huge bearing on his chances and who better than the tried and tested Lawrence Marino for a Caddie.
“Only a Caddie made my games for the previous years and I want to call senior Caddies and Bag Carriers. The different is senior Caddie like; am a player, when you are a senior Caddie I play with you, everything I ask you, you guide me but when you are Bag Carrier, I don’t ask you anything. So when you look at my game let’s say 35% of my game was for the Caddie.” Said, Ronald Rugumayo – 2017 Uganda Amateur Open Champion.
“Normally, with the people I work with, a Caddie at times makes final decisions according to me. According to the people, I have worked with, according to the people who have won; it’s like coordination.” Said, Lawrence Marino – Uganda Golf Club Caddie. In a nutshell, the Caddie was the unsung tactician in a golf game tasked to find the invisible lines, especially on the parting green. Sadly, playing second fiddle was a role they had to get used to. Nonetheless, Lawrence Marino hoped to rediscover his winning charm with Seale again when the Pros dealt off at the Kitante greens.
