Last Monday, Brett Waldman, shot a final round 68 at PGA Tour Q-School. It wasn’t enough for him to earn a PGA Tour Card, but it was good enough to get him a Nationwide Tour Card. And the Nationwide Tour is where you will find Waldman next year.
There was quite a bit of speculation about where he would be in 2011. Would he be on Camilo’s bag or making a go of it on the Nationwide Tour? If he had earned a PGA Tour card, the decision would have been a no-brainer. But the Nationwide Tour wasn’t necessarily an easy choice.
Camilo Villegas won over $3m on tour last year. Nobody knows Waldman’s exact take home pay, but it’s not unreasonable to assume that he earned north of $300k.
Only the top 9 players on the Nationwide Tour in 2010 won more than that. And after taking into account sponsorship deals, travel expenses, etc they probably didn’t make as much as you might think. And there’s no guarantee that Waldman will cash a single check next year playing on the Nationwide Tour.
It seems like a risky move giving up a virtually guaranteed 6 figure salary. But for Waldman, the choice was clear:
I don’t want to look back knowing that I had the chance to do it and not doing it, and hating myself for it. I would always look back and say, ‘What if?’ There’s a reason I got to where I am. I might as well chase the dream.
For his part, Camilo has been very supportive of Waldman’s success:
Camilo was great. I don’t think he was surprised. I think he expected it. I told him I was sorry, because I feel like we’ve got unfinished business. But all along, he has been unbelievable supportive and respectful.
Now both Waldman and Villegas have to begin the search for new caddies. And who knows, maybe we’ll get to see the former caddie teeing it up with his former player on the PGA Tour in the not too distant future.
