Joaquín Niemann is a growing name in the golf world. With 10 professional wins in his career earned on multiple tours, the Chilean professional golfer is currently ranked 82 on the Official World Golf Rankings. After an impressive amateur career that included winning the 2018 Latin America Amateur Championship, being the No.1 amateur golfer in the world in 2017-18, and getting awarded the 2017 Mark H. McCormack Medal for being the top-ranked player, Niemann is living a successful professional career.

He is one of those golfers who left behind the DP World Tour for the Saudi-backed LIV Golf. After impressive performances in the 2022 LIV Golf Invitational Series and delivering top-five finishes in the Boston, Bangkok, and Jeddah events, Niemann won the hard-to-crack Australian Open, which will take his name to new heights. The Australian Open, though regulated by the Australian Tour, is a co-sanctioned event of the DP World Tour. Thanks to a certain set of exemptions, not only did the Chilean get the chance to play, but he also used the opportunity to score big for himself. As Niemann enjoys his 10th career win, let’s learn who his caddie, Gary Matthews, is.

The caddie life of Gary Matthews

Gary Matthews is a veteran caddie who has been on the greens for 16 years. Born in Harare, Zimbabwe, and growing up in South Africa, Matthews’ love for golf has been a constant since his early days. Having played college golf while at the University of Arizona, he became quite the golfer, playing to a handicap of one. His best golf memory is from the 2003 Presidents Cup in South Africa when he was the looper for Tim Clark. In that event, he met Nelson Mandela, a memory he will forever cherish.

Growing up, he sought golfing inspiration from his favorite golfer, Nick Price, and wished to see out a promising golf career himself. As much as golf is ingrained in him, Matthews’ love for sports isn’t just limited to golf. Matthews often runs half and full marathons to keep himself active and energetic. He is a big football fan, and his favorite teams are the Oklahoma Sooners (from the NCAA) and the Dallas Cowboys (from the NHL). But golf has been his one and only calling. 

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As a caddie, he has had an awe-inspiring career. He has been the bagman for big names like Lydia Ko, Tim Clark, Anthony Kim, Minjee Lee, Charl Schwartzel, Luke Donald, Camilo Villegas, Trevor Immelman, and Sergio Garcia. As reported by Golf Monthly, he started working with Niemann after the 2020 US Open. Before that, the Chilean golfer was assisted by Dean Elliott, who helped him in the 2019 Presidents Cup and guided him to his first victory on the PGA Tour – A Military Tribute at The Greenbrier in 2019.

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Joining hands with Joaquín Niemann

This golfer-caddie duo of Neimann and Matthews has been going strong for four years now. In these four years, they’ve formed a close bond, pushing each other to get better. And that process has often included having fun. During the 2021 WGC-Workday, Matthews made a bet with Niemann, claiming that he couldn’t drive the green, which was 308 yards to the front edge, on par-4 12th at Concession. Fueled by this challenge, Niemann made the drive and enjoyed every bit of winning the bet. In the 2021 Tour Championship, they broke the time record for all 18 holes, after which Matthews explained what being Niemann’s looper is like. 

This week, Matthews helped Niemann win at the ISPS HANDA Australian Open, where he beat Japan’s Rikuya Hoshino in a playoff at The Australian Golf Club. After his maiden DP World Tour victory, the LIV Golfer said, “It was a nice day. The last one [was] a little bit more stressful. These last two playoff holes show how I’ve been playing the last two weeks here in Australia. My putting hasn’t been the best, but I’ve been working hard on it. It was nice to make the last putt.”

The prize purse of the tournament was AUD 3.4 million, out of which Niemann took home the winner’s share of AUD 270,000 (approximately $178,000). This victory has also given the 25-year-old an exemption for next year’s Open Championship, where Matthews will hopefully help him again.

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