“That’s the worst f**king read I’ve ever seen in my life,” yelled Xander Schauffele on the putting green. At the receiving end, as you might have guessed already, was his childhood friend and long-time caddie, Austin Kaiser. Now, Kaiser has been looping for the two-time major champion for over a decade. Never was he humiliated publicly.

What just happened?

Schauffele was ‘38th, or whatever,’ as he recalled in a chat with Robby Berger of Bob Does Sport, in a tournament in Japan. It’s likely the 2023 iteration of the Zozo Championship, where Schauffele actually finished at T38. But that’s not germane here. Schauffele was on the green with a 15-footer ahead of him.

The two-time major asked his caddie for a read. It’ll break on the right, said Kaiser. Schauffele disagreed. No way that was going to break right. He countered. Kaiser was adamant. “Balls out right,” he doubled down. Schauffele wasn’t convinced. But remember he was ‘38th or whatever,’ so the reigning Open champion decided to go his caddie’s way. The ball missed two feet left. Rest hear from Schauffele himself.

“So I look at him and I go, ‘That’s the worst f**king read’ – out loud on the putting green – ‘I’ve ever–I’ve ever seen in my life.’ And he just [hangs his head in shame], ” Xander Schauffele joked while chatting with Rogers. His caddie couldn’t guess it, of course. Kaiser thought Schauffele was furious. The two-time major winner kept the charade; he looked dead serious and asked on the next hole for a read. Kaiser nodded—he didn’t have any.

Now, that’s one cheeky move right there from Xander Schauffele. Although the two-time major winner didn’t go on to explain what happened after that, we guess the drinks were on Schauffele that night. Quite a dynamic partnership these two had. Take that time when Kaiser was drunk as a skunk and thought he lost his job. But he didn’t.

Xander Schauffele rescued his caddie from a drunken misadventure

This story dates back to 2016, Schauffele’s rookie year on the Tour. The San Diego State alum missed the cut at the AT&T Byron Nelson. Schauffele went to bed, but Kaiser thought, why not have a drink? “Next thing you know, I drink a fifth of Grey Goose and end up in the middle of a thunderstorm, dumping rain, in a cemetery, doing snow angels,” Kaiser recalled in Golf’s Subpar podcast.

Eventually, Kaiser’s wife tracked his phone and found his location. She called up Schauffele—2:30 in the morning—to find her husband. He took his car and went to the location only to find his caddie all covered in mud, hugging a tree. “That was probably the time I thought I was going to get fired,” Kaiser said. He wasn’t, of course. The dynamic duo went on to rake in seven PGA Tour wins in addition to two majors. 

Kaiser, by the way, got his revenge (of sorts) at last year’s Zozo Championship. At the par-4 ninth, Schauffele tucked his drive nicely near a tree root. Surprisingly, the nine-time PGA Tour winner took two swipes at it before letting go. Thanks to Kaiser, who hammered some sense into his employer. “The damage is already done. You can’t keep hitting it right there,” Kaiser chimed in after the second attempt. Schauffele couldn’t contain his laughter.

He took an unplayable and ended up with a quadruple bogey. That trust has been built over the years. Schauffele and Kaiser were part of the same collegiate golf team at San Diego. In the recent podcast, Rogers reminded the two-time major winner that he once told him Austin Kaiser was the best caddie out there. “Yeah, absolutely,” the 31-year-old agreed. Well, that’s all you need to know about this pair.