For the moment, everything’s okay for Xander Schauffele, but not so much for his caddie.
Schauffele and his caddie, Austin Keiser, were sharing a private home this week in Scottsdale for the Phoenix Open.
Schauffele was upstairs, Keiser downstairs.
On Wednesday morning, Kaiser wasn’t feeling well and later tested positive for COVID-19. Schauffele tested negative. So Keiser and his wife packed quickly and left right away.
Schauffele placed a call to a friend — Kevin “Tech” Techakanokboon — to fill in for Keiser. Tech flew out of Southern California early Wednesday and was on the bag for round one and Schauffele shot 67 to put himself in the hunt.
“We’ve played a ton of golf together. He’s caddied for me once,” Schauffele said. “There are small things that Austin knows what to do, Tech has no idea what to do. But he plays and it’s very helpful for me, like I can trust his reads and sort of his feels as well.”
Schauffele said Keiser was back home and was running a 103-degree temperature with a headache and body aches.
“He dodged the whole thing for as long as this has been going on, so he was bound to get it,” Schauffele said of Keiser, who is unvaccinated. “And I just told him – he was pretty bummed out; it’s one of his favorite courses of the year – I just told him it’s better here than the Masters.”
Schauffele, meanwhile, will continue to be tested throughout the week. He’s hoping he doesn’t “end up like Jon Rahm at the Memorial,” where Rahm held a commanding lead through 54 holes, only to be informed after the third round that he had tested positive.
