What is Erik van Rooyen’s caddie Alex Gaugert's salary?
Alex Gaugert has caddied for Erik van Rooyen during the best period of his professional career. Their player-caddie relationship began in 2019, so Gaugert has been a privileged witness to van Rooyen's sporting development.
According to tvguidetime.com, at the beginning of 2020, Erik van Rooyen had paid Alex Gaugert $279,825 for his services. Considering the player's earnings in 2019, this means that the compensation arrangement with his caddie is about 10%.
From 2019 to date, Erik van Rooyen has earned approximately $10.3 million for his results on both the DP World Tour and the PGA Tour. As a result, his caddie, Alex Gaugert, has earned approximately $1.03 million over the same period.
Erik Van Rooyen and Alex Gaugert were together when the player won his first (and so far only) tournament on the DP World Tour, the 2019 Scandinavian Masters. Gaugert was also there when van Rooyen won his two PGA Tour events, the 2021 Barracuda Championship and the 2023 World Wide Technology Championship.
Before hiring Gaugert as his caddie, van Rooyen had just two wins in six seasons as a professional. Those victories came at the Sunshine Tour's Eye of Africa PGA Championship and the Challenge Tour's Hainan Open.
Erik van Rooyen's caddie had a golf career of his own?
Alex Gaugert played golf for the University of Minnesota, where he first met Erik van Rooyen. After graduating, he spent a year pursuing a professional career on the Sunshine Tour, the African development circuit. Gaugert and van Rooyen also met there.
After his professional golf experience, Alex Gaugert pursued other horizons related to golf, such as his current career as a caddie. He is also the PGA Professional at Tonto Verde Golf Club in Arizona, where he lives.
The relationship between Gaugert and van Rooyen goes beyond the classic player-caddie bond. That's how Gaugert himself described it in 2021, according to Golf Monthly:
“I think I bring an understanding of the game along with an honest opinion. He is my closest friend. I bring a perspective as to what is important."
Erik van Rooyen won the World Wide Technology Championship on Sunday, November 5, with a score of -27, two strokes ahead of Camilo Villegas and Matt Kuchar.
The victory means he will remain a full member of the PGA Tour until the end of the 2025 season. It also represents a jump of more than 60 spots in the FedEx Cup standings. He is currently ranked 63rd.
With good results in the two remaining events on the FedEx Cup Fall schedule (the Butterfield Bermuda Championship and the RSM Classic), van Rooyen could move into the top 60 in the FedEx Cup standings. That would earn him a spot in the field for the first two signature events of 2024, the AT&T Peeble Beach Pro-Am and the Genesis Invitational.