GOLF: CADDIE'S ROLE:Fanny Sunesson's role in Martin Kaymer's major win should not be underestimated, writes COLIN BYRNE

AS THE dust settles on the exceptionally talented young German Martin Kaymer’s first major victory in Wisconsin a couple of weeks ago, I have been intrigued by the post-PGA analysis which says more about both the man himself and the media discussing the event.

The American newspapers on the day after Kaymer’s victory featured mainly photographs of the unfortunate young American Dustin Johnson, who was a victim of rules confusion that only modern complicated courses can throw up at players at the most inappropriate times.

One article I read suggested that perhaps the rules off the course for moral behaviour should be more stringent than the rules of golf themselves. It was perhaps a noble idea but how authorities are supposed to police their players behaviour in private is a little more complex.

Without boring you, the rules in golf are sacred no matter how inane they may seem to golfers and in particular non-golfers at times. The clear-cut implementation of the rules, no matter how harsh, is what makes the game of golf so special.

Even though most of us who squirmed uncomfortably as Johnson grounded his club in the bunker at Whistling Straits on his 72nd hole with a one-shot lead may have thought rightly that the American was not gaining any advantage by lightly touching the sand with his five iron in the obscure bunker somewhere adjacent to the 18th hole. That is not the point.

The problem in golf is that we are governed by the instincts of the lowest common denominator on the golf course. Just like we are all treated like potential terrorists when we move through airports, it is unfortunately how we need to control human beings and their penchant for reeking havoc with our lives in the air and our temptations on the golf course.

If the PGA were to wrongly turn a blind eye to Johnson’s unfortunate error what seed would that sow for the gradual decline of fair play in the game. If you think about it of course it would lead to a free-for-all in a game that is already very difficult to police on a day-to-day basis. Respect for the minutiae of the rules, as outrageous as it sounds, is the only way it can be in golf.

So as I leafed through last week’s papers the more I realised that the tacit Kaymer was saying more to the media and the golfing public about himself than he would do through interviews or articles, there was very little coverage of how he won his first major.

He is a measured and quietly confident talent from a nation that is noted for having only rare world-class golfers and not so many average performing professionals on the world stage. Bernhard Langer is still performing at the highest level at over 50 years of age.

I waited till Sunday last to find an article which suggested that Fanny Sunesson, Henrik Stenson’s caddie, was not getting the credit she deserved for her part in Kaymer’s major success.

It sounds confusing but apart from caddying for Stenson, Fanny also advises Kaymer. She was invited to speak to the best young German amateur golfers by the German Golf Federation and Martin was one of those young aspiring players some six or seven years ago. It was a progressive move for a federation that would perhaps not be known for its lateral thinking.

They realised that a caddie who had been at a major winner’s side for so many years in Nick Faldo would have an awful lot of good advice for many of their hopeful young golfers.

Fanny is probably more of a mentor to Kaymer than a mental coach. Given the nature of caddying and the necessity to be a little bit of everything to a needy golfer, from manual labourer in carrying the bag to trying to sort out some muddled thoughts in a golfers head, the modern professional golf caddie does indeed have to be a dilettante.

In this specialised era of the game where a player can have an entourage of physios, nutritionists, mental coaches, swing coaches, personal trainers, managers, interpreters and caddies it is indeed rare that a player will avail of the counsel of caddies from a more psychological perspective.

Us caddies have often discussed sessions we overheard between players and mental coaches and most of us were fascinated by the simplicity and almost naivety of the conversations which make us all think that most of these guys are being taken for an expensive ride. It is the modern trend, however, to have a long list of experts on a gullible golf pros pay roll. You would have to be forward in thinking to tap a caddie for ‘expert’ advice about life at the top of the leader board. So the fact that Martin is openly so reliant on a caddie for mentoring speaks volumes about the man.

Fanny rightly deserves credit for her excellent guidance of an exceptionally talented young golfer in Kaymer. The suggestion that she did not get the credit from the commentators Nick Faldo and Howard Clark, both ex-bosses of Fanny’s, on the post-win analysis at Whistling Straits may tell more about how most players feel about caddies and in particular their worth to them.

Fanny would have gleaned most of her expertise from Faldo as she assisted him to four major victories. She also learned a lot about human nature with Clark who by his own admission was often difficult to deal with during competition.

Like all of us experienced caddies, even though we have been through a lot with players at the highest level of competition, we are still branded with carrying a golf bag and therefore not expert enough to truly advise these talented golfers about how their brain works in the heat of battle.

Fanny Sunesson, as a successful female caddie in a man’s world, has managed to break this stigma through the progressive Kaymer.

To get the old stock to recognise this would be naïve and disruptive to the comfortable equilibrium of the entourages that accompany the small industry that a modern professional golfer represents in today’s game.