Who Is Danny Willett's Caddie?

Who Is Danny Willett's Caddie?

Danny Willett has had a changing caddie situation over the years. He had Jonathan Smart on the bag for a number of years before they split in 2017. Back then, Willett got his best friend Sam Haywood on the bag and he was also best-man at Willett's wedding back in 2013.

Haywood came onto the Willet's bag in 2017 at first on a temporary basis. It was reported that Smart was tired of being the scapegoat for Willett's struggles at the time and he quit after the first round of the RBC Heritage at Harbour Town.

Haywood is actually quite the player himself as he only lost by one stroke to Danny playing at Augusta National! He is also a professional and the pair both played a lot of junior golf at Rotherham Golf Club. We believe they are both still members there.

“Sam’s my best friend. We grew up playing a lot of golf,” Willett said in 2017. “He’s just a good friend of mine. He’s doing this week and then I’m going to have to try to find someone for the next few weeks.” Haywood and Willett won the 2018 DP World Tour Championship in Dubai and the 2019 BMW PGA Championship at Wentworth together.

However Willett currently has a man called Michael Burrow on the bag. We are unsure when and how they started working together but Burrow brings years of caddying experience. 

Burrow previously worked with Haotong Li and he took up that role at the start of 2018, and they had immediate success, winning the Omega Dubai Desert Classic. Burrow told Northern Golfer; 

“To be part of a win on the European Tour for the first time, in just my third event with Haotong, was fantastic. I knew I wouldn’t be phased by it on Sunday. There’s something very odd that just takes me out of being a fan or a golfer and we can get down to working through each shot. Before you know it, you’re standing on 18 and once we’d agree the line for the putt on the last, inside left up the hill, my work was done. That was the best feeling I’ve had as a caddy so far. To experience that so early in my caddying career was pretty special.”

Burrow has also previously worked with Garrick Porteous and then Mike Lorenzo-Vera. The pair teamed up in 2014 when Lorenzo-Vera captured a DP World Tour (formerly European Tour) card by finishing ninth on the Challenge Tour order of merit. He also worked with Scott Henry and Marcus Armitage. As with a lot of caddies, Burrow is quite the player himself; he is a two-handicapper who also holds the club championship at Northumberland.

As we said above, we are unsure when Burrow and Li stopped working together, and when Burrow and Willett started their partnership. But as soon as we have more information, we will update this page.