GOLF - Knight rides to rescue of stranded master

THE North's top caddy, Anthony Knight, has answered the call of stranded Aussie golfer Aaron Baddeley to join him at Augusta for the 2008 Masters tournament.
Knight, known almost universally as "Antman" in the golfing world, has been called in to replace Baddeley's regular caddy, Pete Bender, who is unavailable for the tournament after being diagnosed with cancer.
Knight, 37, has caddied for many of the world's top golfers in his career but, importantly, spent a spell caddying for Baddeley - before Bender and the talented young Australian formed a partnership - and he was at the top of Badderley's list of stand-ins.
Knight was a member of the Whangarei Golf Club at Mt Denby in the early 1980s and, along with his brother, Richard, played off low handicaps. He broke into caddying by carrying somebody's bag at a New Zealand Open when he was 17 and, according to longtime friend Northland Golf Club professional Quenton Diment, Knight spent much of the tournament with another aspiring caddy.
"He hooked up with Steve Williams (Tiger Woods caddy), who had already decided to become a caddy for the rest of his life and Antman took exactly the same track and shortly afterwards he went to Australia to take up a full-time caddying position."
Diment has followed his mate's fortune on the international circuit and said the best move the caddy ever made was hooking up with Kiwi Frank Nobilo, which paid off immediately for both of them.
"It was a great friendship and a great working relationship was formed ... and in [those five years] Frank broke into the top 10."
When Nobilo began moving towards retirement, Knight had no trouble turning up job offers; working for Sergio Garcia, Robert Allenby and Michael Campbell - to name a few.
Diment said Knight was a fantastic guy with great people skills and a genuine golfing talent.
"He's regarded as being a fantastic caddy among the players. He can make ants dance, he can make streams sing ... he's got that rare ability to pull confidence out of a player," he said.
Knight will certainly have his work cut out for him today, as Badderley battles to make the cut after carding a three-over 75 in the first round.
Although Knight is likely to remain with Baddeley in the short term, Diment believes a long-term partnership is unlikely.
"Baddeley has been playing pretty average recently and he's waiting to break through this season ... so this is a good opportunity for them both but Antman's retired now and I don't think he will be carrying the bags for longer than six months, it is just not his scene ... anymore."