Golf: Double the agony for May's Kiwi caddie

Max Cunningham suffered in silence on his sickbed in London as he watched a temporary stand-in walk away from the United States PGA golf championship across the Atlantic in the United States with a generous pay cheque.

A mystery illness forced New Zealand caddy Cunningham to stand aside as unheralded American golfer Bob May's bagman at Valhalla in Louisville, Kentucky.

His friend Steve Kay was in his place as May produced the performance of his life, pushing world No 1 Tiger Woods to a three-hole playoff before settling for second place in the year's last major.

May's reward was a cheque for $US540,000 ($1,213,483) and to see his world ranking improve 18 places to 30th.

In normal circumstances, Cunningham would have been in line for anything between seven and 10 per cent of that figure.

Outside the financial implications of his absence, Cunningham was hurt simply at not being alongside May as he matched Woods, whose caddy was another New Zealander, Steve Williams, stroke for stroke in a dramatic dogfight.

"It's what you dream about - head-to-head with Tiger and Steve down the stretch in a major. Sure I felt gutted watching it on the telly but I'm pleased for Bob. It'll do his world ranking a lot of good and it'll benefit me too."

While May was wrestling Tiger, Cunningham continued to grapple with problems associated with high blood pressure. He was not at May's side at Valhalla because doctors advised him to avoid the hot and clammy Kentucky climate.

Cunningham, who took two years to shrug off symptoms of chronic fatigue syndrome in the early 1990s, had been suffering from severe headaches for the past three or four months and doctors subsequently found that his blood pressure was excessively high.

Cunningham, who is to join May in Nevada this week for the Reno Open, said he was not surprised by May's gutsy PGA showing, pointing to an 11th equal placing in this year's British Open and a runner-up finish in the Memphis Open.

Cunningham, aged 47, has worked for a string of notable players since the mid-1990s, among them fellow Michael Campbell when he finished third in the 1995 British Open, Scotsman Sandy Lyle and Swede Per-Ulrik Johannsen.

He joined forces with May, who has played in Europe for the past four years after losing his full playing privileges in the United States, a year ago and remains happy in his company.

NZPA