KEY POINTS:
Turn up, keep up and shut up - that's Miki Mato's recipe for being a successful international caddie.
He should know. He has been earning his living caddying for professional golfers around the world for 22 years. At the New Zealand Open this week, he has been on the bag of Australian Scott Strange, the first round leader.
After growing up on the East Coast and going to primary school at Cape Runaway, he went to Auckland on a scholarship to St Peter's Maori College in Northcote.
He moved to Melbourne and switched from the hospitality industry to caddying and has never left.
Among his golfers have been Steve Alker, Aussies Glen Joyner and Brad King, Dutchman Rolf Muntz and Japanese Katsu Takahashi.
These days his fulltime bag on the European tour is with Frenchman Jean Francois Remesy, who won consecutive French Opens in 2004 and last year.
Mato will be taking a holiday with family on the East Coast until mid-January after his wife arrives from their home in north-east England.
He has certainly earned it - the New Zealand Open is his 40th of the year, and that bag on his shoulder weighs about 32kg.
He will speak when he's spoken to on the course, where two heads can be better than one. But a chattering caddie is no use to anyone.
Like all caddies Mato is coy about his fees but says it is an individual arrangement between the pairing.
"You have to believe in your own value. If a golfer says he can't afford what you offer, you say thanks but no thanks.
"Sometimes you pay your own expenses, but it's negotiable. You have to consider whether the guy is good enough to make the cut, making a percentage of his winnings a good deal.
"You do it tough some times. I've slept on the floor in a room with four other guys, and I've let others sleep on the floor in my room."
There are compensations. With all that travel, Mato is an Emirates gold card member and he has been enjoying the airline's hospitality at Gulf Harbour.
Any youngster keen to try the life should follow the 56-year-old's advice: "Turn up in the car park on Monday and keep on asking until you succeed."
