South African golf has been blessed with almost as many world-class caddies as the golfers this country has produced. The likes of Ricci Roberts, Kenneth 'Giraffe' Mvundla, Simon Masilo, Tiger Lekhulene, Basil van Rooyen, Greg Hearmon, Phillip Letwaba, Glen Murray, Neil Wallace, Peter van der Riet, Wynand Stander and Gary Matthews are just some of the names that could easily take their place in a South African Caddie Hall of Fame.

And Zack Rasego – a man from a disadvantaged background for whom golf was not on the radar, who faced a toilsome and uncertain future, who had hardly touched a club in his young life and who came into the game by serendipitous accident.

Rasego recalled how it all began for him. 'It started in 1979, after they built the Gary Player Country Club course. I was one of those recruited to come and caddie at the course. They gave us about six months of training, and we spent quite a bit of time just weeding the fairways. I was 16 at the time,' said Rasego, who grew up in impoverished surroundings in nearby Rustenburg.

It was at Sun City that his path crossed with Gary Player, who gave him his first big break as a caddie.

Fortunately, on one occasion I got the chance to caddie for Mr Player when he came to play the course. We got on well and Mr Player announced that he had decided to take me with him to the 1988 (British) Senior Open. That was the first time I travelled overseas. I was very fortunate that he chose me,' said Rasego, modestly omitting the fact that he helped Player win his first Senior Open at Turnberry.

With Gary Player and a Senior Major on his CV, Rasego had established himself as a rising caddie in the game and worked with Wayne Player, Chris Davison and Marco Gortana. It was while caddying for Gortana that the next big break came.

'I was caddying for Marco when I received a call from another caddie friend of mine, Solly Solomansi. He used to caddie for Charl Schwartzel and he was moving between Charl and Louis Oosthuizen. But when Louis secured his Sunshine Tour card, Solly had to make a choice. So Solly stayed with Charl and he recommended me to Louis. My first tournament caddying for Louis was the Open Qualifier at Atlantic Beach in 2004. He made the cut to play The Open, and we were on our way.'

Together they won the 2010 Open Championship on the Old Course at St Andrews. Oosthuizen spoke in glowing terms of the role Rasego played. 'Zack knew that you play the Old Course by feel and not by the yardage book. He gave me room when I needed it. What he did, he did brilliantly,' he said.

After parting with Oosthuizen, Rasego took the bag of Branden Grace and again brought his experience and accumulated knowledge to bear. Grace won five times around the world in 2012 and went on to break into the top 10 on the Official World Golf Ranking.

One of his victories in 2012 was in the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship at St Andrews. At the end of a stellar year he was crowned the 2012 HSBC Caddie of the Year by the European Tour.

Next came Grace's historic 62 in the third round of the 2017 Open Championship at Royal Birkdale. Again, Rasego was a critical part of this success, most notably for keeping his player focused on the fact that he was busy making history.

'You know, I was just so in the zone of playing, hole after hole. I knew I was obviously playing really well, and making the turn in five under was pretty special. And I thought if I could make a couple more on the back nine, then it's going to be a great score. I had no idea that 62 was the lowest ever,' recalled Grace.

'My whole thing on the 18th was just trying not to make bogey. I hit a great wedge in there, just caught a flier, a little bit of a jumper and made it tough for myself. But obviously I knocked in the three-footer. And Zack came up and said, "You're in the history books." And I was like, "What are you talking about?"'

Rasego deflected praise for his role. 'Branden is a great player and we did some great things together. But that's your job as a caddie. In my head you can't call yourself a Major-winning caddie because your player won a Major. You didn't win it. The player won it. We're just the backroom staff who are lucky enough to be part of that history.'

As is the way of player/caddie relationships, partnerships come and go and Rasego next picked up the bag of another rising South African star in Christiaan Bezuidenhout. It was Bezuidenhout's coach, Grant Veenstra, who phoned Rasego and asked him if he would consider being the player's caddie.

Rasego is not one for singing his own praises.

'I was very fortunate with this job because I always wanted to learn. Every player was different, and I just did my best to represent my player as best as possible. I was fortunate with the people who helped me – Mr Player, Solly, and other caddies, such as Simon Masilo, Tiger Lekhulene and especially Dave Musgrove. And then people in South African golf such as Mr Johann Rupert. He did so much for South African golf.'

Rasego was what writers called 'a difficult interview' for the reason that he refused to glorify his own role in guiding his player to the silverware at the end of the fairway, preferring to conduct himself by the motto he learnt from Dave Musgrove: 'Show up, keep up and shut up.'

Editor's Note: Since publication of The Sunshine Boys, Rasego has also carried the bag of Sunshine Tour winner Hennie du Plessis, including his 2025 win at the Blu Label Unlimited Challenge (main image)

CARL FOURIE | LUKE WALKER | SUNSHINE TOUR