The Tribune

By BRENT STUBBS

Senior Sports Reporter

bstubbs@tribunemedia.net

SHE’S not playing, but Taneka Sandiford-Mackey is still making a name for herself as the first Bahamian and only black female full-time caddie on the Ladies Professional Golf Association (LPGA) Tour.

For the past four years, the former basketball player at St John’s College has been carrying the golf bag and helping to make some key decisions for American Amy Olson.

It was a relationship that developed when Olson came to the Bahamas to play in the Pure Silk Golf Classic on Paradise Island.

Honoured during Black History Month in the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, Ireland and the Netherlands, Sandiford-Mackey said she’s just thrilled to be able to pave the way for so many other Bahamians to follow in her footsteps, although there were three other Bahamian professional players - Jameica Duncombe, Georgette Rolle and Racquel Riley - who actually played in some form of competition.

Home on a break to spend time with her family, including her parents Juan and Kristine Sandiford and brothers Terrell and Garrett, Sandiford-Mackey, the former junior and women’s national team player, remembers how she got started in 2017 at the Pure Silk Classic and went on to participate in at least five more tournaments while she was doing some coaching at Redlands Community College,

In 2018, she started here in the Bahamas and travelled all the way to Australia before she dropped all previous commitments to go full-time in 2019.

Despite being hit by the coronavirus pandemic in 2020, she enjoyed another sting. But now in her fourth year, Sandiford-Mackey said she’s eager to get her seson open in Florida at the end of the month.

“I feel great. I love the fact that we are playing well and I’m actually getting recognised, not just me, but the Bahamas because I have the flag on all of my shirts and my jackets whenever we participate in any tournament,” she said. “So I love that I get to be out there, I got to show off God and I get to represent the Bahamas in a light that no one has ever done before. So it’s an unbelievable experience because I also get to travel all around the world.”

On an average, Sandiford-Mackey gets to caddie for Olson in about 16-25 tournaments per year.

“I can’t do anything without her and she can’t do anything without me,” said Sandiford-Mackey, who is on a year-to-year contractual agreement.

As a caddie, Sandiford-Mackey said it’s slightly different from playing. She pointed out that instead of swinging the golf clubs, she carries the golf bag.

“It’s a little easier because when you are playing, you have to dedicate at least five hours a day for practice,” she reflected. “As a caddie, I dedicate maybe a hour a day exercising and keeping in shape. So it’s not as technical. I still have to work on my body to be able to carry a 50-pound bag for 10 miles for 5 1/2 hours a day.

“But it’s a different technique that you’re working on. Everything, other than swinging the golf club, is the same.”

With such a close knit relationship, Sandiford-Mackey said she and Olson seldom have any problems on or off the golf course, which is why their partnership is working so well.

“She’s around me more than she’s around her husband (Grant Olson, a linebacker coach at North Dakota State) and I’m around her more than I am with my husband (Thomas Mackey, an officer of the Bahamas Correctional Department or Prison),” said Sandiford-Mackey, who has been married since December 1, 2019.

“So obviously, we are going to buck heads and don’t agree on everything. But with us, we have that relationship and I’m okay with it because we talk over things and at the end of the day, she has the final say and she makes the final decision. She never blames me and I never blame her. We carry each other’s burdens. If she makes a bad shot, I don’t say ‘yeah, you should have listened to me,’ or she says ‘that’s your fault.’ We take our own ownership. So we haven’t gotten to the point where we had any major disagreement.”

If there was any one thing that may have caused a bit of stir in their relationship was when Sandiford-Mackey showed up about three minutes late at a tournament. She recalled how Olson reminded her point blank that “you have to always be on time.”

Since then, Sandiford-Mackey said she’s made sure to be present at least 15 minutes ahead of their scheduled time.

On a normal year, Sandiford-Mackey and Olson get to travel to compete in about 17 countries on four continents, including Australia, Taiwan, Singapore, China and the United States of America.

“The fact that I got to travel around the Caribbean as a player, it got me interested in travelling around the world as a caddie,” said Sandiford-Mackey, who represented the Bahamas seven times as a junior and six as a senior member on the Caribbean Amateuer Golf Championship (CAGC) teams. “It’s an unbelievable experience and I get to do it all wearing a Bahamian flag on my shirts.”

Based on what she’s accomplished so far, Sandiford-Mackey said the future looks even brighter for her and Olson.

“I’m looking towards the Olympics. I would love for us to participate in those games and there’s also a team cup between the USA and Europe, so those would be two tournaments to play in. You want to win and be able to play, but I also want to continue to do this and stay healthy. If you are dedicated to your course, you can achieve this and be an inspiration to help other people to get beyond where I am.”

In the meantime, Sandiford-Mackey said there’s nothing like being back home. “You can’t beat this weather anywhere,” she said. “I’ve been all around the world and I can say without a doubt, this is the best place in the world. I’ve seen a lot and I’ve been to a lot of places, but there’s nothing like here in the Bahamas. This is where I want to live and I want to be able to come back home and help others to excel beyond where I’ve been. Everytime I’m around someone and they say the flag, they always say it’s better in the Bahamas.”

As the world deals with the deadly pandemic, Sandiford-Mackey said they encounter the same experiences as the other sports.

Last year for example, their season came to a halt at the end of February. They didn’t resume until the second week in July. They have to get tested weekly, they can’t go to bars or dine in restaurants nor share hotel rooms or golf carts with anyone else.

“Last year was a little more lonely than it was, but it’s literallythe best way that we could play,” she pointed out. “As a whole core, we were pretty successful with it. Out of 50 events, we may have had about 20 positive tests out of a pool of about 400 persons. So we did extremely well.

“This year, it’s going to be similar to last year. We’re going to get tested weekly, no dining in, no bars so it’s take out food and being in the room by yourself. So I’m looking forward to seeing how everything will work out when we get back together later this month.”

Sandiford-Mackey, 26, got started in the sport at the age of 10. She was an excellent basketball player at St John’s High School where she also swum, played volleyball and softball as well as ran track before she went on to Pensicola Christian College in Florida for one year.

She then went to Redlands Community College where she continued her golfing as well as Chicago State University where she graduated with a bachelor’s degree in business management and an associate degree in elementary education and another associate in psychology.

Although she has ventured on her caddie campaign without any support from the government, Sandiford-Mackey said she learned that in order to get to where she’s at, she can’t wait for anyone to do anything for her, but rather she did what she had to do to be where she’s at right now.

“If we can get to the point where we can help each other, as Bahamians succeed, the whole Bahamas succeed,” stated Sandiford-Mackey, who refuses to give up without any support.

“I’ve been seeing a lot of negativity from athletes, but yes the Bahamas could do better in supporting our athletes, but the athletes have to realise that we are a small country and we can’t do what the USA does for their American athletes.

“The Bahamas needs to do better, but we as athletes, have to meet the country half way. Sometimes, the country expects the athlete to go 100 percent and the athlete expects the country to go 100 percent and, at the end of the day, nothing is done. We lose so much talent because of that. We have to try to change that attitude where someone has to go beyond or above what is expected.”

Not only have athletes felt like they are not getting the support that they need from the country, but Sandiford-Mackey said the country has also lost out in providing support for events that are normally held in the country like the Pure Silk Classic.

“It’s a huge loss. You can’t believe how many times while I’m on tour that I hear people come to me and say ‘I really wished that tournament would come back,” he noted. “The players loved it. Yet we may not have gotten the fans, but the country looked amazing on television.

“Although some of the players say it’s expensive to come here, they love being here. I think it’s something that sucks that it’s not here. I got my opportunity to be a professional caddie and if it comes back here, maybe somebody else will get the opportunity.

“But it’s so encouraging to be on the tour when I hear people who’ve been here say they missed it and players who didn’t get to come say they wished they were here.”

For Sandiford-Mackey, there was no greater feeling than representing her country in the Bahamas, but she supplements that with travelling all around the world as the caddie for Olson, one of the top female golfers in the LPGA.