Meet Ricky Romano : Rickie Fowler's Caddie

 

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Rickie Fowler is one of the most iconic young golfers on the PGA Tour today. In his 14 years on Tour, he's played well enough to have won 5 tournaments, including the 2015 Players Championship. In Addition, Rickie has won 3 international events, two of which were on the European Tour. Rickie is well-known for his amazing skills on and around the green and has arguably one of the best putting strokes on the PGA Tour. Though his game took a turn for the worst for a number of years. Rickie fund a way back to playing good golf, culminating in his impressive performance at the 2023 U.S. Open, where he went on an impressive birdie run averaging a birdie almost every other hole. We know that a caddie plays a major role in the success of the golfer he or she caddies for, so, who's the golf course analyst behind the super accurate yardages and the laser accurate lines on the greens? Let's take some time to get to know Rickie Fowler's Caddie.

Who is Rickie Fowler's caddie?

Rickie Fowler's Caddie is Ricky Romano. Romano, like most of our caddies on Tour, has deep roots in golf. He played his collegiate career at the University of Houston, where was recognized as the C-USA golfer of the week on March 9th, 2006. His game was good enough to score as low as 67 in his collegiate debut.

Outside of golf, Ricky Romano is also known for his bass fishing skills, which he calls one of his two passions in life. The biggest fish he ever caught, though, was a Thresher shark weighing a hefty 564 lbs, which was a record at Ocean Harbor.

When did Ricky Romano start caddying for Rickie Fowler?

As far as we can tell, this partnership started around October 2022 at the CJ Cup. Romano has been caddying on tour for a long time, though. Previously, he’s caddied for Ben Crane, Jason Kokrak, Aaron Wise, and Nate Lashley to name a few. Prior to Romano, Fowler had longtime caddie, Joe Skovron on the bag. That relationship spanned over 10 years but the two parted ways once Fowler found himself in a dry spell with very little signs of hope.

How much does Rickie Fowler's Caddie, Ricky Romano make a year?

Because caddie earnings are performance based, the actual number can fluctuate drastically from one season to the next. To give a rough estimate of how much Ricky Romano could make in a season, we'll use the model we know player-caddie partnerships adhere to. A caddie gets paid 5% of winnings if the player places outside the top 10, 7% if the player finishes within the top 10, and 10% if the player finishes in 1st place. Based on these assumptions, Ricky Romano may have made as much as $436,016 caddying for Rickie Fowler in the 2023 season.

Here's the breakdown of how much money Rickie Fowler's caddie made in 2023

Tournament	Finish	Rickie Fowler's Earnings	% of Earnings	Ricky Romano's Earnings
THE CJ CUP in South Carolina	T34	$54,180	5%	$2,709
The American Express	T54	$18,400	5%	$920
Farmers Insurance Open	T11	$210,975	5%	$10,549
WM Phoenix Open	T10	$485,000	7%	$33,950
The Genesis Invitational	T20	$197,667	5%	$9,883
Arnold Palmer Invitational presented by Mastercard	T31	$131,000	5%	$6,550
THE PLAYERS Championship	T13	$447,917	5%	$22,396
World Golf Championships-Dell Technologies Match Play	T17	$219,909	5%	$10,995
Valero Texas Open	T10	$206,925	7%	$14,485
RBC Heritage	T15	$335,000	5%	$16,750
Wells Fargo Championship	T14	$355,000	5%	$17,750
Charles Schwab Challenge	T6	$293,625	7%	$20,554
The Memorial Tournament presented by Workday	T9	$545,000	7%	$38,150
U.S. Open	T5	$738,934	7%	$51,725
Travelers Championship	T13	$405,000	5%	$20,250
Rocket Mortgage Classic	1	$1,584,000	10%	$158,400
Grand Total	T15	$6,228,531	6%	$436,016