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Daily Speculations The Web Site of Victor Niederhoffer & Laurel Kenner Dedicated to the scientific method, free markets, deflating ballyhoo, creating value, and laughter; a forum for us to use our meager abilities to make the world of specinvestments a better place. |
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Ross Miller: Caddieconomics;
Golf Careers for PhDs
Annika did well
enough to avoid embarrassment, and the sad thing is that
with proper coaching she had the physical ability to make the
cut but lacked the ability to execute a prudent strategy
(something that you traders out there might be familiar with).
Given the vast amounts of money floating around sports, it
amazes me how little use they make of sophisticated
decision-making--baseball just seems to be catching on in the
past few years and golf is in the stone ages. Surely the
future laureate can rearrange his teaching schedule so that he
can caddy for Tiger Woods on the twenty or so weekends that he
competes (and unless the academic pay scale has changed, 10%
of the $5M+ that Tiger earns in prize money each year is more
than MIT pays even its Institute Professors by a large margin
and Tiger needs a new caddy anyway). Mark my words, if golf
purses continue their rapid ascent, every golfer will have an
MIT professor (or equivalent) moonlighting as his caddy. I'd guess that a high-profile future laureate could easily
pocket a million a year between winnings and endorsements for
clothing, calculators, pocket protectors, bobble-head dolls,
etc. Hedge funds might even have to raise their compensation
structures to Ph.Ds to compete. Our universities need to act
soon of else India, Russia, etc., will grab the lucrative
caddy trade. Golf isn't about how far the ball is from the
hole and what club to choose, it's about risk management.
Here's an article on the big bucks that can be made from a career in caddying: http://tinyurl.com/dxn5.
Note from Mr. E:
I'm sure many PhDs will want to read this article...and
reconsider their chosen profession...but they might also want
to consider the risks if they chose the wrong golfer
too...this is a lot like the music business...one day you're
making the minimum wage and then....you might be the caddy to
a star. Tiger's caddy made $700,000 last year
... not bad
for using your back more than your mind. I'm sure women are
mad as there aren't too many on the PGA men's caddy
tour...Quite frankly it would be nice if all the liberal
atheistic professors at the elite colleges became caddies...so
I could hire them and berate them while my shots sliced into
another fairway.
(June 2003)