Caddie's Role: For Marc Cayeux from Zimbabwe to get into the NEC Invitational at Firestone last week was a huge result.

For a lesser-ranked player - he was 103rd on the European Order of Merit at the start of last week - this was a chance to gain some valuable funds that will count on Marc's main tour. It also offered a sneak preview of what it would be like to play on the US Tour and an outside chance of taking the $1.3-million first prize. That is a very large truckload of Zimbabwean dollars.

On the European tour, players of similar ability are usually drawn together in the first two rounds, mainly because it is easier for TV to capture the top players' every move that way.

In the limited-field world events there is more chance of a random draw, where lesser players get a little more exposure by being drawn with big names.

So Marc Cayeux was excited about going to Akron, Ohio, home of the World Series of Golf until it changed to the NEC Invitational when the World Golf events were created in the late 1990s. After he won the Sunshine Tour Championship - a qualifying event for this global tournament - earlier in the year by shooting a final-round 61, he knew he was Ohio-bound in August.

When the draw came out last Tuesday his caddie phoned him with the news of what time he was playing and with whom, emphasising that he was in for a surprise. Of course he could hardly believe it when told he was drawn with the number-one golfer in the world and possibly the greatest golfer in history, Tiger Woods.

Great, brilliant, a dream thought the 27-year-old Cayeux, or possibly a nightmare.

There was a bigger problem, which didn't simply involve nerves, Marc had a painful welt on his hand as a result of a recent accident. He had spent the previous week with his manager in Austria.

Despite the fact his family still live in Zimbabwe, he cannot fly back there on his weeks off. So he spends them either with relatives in England or with his manager near Salzburg.

They decided to have a barbecue toward the end of the week. Marc went to light the fire, whereupon the box of matches ignited in his hand.

Despite the obvious concern for a professional golfer of hand injuries, he never once considered not making the trip to Akron. The opportunity to play in this event was something he could not miss. He would have presented himself on the first tee no matter what his physical condition.

Marc, like so many serious golfers, committed to playing the game professionally at a young age. He was 18. He had left school at 15 with the intention of turning pro as soon as possible.

I met Marc for the first time when I was caddying for Paul Lawrie at the Dunhill Tournament in Johannesburg in 2003.

He was telling me about his trip from Harare by car. He had been stopped at what he thought was a police road-block, but it turned out to be a car-jack, a frequent occurrence in Zimbabwe.

Under stressful circumstances in the middle of the night Marc managed to escape with his car and ended up in Johannesburg the next day to prepare for the event.

Most players think a delayed flight equates to a travel disaster. Cayeux's adventure was just another part of daily life in Zimbabwe.

Marc had played with Ernie Els in South Africa on previous occasions. He was not really that intimidated by playing with Ernie because he felt they had a lot in common, coming from the same region. He felt they could talk about biltong (salted meat) and braiis (barbecues) and all things African. With Tiger he felt he would have little to talk about apart from how legendary was his opponent, hardly appropriate for a fellow professional.

Tiger approached Marc in the locker room on Wednesday and asked him how his hand was. He didn't have a bandage on it, so it wasn't that obvious; Tiger had somehow found out about his injury. Marc was touched.

On Thursday morning as they headed down the 10th fairway together, Marc was already starting to feel at ease with Woods, whom he describes as humble, very human, friendly and intensely focused when it came to his shot.

He was also surprised at Woods's willingness to crack jokes. This is how Tiger is. Once he is among colleagues, inside the ropes, he is really just one of the lads.

There is nobody who has played with him that isn't impressed by how Tiger handles himself and respects those around him. It's never a problem playing with him - the problem is often the raucous crowds that follow him.

The obvious problem for Cayeux was that he couldn't grip the club properly.

He tried hitting shots on Wednesday and his hand started bleeding again. So he had to make do with a walk around the course and no practice round. His golf was greatly compromised by his injury. But he did manage to wiggle his ball around in a very respectable plus nine and 49th position for the tournament.

As Tiger blasted his tee shots into the far distance, Marc was disappointed he could not try to give it a whack and see just how far behind Tiger's his best drive would be. Marc at his best can give it a fair wallop.

Just as he was getting settled into his round he suffered a further setback. When he picked up his ball on the seventh green after marking it, he noticed it had "practice ball" stamped on it. He had marked it with his own markings but never really figured out how it got into his bag and how he ended up hitting it without noticing it was a range ball.

As luck would have it, it was exactly the same type of ball he was playing, a Titleist ProV1x. He showed the ball to Tiger, who expressed concern and sympathy. Nobody was too sure what the ruling was going to be.

They called a referee and he confirmed the mistake was a lucky one in that it was exactly the type of ball he had played with for the rest of the round. So there was no penalty.

The world event has given the Zimbabwean some sort of profile in the States. It has also shown the aspiring Cayeux it's not simply brilliant play that earns Woods the respect of the world; it is, more importantly, his humanity and grounding that keep him in touch with the reality of the day-to-day grind on tour for the average player.