Caddie's Role: There was a water festival last week in Thailand, part of the lunar New Year celebrations called Songkran, so our hosts warned us we might get attacked by water throwers, writes Colin Byrne

We were told this on Thursday night last in the air-conditioned lobby of the Sheraton Laguna hotel in Phuket. We didn't realise we were about to embark upon a water festival of our own in the sweat-bath that is Thailand in April.

You only have to sit outdoors and do absolutely nothing for five minutes and you will start pumping sweat profusely; simply breathing makes you perspire.

The thought of a trip to Southeast Asia in the spring is usually quite appealing. As beautiful a place as it is, having come from Augusta and the first major stress of the year, with a brief stop in Europe and then quickly on to Bangkok and a connection to the southern island of Phuket, it's hard to take in the new environment.

"Discover Thailand" is an advertising campaign. We got to discover strictly the airport, hotel and golf course. If it wasn't for the fact I woke up early on Friday, due to jet-lag, and wandered down to the beach, I would not have even known the sea was less than 400 yards from my bedroom.

We were there for the third Tiger Skins event sponsored by Tiger beer, the brewers from Singapore. The event was run over three days, with the skins game lodged in between two pro-ams. The sponsors bring their guests, mainly from the region, but I came across a group of Irish golfers who had been invited by the sponsors all the way from Dublin. I could only surmise they, as distributers, must have been shifting plenty of the Singapore beer back home to merit such a generous junket. They appeared to be enjoying both the cultural and golfing experience of Phuket, and were saturated like us all in the unforgiving heat of the Blue Canyon Country Club.

The event was held in Phuket as part of an effort to revive the area that was hit by last year's devastating tsunami. Although the island suffered loss of life, the damage to the infrastructure was not as bad as many other areas in the region.

In a magnanimous gesture, the four invited overseas players, Grace Park, Retief Goosen, Colin Montgomerie and Thomas Bjorn, agreed to donate their skins to the local tsunami charity. This figure came to $180,000.

Phuket has suffered from a lack of tourists since the tragedy of last year. Westerners are slowly easing their way back, but hotel occupancy is still only at 30 per cent, one pro-am partner told me as we rambled down the fifth fairway.

That was the reason he had time to play golf.

The biggest loss of tourism which has not recovered is from those of Chinese descent. They believe in spirits and ghosts, so they are reluctant to come to a place that has suffered such a loss of life. This will take some time to get over, according to local people.

These exhibition trips for us golfers and caddies offer a rare opportunity to mingle and socialise with the Southeast Asian agents and sponsors who organise the event.

As caddies, we are gradually being drawn into what used to be the inner sanctum of the players' domain. We are included in everything that goes on at these events. From very comfortable travel arrangements, chauffeur-driven cars and five-star hotels, to functions at night and other soirees, and I sense that this positive attitude stems from the younger and more progressive leadership at IMG Asia (International Management Group, who manage many golfers) along with a liberal attitude from the sponsors.

Retief successfully defended his Tiger Skins title which he has won all three times. This year, however, he had to share the title with Thomas Bjorn.

Retief won nine skins, but they only amounted to $85,000, the same amount Bjorn won for his seven skins. Monty won two and poor Grace didn't get one.

Grace is the number-two woman golfer in the world. She is in the top 10 in terms of distance on the women's Tour in the US. She carries the ball about 240 yards with her driver. Competing against men, and in particular against someone of Retief's prowess off the tee, is virtually impossible on a course that required a long carry, as the Blue Canyon did. On a firmer, faster course Grace could definitely compete.

The unfortunate Korean-born American was the last to hit on every tee. The boys finally gave her a break on the final hole when they all teed off and then picked up the tee markers and moved them 50 yards forward to the men's medal tees.

She was still no match for Retief, who obviously is proud of his record in this event as he birdied the last two holes to take the last two skins and therefore tie with Bjorn for a share of the title.

We were inadvertently included in the Thai 2005 water festival. We were not victims of water throwers, just our jet-lagged northern European bodies trying to compensate for serious Southeast Asian humidity.