It's not quite the usual interaction between caddie and player at the end of the round - but as Kelsey Koch finished up at the US Adaptive Open she turned around to find caddie Josh White on one knee asking her to marry him.
Happily, Koch said yes to complete the perfect ending to her first USGA event that saw her leave without a trophy but a nice piece of hardware on her finger.
After performing the usual final-hole rituals of handshakes all round, 31-year-old Koch turned around to find her caddie, who is also her boyfriend, on one knee with a ring in his hand.
Her now fiancee White had carried Koch's bag around Pinehurst and made it a glorious ending and a tournament she'll never forget.
“I did not have any idea but I hoped and prayed," said Koch after saying yes to the proposal.
"I hoped and prayed because life is so much more than golf and what better of an opportunity.
“This experience as a whole has been so humbling to be here. Like I always say, it’s not what you do on the course it’s what you do off the course, right? To be here and to have this, we’re so blessed to start this way.”
A touching moment in the US Adaptive Open as Kelsey Koch was proposed to by her caddie (now fiancée) Josh White. 😍 pic.twitter.com/0jFz4cbZfCJuly 13, 2023
Michigan native Koch was competing in the leg impairment category as she was born without a left tibia bone and had her leg amputated at just 11 months old.
She admitted the golf was tough around the iconic Pinehurst, but that didn't matter one bit after coming away from the tournament with a fiancee if not a trophy.
