Who Is Rasmus Hojgaard’s Caddie?

Rasmus Hojgaard claimed arguably the most impressive win of his career with Tom Ayling on his bag – here’s what we know about him

Tom Ayling and Rasmus Hojgaard at the Dubai Desert Classic
Tom Ayling has helped Hojgaard to considerable success
(Image credit: Getty Images)

Rasmus Hojgaard is one of the game’s most promising talents. Since turning professional in 2019, the Dane has won five times on the DP World Tour, including beating Rory McIlroy in the Amgen Irish Open in September 2024, where alongside him was experienced caddie Tom Ayling.

Before linking up with Hojgaard, Ayling had caddied for one of the 2014 Ryder Cup’s biggest stars - mercurial Frenchman Victor Dubuisson. At the Gleneagles match, he helped him win 2.5 points from his three sessions, including forging an unforgettable partnership with Graeme McDowell where the pair swept aside Rickie Fowler and Jimmy Walker 5&4 in the Saturday foursomes.

Tom Ayling and Victor Dubuisson at the 2014 Ryder Cup

Tom Ayling was alongside Victor Dubuisson at the 2014 Ryder Cup

(Image credit: Getty Images)

That wasn’t the only success for Ayling and Dubuisson, who had joined forces earlier that year. Ayling also helped him to top-10 finishes at the 2014 Open and the PGA Championship. But how did he get into the role?

Ayling took up caddying while doing his golf PGA degree when he was 20. At that time, his friend, pro Benjamin Herbert, asked him to try it on the Challenge Tour. Given the success that followed alongside Dubuisson, it’s hard to deny it proved a great decision, and he wasn’t the only player Ayling worked with before finally teaming up with Hojgaard.

Ayling also caddied for DP World Tour winners Christian Cevaer and Jose-Filipe Lima, before a spell with another high-profile French player, Alexander Levy.

As for Hojgaard, he’d had Danny Willett and Matt Wallace’s former caddie Jonathan Smart on the bag before he began working with Ayling. The pair had success, too, including Hojgaard’s victory in the 2020 ISPS Handa UK Championship, before the rising star turned to his latest caddie.

Tom Ayling and Rasmus Hojgaard joking after the Amgen Irish Open

Tom Ayling helped Rasmus Hojgaard to the Amgen Irish Open title

(Image credit: Getty Images)

Ayling helped guide Hojgaard to the 2023 Made in Himmerland before that dramatic victory against McIlroy at Royal County Down a year later. Not only did Hojgaard pip one of the era’s greatest players that week, but the triumph left Ayling’s boss in line for the next phase of an increasingly promising career – the probability of securing a PGA Tour card at the end of that season.

Mike Hall
News Writer

Mike has over 25 years of experience in journalism, including writing on a range of sports throughout that time, such as golf, football and cricket. Now a freelance staff writer for Golf Monthly, he is dedicated to covering the game's most newsworthy stories. 

He has written hundreds of articles on the game, from features offering insights into how members of the public can play some of the world's most revered courses, to breaking news stories affecting everything from the PGA Tour and LIV Golf to developmental Tours and the amateur game. 

Mike grew up in East Yorkshire and began his career in journalism in 1997. He then moved to London in 2003 as his career flourished, and nowadays resides in New Brunswick, Canada, where he and his wife raise their young family less than a mile from his local course. 

Kevin Cook’s acclaimed 2007 biography, Tommy’s Honour, about golf’s founding father and son, remains one of his all-time favourite sports books.