Lee Westwood will have a new caddy for next week’s flagship BMW PGA Championship at Wentworth and for the remainder of the season, and he’s not English.

New Zealand-born Michael Waite, (and not Australian born as reported by the UK’s Press Association and the UK’s Daily Mail newspaper), lives with his wife, Nadia and young family on the famed ‘Gold Coast, and will fill in for the injured Billy Foster who has been informed by doctors he will be unable to caddy for the remainder of the year after injuring himself in a social football match.

Fellow New Zealander Michael 'Sponge' Waite comforts Michael Campbell after his stunning 2005 U.S. Open success over Tiger Woods.

And with Foster on the sidelines, Waite could just be the caddy to steer Westwood along the famed ‘Burma Road’.

Waite, who has long been known affectionately known as ‘Sponge’ because of his sponge-like hair, was caddy to fellow New Zealander Michael Campbell when he captured the 2005 HSBC World Match-Play Championship.

A few months earlier ‘Sponge’ was alongside ‘Cambo’ when he held Tiger Woods at arms reach to win the U.S. Open championship by two strokes at the Pinehurst No. 2 course.

‘Sponge’ has previously caddied for the likes of fellow Australian Robert Allenby and Korea’s K.J. Choi.

Waite can arguably claim to be the second most successful New Zealand-produced caddie after Steve Williams, the former caddy to 14-time Major winning Tiger Woods.

On the world’s golf tours since the 1980s, Waite had early success with, among others, Allenby, Ian Baker-Finch and Rodger Davis.

He was with Campbell fulltime for eight years, including the famous major championship in 2005 but has shared the bag  during 2007 and 2008.

But ‘Sponge’ quit the Tour a few years back to spend more time with his young family.

He did make a name for himself in other ways and that was turning golf bags into bar stools – yes, bar stools!