Scottie Scheffler overcame a neck injury to win his second PGA Tour event in a row at The Players Championship.
That bagged the World No.1 a first prize of $4.5m to add to the $4m he claimed for his win at the Arnold Palmer Invitational the previous week. However, Scheffler’s caddie Ted Scott will also have benefitted very well financially from his two victories.
Caddies typically earn 10% of a player’s winning prize money and, assuming that is the case for Scott, Scheffler’s two victories will have seen Scott's bank balance swell by $850,000 in the last two weeks alone.
Amazingly, that figure is also more than Rory McIlroy’s earnings on the PGA Tour so far this year. The four-time Major winner, who is currently ranked second in the world behind Scheffler, has earnings of $798,205 from his five PGA Tour appearances so far this year - over $50,000 less than Scott's earnings in March so far. Scott’s earnings over the last two tournaments are also more than the Tour average for the year so far of $773,049.
Of course, Scott will also have taken home good money from Scheffler’s other PGA Tour appearances since the turn of the year. Before his back-to-back victories, the American had made five starts with top-10 finishes in four of them.
Scott will likely have earned between 5% and 7% of the prize money Scheffler won at those events, which will have pushed his overall earnings for the year to around $1m.
Before the Arnold Palmer Invitational, Scheffler’s earnings for the year stood at $2,439,500. If Scott receives 5% for those non-wins, that would now mean he’s earned a total of $971,975, while if his percentage is seven, it would stand at $1,020,765. Either way, that’s not a bad return for seven events so far.
As for McIlroy, he did take home big money from his two DP World Tour appearances so far in 2024, earning €197,251,20 (approximately $215,000) for his runner-up at the Dubai Invitational and another $1,530,000 for his win at the Dubai Desert Classic. McIlroy also claimed a bonus of $200,000 for finishing top of the International Swing section of the season.
Therefore, it’s safe to say that, even though he’s not been at his best on the PGA Tour this year so far, he’s probably not feeling the pinch financially.
Scott isn’t the only caddie banking huge money this year. LIV Golf’s Joaquin Niemann earned $4m for each of his wins on the circuit at Mayakoba and Jeddah, meaning his caddie Gary Matthews will have earnings comparable to Scheffler’s bagman, with $800,000 likely heading his way from the two wins and more from Niemann’s T30 in Las Vegas and T4 in Hong Kong.
Niemann also finished T4 at the Dubai Desert Classic and T3 at the International Series Oman. That means that, overall, Matthews will have earnings of between around $880,000 and $915,000 this year so far.
