Masters champion Scottie Scheffler makes a bid for his second Major title of the year at the PGA Championship, but if he’s to achieve his aim, he’ll need to do it without long-time caddie Ted Scott in the third round.
The World No1, who has achieved four wins in 2024 with Scott at his side, spoke to the media before he gets his challenge underway in a group with Wyndham Clark and Brian Harman at Valhalla on Thursday.
Scott will be with Scheffler during the first two rounds, but he explained that if he makes the cut, he won’t feature on the all-important Moving Day because it is his daughter’s graduation.
He said: “Teddy is going home Friday night, coming back Saturday evening after the graduation -- or probably Saturday late night, I'm sure they'll do a little celebration afterward.
“That's something we talked about from the beginning of our relationship was family always comes first, and it's the same thing for me as it is for my caddie. It was a pretty easy decision.
“He told me at the beginning of this year that that was the date that it was, so I got a backup caddie lined up. One of my buddies is going to carry the bag on Saturday, and then Ted will be back for Sunday's round.”
Scheffler added: “It's one of my older friends who travels week to week out here. He's the Tour chaplain. His name is Brad and he's caddying for me on Saturday. I trust him to rake a bunker more than my buddies.”
If Scheffler’s form continues in the vein it has throughout the year, his stand-in won’t need to worry about finding too many bunkers. Scheffler won three events in four before taking a break after victory at the RBC Heritage with family commitments of his own - namely, the birth of his first child, Bennett with wife Meredith.
He opened up on his first few days as a father, saying: “I think it's just wild watching Meredith go through that. It's just nuts. I don't really know how to describe it, watching the little dude come out of Meredith, and we waited, and it was a surprise for us whether it was going to be a boy or girl, so being able to tell my wife that it was a boy, yeah, it was a wild ride."
He added: “At home it was a nice time to reflect a little bit on my career so far and where my life has gone. I married my high school sweetheart and I always wanted to play professional golf and now I'm here. I was sitting there with a newborn in my arms and the green jacket in the closet. It was a pretty special time I think at home.”
Now it’s back down to business, and Scheffler’s thoughts are already turning to an appearance at the Olympics in Paris, which start in July.
He said: “I definitely plan on playing. I think becoming an Olympian would be a dream come true, for sure. Be a nice little thing to be able to trash talk to my buddies about when they say golfers aren't athletes. I can claim I'm an Olympian. I think it's definitely a tournament that has been on my schedule, and I'll definitely be playing there if I'm able.”
