Life has been extremely good for Ted Scott this year. The caddie is working for World No.1, Scottie Scheffler and he has the best seat in the house as the 28-year-old runs riot through almost every PGA Tour field that is put together.
While he still has to work hard carrying that heavy tour bag and ensuring he gives Scheffler the right number on each occasion, Scott will undoubtedly have been extremely well compensated by his boss at the end of each event.
Bag staff are usually paid a yearly salary or kept on a retainer anyway, with each week presenting a new opportunity for an extra bump in their earnings.
Assuming that Scheffler complies with what is thought to be the standard cut for a caddie on the PGA Tour - 10% of the winner's check and between 5-7% depending on how high up a player finishes - Scott is likely to have taken home a bonus of around $5.34 million in 2024.
That means Scott has earned considerably more than the average PGA Tour player over the past 12 months, and even more than the likes of Justin Thomas, Russell Henley, and Brian Harman.
Beginning with a T5th result at The Sentry in what was the opening event of the new season, Scheffler earned a very healthy $690,500 check. Assuming that Scott earned 7%, the caddie would have taken home $48,355.
After an uncharacteristic week at the American Express where Scheffler *only* finished T17th and won *just* $132,300, his looper is likely to have picked up a $6,615 check.
That "slump" was quickly arrested, though, with Scheffler securing three top-10s in a row over the course of the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am, WM Phoenix Open, and the Genesis Invitational which secured him $1,616,700 in prize money - $113,169 of which may have gone to Scott.
From there, Scheffler went on a run that has seldom been seen on the PGA Tour. Starting with victory at the Arnold Palmer Invitational, Scheffler then claimed The Players Championship before coming second to Stephan Jaeger at the Texas Children's Houston Open.
To make up for that mild disappointment, the World No.1 took his frustrations out on the best golfers in the world by winning his second Masters title at a canter. The following week, he romped to victory at the RBC Heritage - four trophies in five starts.
In the space of 44 days, Scheffler earned $16,253,735 in prize money and could well have shared $1,608,761 of that with his on-course assistant.
Following a three-week break as he and wife Meredith awaited the arrival of their first-born son, Bennett, Scheffler returned to the course at the PGA Championship and produced a fantastic result - given the circumstances.
Scheffler was arrested on Friday morning outside Valhalla Golf Club but collected himself to ultimately finish in a tie for eighth, scooping over $500,000 for his troubles. A little under $40,000 could have been passed on to Scott, despite the bagman missing Saturday to attend his daughter's high-school graduation ceremony.
Scheffler's 12th start of the season arrived a week later, finishing five shots behind winner Davis Riley but sharing second with Keegan Bradley. The pair also split the second-place prize as well, with $809,900 going to each player and a likely $56,693 heading to the respective caddies.
Two events without a victory was apparently too long for the World No.1, and Scheffler addressed that with a one-shot win over Collin Morikawa at the Memorial Tournament - the PGA Tour's seventh Signature Event. $4 million more headed into Scheffler's account while a probable $400,000 was passed on to his caddie.
The sum was all but repeated after the final Signature Event, too, with $3,600,000 collected by the player and a possible 10% going to the caddie. Scheffler saw off good friend Tom Kim in a playoff at the Travelers Championship to ensure he won four of the eight elevated events in 2024.
Both wins surrounded a relatively disappointing US Open, by the American's standards, in which he ended T41st and brought in $72,305 - an extra $3,600 or so passed on to Scott.
At the final Major of the season, The Open, Scheffler threatened to contend but just couldn't warm his putter up enough to really challenge Xander Schauffele, ending T7th and accumulating $451,833 with a little more than $30,000 being tacked on to Scott's mammoth year.
Into the FedEx Cup Playoffs, Scheffler recorded yet another top-10 result at the FedEx St. Jude Championship, finishing solo fourth and banking almost $1 million, with around $67,000 possibly collected by Scheffler's looper.
A T33rd at the BMW Championship then handed Scheffler $119,666, of which Scott will have likely taken $5,983, before the biggest paycheck of his career came with victory at the Tour Championship and the first prize of $25m. With 10% likely heading in Scott's direction, that will have boosted the caddie's earnings to around $5.2 million.
And Scheffler wasn't done there. At the exclusive 20-man Hero World Challenge in The Bahamas, Scheffler roared in the final round to pick up the famous tiger-topped trophy and secure another $1 million, 10% of which could have been added in to Scott's pay packet this year.
