The $114M Arrangement: Why Scottie Scheffler Never Looks at His Own Caddie’s Paychecks

Scottie Scheffler does not watch Ted Scott’s paychecks. Not because he’s careless with money, and not because it doesn’t matter to him — it’s because he’s handed that job off entirely, and by his own admission, he’s happy to stay out of it.

The world No. 1 golfer has admitted that instead of tracking payouts himself, he relies entirely on his financial team to distribute the standard caddie percentages.

“We have a girl that helps us pay bills because I’m basically a child and can’t keep track of that stuff. She quickly took over that job and texts me at the end of each week saying. ‘Hey, this is how much we’re paying Ted.’ I’m like, ‘That’s great,’” Scheffler said during his appearance at the Pardon My Take podcast in 2024.

That may sound strange for a player who has accumulated more than $114 million in official PGA Tour earnings and sits among the top earners in tour history.

But it fits Scheffler’s style, who openly admitted: “At the end of the day, I’m just playing golf and the money is just a gift on top of that,” during the same podcast, per The Mirror.

Ted Scott has been a big part of that rise. He has worked with Scheffler since late 2021, after years on Bubba Watson’s bag, and that run has been wildly profitable.

The exact split between Scheffler and Scott is private, but the usual caddie cut is around 10 percent for a win, with smaller shares for lower finishes.

But according to the mirror.co.uk’s report, approximately $105m (£78m) of Scheffler’s total earnings has come since Scott took over his bag in late 2021.

 So if Scott gets a cut of those winnings, even a small one, his earnings would be in the millions. Probably more money than many of the players Scheffler beats week after week.

The same arrangement is very much in play at Royal Birkdale this week.

The R&A has increased the Open Championship’s total purse to roughly $17.5 million this year, with the winner’s share sitting at $3.2 million. Do the standard math on a 10% winning cut, and a successful title defense would put $320,000 in Scott’s pocket for one week of work — on top of whatever fixed rate the two have privately agreed to.

Scottie Scheffler’s Open Defense Starts With a Clean Number

Scheffler came into Royal Birkdale after a rare stumble at the Genesis Scottish Open, where he missed the cut and saw his run of 78 straight made cuts come to an end.

Before that, Scheffler had won only once this year, back in January at the American Express. Since then, he has come close many times but never closed.

He finished one shot behind Rory McIlroy at the Masters. He tied for 14th at the PGA Championship, his first finish outside the top 10 at a major since 2024. At the U.S. Open, he tied for fourth while Wyndham Clark took the trophy.

For the first time since 2023, Scheffler started the Open Championship without a major win in a season. But on Thursday, none of that seemed to matter.

Scheffler hit 13 of 14 fairways, the best mark in the entire field. He made four birdies in his first six holes. A bogey at the par-4 7th slowed him down, but he stayed steady. By the end of the day, he had signed for a 2-under-par 68. 

There are still three long days of golf to go. The weather can change. The wind can blow. The course can bite. But if Scheffler does find a way to lift the Claret Jug again on Sunday, one man will be smiling almost as wide as he is. Yes, Ted Scott!