Scottie Scheffler has replaced Tiger Woods at the top of the PGA Tour’s all-time money list, but the world No. 1’s caddie says he has never been in it for the money.
And Ted Scott, who has carried the bag for all four of Scheffler’s major wins, believes nothing sums up his boss better than his stance on LIV Golf. The breakaway league launched in 2022 in the midst of Scheffler’s breakout season, with Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund tossing around billions to lure top stars.
LIV is in a very different place four years on, with Saudi Arabia terminating its support and the league set to declare bankruptcy.
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But in the days of lavish spending, which successfully landed the services of Bryson DeChambeau, Phil Mickelson, et al, Scott says no amount of money could have convinced Scheffler to quit the PGA Tour.
“I mean, the guy, literally, when I first started working for him, was 19th in the world and he had a white golf bag,” Scott told ‘Gravy and The Sleaze’. “I didn’t know him that well, and I asked him. I was like, ‘why don’t you have sponsors’? And he’s like, ‘well, because I just want to play with the equipment that I want to play’. And I was like, ‘OK’.
“And then I remember whenever all the LIV stuff was going on, you know, he was number one in the world at the time, I didn’t know, but I said, ‘they’re probably going to offer you like $250 million to go over there’.
Fierce competitor Scheffler knew the PGA Tour was the only place for him -Credit:Getty Images
“And he said, ‘I don’t care what they offer me. They can offer me a billion dollars. I’m going to play where the best players are because I just want to beat people’.
“I was like, ‘wow, this guy’s just different’, you know. So, the $10M [Tour Championship winnings] doesn’t matter to that guy, and you know, if we were in the pool playing volleyball, he would want to beat you just as bad as he wants to beat you at the FedEx Cup.
“You know, that’s the essence of who Scottie is and that’s what he loves. So I think partially part of his superpower is that the money doesn’t distract him.”
Scheffler’s career earnings on the PGA Tour ballooned to $130M with his $10M Tour Championship victory at East Lake on Sunday, but he has always insisted that money does not motivate him.
“I don’t really think about the money that much,” Scheffler told the ‘Pardon My Take’ podcast in 2024.
“I think that kind of becomes a big deal with the FedEx and everything, but at the end of the day, I’m just playing golf, and the money is just a gift on top of that.”