Most people recognize Ted Scott as the caddie who helped Scottie Scheffler win four major championships and 19 Tour events. But not as many know that Scott is from Lafayette, Louisiana. His roots are deep in the local parishes, and when he’s not on Tour, he spends his weekends working with youth ministries in Opelousas. His sense of home has always stayed close, never moving east just to follow the news. So when Baton Rouge made headlines on Thursday, Scott wasn’t just reading about a city; he was thinking about his own community.

“My Heart is heavy right now. Praying for my friends affected by the Baton Rouge shooting,” he wrote on his Instagram story.

On Thursday afternoon, gunfire broke out in the food court at the Mall of Louisiana in Baton Rouge. Police said two groups exchanged shots in a targeted confrontation, leaving one person dead and five others hurt. Three of those injured were seniors from Ascension Episcopal School in Lafayette, where Scott grew up. Five suspects were arrested. The mall closed on Friday. This was the second mass tragedy in Louisiana in five days, coming less than a week after a gunman in Shreveport killed eight children on April 19.

Scott’s comments are shaped by recent events. In August 2025, his nephew Joel was shot during a pickup basketball game and left paralyzed below the neck. Scott left his tournament midweek, flying to Baton Rouge on a plane arranged by the Schefflers, to be with his family. In the months after, he publicly asked how peace could be found in the situation. There has been no answer.

Scott, who is 52 now, graduated from Comeaux High School. He works with Hope for Opelousas, a ministry that provides free educational support and mentoring to at-risk youth in the parishes north of Lafayette. This is his regular work outside of golf. The people affected by violence are members of the community he has supported for years.

The Zurich Classic of New Orleans began at TPC Louisiana in Avondale on Thursday morning. It is the PGA Tour’s only team event and the only stop in Cajun Country. The tournament was underway when the shooting happened. Play continued as scheduled.

Scott is not the first person in golf to bring a community’s grief into the public eye. The sport has a longer history than many people realize.

Ted Scott and golf’s long history of grieving out loud

Golf has faced moments like this before. After Payne Stewart’s plane crash in October 1999, players gathered at the Tour Championship and quietly hit 2-irons, his club, as a tribute. When Las Vegas endured the Route 91 Harvest shooting in 2017, the Shriners Hospitals for Children Open became a way for the golf community to grieve together. Golfers made personal donations, and fans in the gallery wore ribbons.

When Lahaina burned in 2023, the Sentry at Kapalua raised more than $2 million for relief efforts. Collin Morikawa and Xander Schauffele led the way with their own contributions. In moments like these, golf shows something the leaderboard never can: the people inside the ropes are citizens first, competitors second.

Ted Scott’s post belongs in that tradition. He did not try to place himself there; he was just honest. After years of carrying someone else’s bag, on Thursday, he carried something heavier: the grief of his home state, which keeps asking the same question and keeps waiting for a different answer.