Scottie Scheffler won’t have Ted Scott on his bag for the third-round PGA Championship. The veteran looper, who has presumably earned around the same amount as Rory McIlroy this season, will travel back to his home on Friday night. Scott has a family matter to attend to. And Scheffler, who took a break after RBC Heritage to be by his wife Meredith’s side during childbirth, knows the importance of family.

In his stead, the 10-time PGA Tour winner will have one of his “older friends who travels week to week out” at Valhalla on his bag. Although it might come as a surprise now, Scheffler revealed they had it all planned months ago.

Family comes first for both the employer and the employee

Scott and Scheffler follow the family-first approach quite diligently. So, when Ted Scott told him of his daughter’s graduation, Scheffler didn’t push for him to stay.  The 27-year-old, who met Scott at a Bible study group, said the veteran looper told him about the date quite early this year.

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Scheffler explained in the pre-tournament press conference, “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.”

Scott and Scheffler have been working together since 2021. All ten of his victories have come with the veteran looper, who previously caddied for Bubba Watson. Ted Scott has earned over $1.5 million this season alone, thanks to Scheffler’s nine top-10s from ten events, which include four victories and a runner-up finish. In his absence, one of Scheffler’s friends would caddie for him on a moving day. But it’s not from the group of friends who were there at Augusta last month to support him. Rather, Scheffler’s caddie for a day has quite the experience of Valhalla’s Zeon Zoysia sod.

Brad Payne will caddie for Scottie Scheffler

Scheffler, should he make the cut, will have Brad Payne on his bag. Payne’s choice perhaps comes as a no-brainer. The bagman has looped for PGA Tour veteran, Paul Stankowski, a two-time winner on the Tour before. Stankowski now plays in the PGA Tour Champions. But more interestingly, Payne also serves as a PGA Tour chaplain. Scheffler, a devout Christian who has regularly talked about the influence of God in his on-course and off-course life, picked Ted Scott because of their similarity in faith.

“I really want to work with a Christian. That’s how I try to live my life,” Scottie Scheffler told Scott while asking him to be on his bag in 2021. Revealing his caddie for Saturday, the two-time Major champion said, “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.” Scott is set to be back on Saturday night and will be the usual companion on the final round.