Scottie Scheffler made national news for having his mug shot taken in an orange jumpsuit on Friday. On Saturday, it was the guy wearing the World No. 1’s caddie bib drawing attention.
As we learned earlier in the week, Scheffler’s normal caddie, Ted Scott, would not be at Valhalla for the third round of the PGA Championship. Scott flew home after an eventful Friday to be there for his daughter’s high school graduation.
So who’s carrying Scheffler’s bag during Saturday’s third round? That would be Brad Payne, Scheffler’s longtime friend and the PGA Tour’s chaplain.
Payne comes with plenty of golf and caddieing experience. Payne played collegiately at Pepperdine University and he has caddied before, including for two-time PGA Tour winner Paul Stankowski.
“It was a pretty easy decision,” Scheffler said on Tuesday. “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. One of my buddies is going to carry the bag on Saturday, and then Ted will be back for Sunday’s round.”
The temporary partnership got off to a rough start on Saturday as Scheffler double bogeyed the second hole and bogeyed the third and fourth. After beginning the day tied for fourth at nine under, Scheffler has tumbled down the leaderboard in his pursuit of a second consecutive major victory.
Scheffler has won all 10 of his PGA Tour titles, including four in his past five starts, with Scott on the bag. In addition to caddieing Scheffler to two Masters titles, Scott was also on the bag for Bubba Watson’s two green jackets.
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