In the immediate aftermath of Scottie Scheffler’s Masters win on Sunday night, an extraordinary statistic was doing the rounds on social media.
Up until the start of 2022, Scheffler had played in 62 PGA Tour events as a professional winning $8.56 million in prize money. Since the start of this year, Scheffler has made nine starts, winning four times and earning $9.04 million in the process, as well as ascending to golf’s world No 1 ranking.
What changed? Clearly there is no one magic bullet, but many in the game trace Scheffler’s incredible upturn in form to his decision to team up with caddie Ted Scott at the end of last year. Anyone who thinks caddies only carry bags round the course needed only look at the messages of congratulation that poured in for Scheffler on Sunday night from his fellow professionals, many of them recognising the role Scott played in his success.
“Congrats to Scottie and Ted amazing performance!” tweeted England’s Tommy Fleetwood, as if both of them had been swinging the clubs at Augusta National. “Huge respect for what you are achieving it’s truly a magical time for you all. You’re a fantastic world number 1 for our sport!” “It’s no coincidence Teddy’s in this spot once again,” Paul Azinger added.
Azinger was, of course, referring to Scott’s role as bagman for Bubba Watson in his two Masters titles in 2012 and 2014. Their 15-year partnership ended last year after Watson broke it off, saying he was struggling with his form and a wrist injury and wanted a fresh start.
Scott, nearly 50 years of age, decided at that point that he had had enough of looping and was looking into exploring coaching-related opportunities – he is reputedly a plus-four handicap himself – when Scheffler came calling. The Louisiana native did not immediately say yes. Instead, he asked his children to pray for him.
“It took a week,” a tearful Scott told reporters on Sunday night after the green jacket ceremony, “and they said ‘Dad, we think you ought to do it.’ I said ‘Well, we’ll pray about it for another week.’ They said ‘We definitely think you should do it.’ And that was the deciding factor. I didn’t choose it.”
Whether it was divine intervention or not, it certainly looks a match made in heaven. Scheffler himself is, of course, deeply religious. The Dallas golfer said in his victory press conference on Sunday night that he had had help from above. “Having the God of the universe, the Creator, on your side, makes things a lot easier to deal with,” Scheffler said.
But he also, clearly, leans on Scott, who has a reputation for helping his players to relax and focus. Paul Tesori, current caddie of Webb Simpson, even told Golf Digest recently that Scott made it a prerequisite of their teaming up.
“Teddy and Scottie talked for quite a while before they went to work for him,” Tesori says. “Scottie’s young and has had a bit of a habit of getting a little angry on the golf course, and maybe even a little angry toward his caddie.
“Ted being a veteran, almost 50 years old, being out here for so long, he was able to say: ‘I want to come work for you, but you have got to promise me that you’re going to work on these areas.’ And not only did Scottie say yes, he has absolutely done it.”
Scheffler was impressively calm on Sunday. Bar the four-putt at 18 which allowed runner-up Rory McIlroy to finish within three strokes of him, his final round of 71 was an impressive show of shot selection and execution.
Scott has now been on the bag three times in the last 11 Masters tournaments, just one win behind Steve Williams (who won three times with Tiger Woods and once with Adam Scott).
He might soon rival Williams in another area. The Kiwi once famously held the title of richest sportsman in New Zealand. Assuming Scheffler pays 10 per cent of his earnings, Scott will have made $904,000 this season alone. For reference, that would rank him 101st on the money list – just behind Rickie Fowler – and means he has earned more than any female golfer in the world, bar one, so far this year.