What a week for Scottie Scheffler: Arriving just after the birth of his son at the PGA Championship 2024, opening the tournament with an eagle hole out and in contention, being arrested on Friday morning and still shooting 66 to stay among the top players. And then came Saturday, Moving Day and all the turmoil seemed to suddenly catch up with him.
Double bogey, bogey, bogey caused Scheffler to crash down the leaderboard and he didn’t seem like the player we saw win over and over again over the last few month or even the player he was the day before, unflappable even after facing core shaking circumstances. Scheffler brought himself with a birdie out of that downward spiral, but even from there things stayed wobbly. In the end a two over par 73 meant the loss of his impressive streak of 42 consecutive round of par or better.
Scottie Scheffler with backup caddie on Moving Day of PGA Championship 2024
But another aspect was different for Scheffler on Saturday: After everything that happened during his week so far, Scheffler had to go through moving day without his usual caddie, Ted Scott. Ted Scott flew, as it was planned months in advance, to his daughters high school graduation on Friday.
As a backup for Scott, PGA Tour chaplain Brad Payne took over Scheffler’s bag in Saturday. “It’s one of my older friends who travels week to week out here,” Scheffler said before the tournament. “I trust him to rake a bunker more than my buddies.”
“All-time win for caddies”
But in the end the heavenly support didn’t seem enough to keep Scottie Schefflers head in the game, leading people to ask what role Ted Scott is really playing in Scottie Schefflers success. Golf Digest’s Joel Beall writes on X (formerly Twitter): “Scheffler going south without Ted Scott is an all-time win for caddies.”
Or maybe the events that transpired the day before just took a while to really catch up with the number 1 player in the world. Golf Channel reporter Todd Lewis quotes Scheffler saying: “I don’t think it hit me until this morning what actually transpired yesterday.”
For Sunday, Ted Scott is expected to be back, but from eight shots behind the leaders it would take a miracle for the pair to catch up and hoist the Wanamaker Trophy together.