Scottie Scheffler’s success this season boils down to many factors, including adding English putting guru Phil Kenyon to his team last year, which paid dividends at the Tour Championship
World No.1 Scottie Scheffler took his season’s winnings to a staggering $62.2million (£47.3m) with his $25m (£19m) victory in the Tour Championship.
And even his caddie is estimated to have banked over $5m (£3.8m) to make him among the top 20 earners on the PGA Tour this year. In an unforgettable 2024 where he also got arrested and became a father, the Masters and Olympic champion became the first player since Tiger Woods in 2007 to win seven PGA Tour events in a season. Back then, the 15-time Major winner banked $22m (£16.74m).
Now after the hike in prize money to fend off more defections to LIV Golf, Dallas-based Scheffler has $829,710 (£631,285) for each PGA Tour round he played this season. “If you can describe my season in words, more power to you, because I don’t think I can,” he said. “It’s been a long year. It’s been a very fun year.”
And if the world No.1 follows the usual guide of paying his caddie 10 per cent of first-place prizes, 7 per cent for top tens and 5 per cent of other earnings, Ted Scott will take home $5.2m (£3.96m).
Scheffler, who started working with Scott in 2021 after attending bible study together, said: “Teddy has always been my biggest supporter. I think the results speak for themselves after he was able to pick up my bag and start helping me. We’ve got a great relationship. He has a habit of saying the right thing at the right time to kind of keep me in the right frame of mind.”
Scott proved this in the final round at East Lakes. Scheffler had opened up a seven-shot lead after two holes of the final round but the lead was cut to two ahead of Collin Morikawa when he shanked a bunker shot on No.8.
Scott then told him: “Just remember who you are: You’re Scottie Scheffler.” The Dallas-based star responded by hitting a 4-iron to three feet on the ninth, the first of a hat-trick of birdies on his way to a four-shot win.
Another key to Scheffler’s success has been English putting guru Phil Kenyon, who joined his team last autumn. He also switched to a mallet putter at Bay Hill and won by five shots to end a 51-streak without a win.
“Last year I was playing good golf and I wasn’t able to make the key putts at the right time, and this year I was,” Scheffler said. “That’s really just the difference.”
Starting at the 2022 WM Phoenix Open, he has now won 13 times in three seasons Rory McIlroy, who said he will play fewer events in 2025 after admitting he “hit a bit of a wall sort of post-US Open” said: “He’s just amazing to watch. Yeah, we’ll look back on 2024 and it’s obviously one of the best individual years that a player has had for a long time.”
