Masters champion Scottie Scheffler will be without caddie Ted Scott for the third round of the 106th US PGA Championship as he bids to win back-to-back major titles.
Scheffler’s participation at Valhalla had been in doubt until wife Meredith gave birth to their first child last week as the world number one was sitting out the Wells Fargo Championship.
But Scheffler revealed in his pre-tournament press conference that, assuming he makes the halfway cut in the year’s second major, his caddie has already arranged to take care of his own family obligation back home.
Scott’s daughter is graduating high school this week and Scheffler said: “Teddy is going home Friday night, coming back Saturday evening after the graduation.
“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 back-up 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.
“It’s one of my older friends who travels week to week out here. He’s the PGA 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.”
Scheffler has not competed since winning the RBC Heritage title the week after claiming a second green jacket at Augusta National, but believes he is well prepared to challenge for victory at Valhalla.
“I was able to practice and play plenty at home,” Scheffler said.
“Obviously the last week was a bit different with our son coming. But yeah, I would say three weeks is probably a bit of a longer break than I would usually take.
“I’m definitely rested going into this week for sure. I don’t really feel like any rust has accumulated. I was able to practice and play a lot at home.
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“I’m able to do stuff at home to simulate tournament golf, especially on the greens, competing and gambling with my buddies. I don’t really want to lose to them, either, so I was able to simulate a little bit of competition at home.
“I told my son as I was leaving, I was like, I don’t want to leave you right now, but I need to.
“I’m called to do my job to the best of my ability, and I felt like showing up Wednesday night wouldn’t really be doing myself a service this week when it comes to playing and competing in the tournament.”
