Scottie Scheffler doesn't have his usual caddie, Ted Scott, on the bag for the pivotal third round of the 2024 PGA Championship at Valhalla Golf Club in Louisville, Kentucky.
Both Scheffler and Scott have known this day was coming for a long time. Scott isn't at Valhalla on Saturday because he's attending a much more important event to his life. Scott's daughter is graduating from high school on Saturday, and Scott made sure he was going to be there -- major championship or not.
"Teddy is going home Friday night, coming back Saturday evening after the graduation -- or probably Saturday late night, I'm sure they'll do a little celebration afterward," Scheffler said Tuesday ahead of the tournament -- and the strange situation that led to his arrest on Friday morning.
When Scott started caddying for Scheffler, after having worked with Bubba Watson for two Masters titles, the two made clear how much of a priority family was for both of them.
"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," Scheffler said. "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 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."
That buddy is Brad Payne, who is the PGA Tour chaplain. Payne is no slouch as a golfer. He played college golf at Pepperdine University and used to caddie full-time on the PGA Tour for Paul Stankowski. He's still connected to the professional game in his chaplain role.
Scheffler has talked openly this year about his faith and the importance of that to his performance. He's also been open about the desire to spend time with his family, specifically his wife, for important events. He said repeatedly that he was willing to walk away from the Masters, even with the lead on Sunday, if that meant being at home for the birth of his first child with his wife, Meredith.
Walk the walk, talk the talk.
