While Scottie Scheffler is clearly capable of doing what virtually no other golfer on the planet is able to do right now, the world number one will probably be the first to give much of the credit for his success to his caddie Ted Scott.
Scottie Scheffler and Ted Scott have been working together since 2021 after the latter’s time on the bag of Bubba Watson came to an end. And it is fair to say that they have had enormous success together.
Scheffler went into the 2022 season still awaiting his first win on the PGA Tour. However, he has since become the best player in the world, winning two majors along the way. Of course, the 28-year-old won eight times worldwide in 2024.
While the talent is obvious, Scheffler will probably suggest that very little of that success does happen without Scott on his bag. A successful partnership between a player and caddie can make a massive difference. But part of the challenge is how a caddie goes about talking a player out of a shot they want to hit.
Scottie Scheffler shares what Ted Scott can veto a shot he wants to hit
It must be daunting to tell a Scottie Scheffler or Rory McIlroy that they may be about to make a poor decision. And with that, Scheffler was asked by Golf Digest whether Scott has any veto rights when he is eyeing up a shot.
It turns out, he does not.
“Teddy does not have veto rights. I think if he would ever be in a situation where he really needed to veto me, he’d probably just say some interesting things to try and convince me,” he said.
“Not threaten me, but I can typically tell when he’s going to talk me into a shot and if I’m feeling really good about it, I’ll just tell him, ‘no, I like this’ and he’ll be like, ‘okay’. If he ever is trying to talk me into something, he’s got a good way of doing it.”
The sometimes thankless task of being a caddie
Being a caddie must feel like quite a thankless task at times. Of course, they are paid well when their player plays well. But it is impossible to often know just how influential they have been in a player’s success.
The player is the hero if they make the shot, while blame is attached to the caddie if it proves to be a poor club selection. Rory McIlroy’s caddie Harry Diamond faced criticism after McIlroy failed to win the US Open earlier this year.
Even stepping in must be challenging. No caddie probably wants to put any doubt in their player’s mind, particularly if they are certain that they have the right club and the right shot in their head.
But Scheffler and Scott have clearly reached a place where, if Scott steps in, Scheffler knows that it is for very good reason.
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