Brad Payne is the fill-in caddie for Scottie Scheffler at the PGA Tour’s FedEx St. Jude Championship, the first leg of the FedEx Cup playoffs.
Here’s what you need to know about Scottie Scheffler’s fill-in caddie, Brad Payne.
1. This isn’t his first time filling in for Scheffler
The 2024 PGA Championship will always be remembered for Scheffler’s arrest in Louisville outside of Valhalla. What many golf fans don’t remember is that Scheffler also played the third round that weekend with Payne on the bag. Scheffler’s longtime caddie, Ted Scott, returned home for the Saturday of the tournament to see his daughter graduate. Scheffler shot a 73 with Payne looping, and Scott returned for the final round. Scheffler finished the tournament tied for eighth, eight shots behind champion Xander Schauffele.
It was a tough day for Scheffler, but he made sure to shoulder all of the blame.
“Obviously (Saturday with Payne) was a bit of a different day, but it’s up to me to come out and hit the shots and execute, and (Saturday) I wasn’t able to do that, and (Sunday) I got off to the slow start, but we did a good job of staying patient and coming out and having a really, really nice back nine to have a decent finish this week,” Scheffler told reporters after the final round of that tournament.
2. Payne is a chaplain for Tour players
Payne is well-known to not just Scheffler but many players on Tour for his role as chaplain. He travels week to week with the Tour.
“I usually am there Monday through Thursday or Tuesday through Friday,” Payne explained on the “Golf. Life. Faith.” podcast in January of 2025. “We’ll have a bible study Tuesday night for anyone who wants to come, and the rest of the time I’m kind of relationally evangelism, discipleship, meeting with people, a lot of counseling. I enjoy it.
Payne is also the president of the College Golf Fellowship, an organization dedicated to helping collegiate golfers and coachers “understand what a genuine relationship with God looks like and how it’s different from what most people think of when they hear the word ‘religion.’” He has served in that role since 1998.
3. Payne can play a little himself, too
Payne wasn’t destined for Tour stardom, but he had an impressive amateur golf career himself. He played college golf at Pepperdine, where he had three top-three finishes in the West Coast Conference championship in the late 1980s and early ’90s. He also met his wife at Pepperdine.
4. Payne, Scheffler no strangers to each other
Scheffler has become good friends with Payne, calling him “one of my older friends” when revealing the fill-in for the 2024 PGA Championship. The two share the same stomping grounds, too, with Payne now located in Dallas, just like Scheffler. Payne attended graduate school in Dallas and is also mentioned on the Dallas Theological Seminary website.
5. Payne has a connection to another longtime PGA Tour veteran
Scheffler isn’t the first bag for Payne on the PGA Tour. He has also caddied for longtime Tour pro Paul Stankowski. The Payne and Stankowski families moved to Flour Mound, Texas, after Payne and Stankowski grew up playing high school and college golf together.
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