The FedEx Cup playoffs are coming to an end, and as Scottie Scheffler looks to capture the PGA Tour crown, he’ll do so once again with a relatively unfamiliar face on the bag.
Scheffler made a hard charge toward the top at the FedEx St. Jude Championship, the first of three events in the FedEx Cup playoffs. He ultimately finished in a tie for third place with Tommy Fleetwood after shooting 3-under in the final round, falling one stroke out of a playoff that Justin Rose won over J.J. Spaun.
What made Scheffler’s performance more impressive was that he did so without trusted caddie Ted Scott on his bag for the final round. The legendary looper had to leave Memphis in between the third and fourth rounds to return home to deal with a family matter. Scheffler’s longtime friend and PGA Tour chaplain Brad Payne filled in for the final round, the second time he’s pinch hit for Scott in the last couple of seasons.
Scottie Scheffler’s Tabs Chris Kirk’s Caddie as Fill-In for BMW
Scott won’t return for the BMW Championship at Caves Valley Golf Club in Maryland this week, and Scheffler has arranged to have a new, more experienced caddie on his bag instead of running it back with Payne. Scheffler will turn to Michael Cromie for the middle tournament of the Tour’s three-week sprint to the FedEx Cup, the Tour announced on its website, having confirmed the news with Scheffler’s agent.
Cromie is a familiar face on Tour, who is the longtime caddie of six-time PGA Tour winner Chris Kirk. Cromie is available after Kirk narrowly missed making it to Caves Valley. He finished 51st out of 70 players at the St. Jude with the top 50 advancing to the BMW.
Kirk had used a cast of rotating caddies up until 2020 when Cromie became his full-time bag man. Cromie presumably has been a rock for Kirk, whose battle with alcohol has been widely publicized. He took a leave of absence in 2019 to get treatment, and he has been one of the most impressive stories in golf since then. He returned to the Tour a few months later and struggled. He eventually picked up a win on the Korn Ferry Tour while working his way back and broke through again with a win at the Honda Classic early in the 2023 season. He followed that up a year later with a win in Hawaii at The Sentry.
What to Expect for Scheffler in BMW Championship
Still, this is easily the highest profile gig, even if it’s just for one week, Cromie has had in his career. There’s $20 million on the table this week with $3.6 million up top for the winner, and no one is more poised to hoist the trophy than Scheffler, who is a commanding +250 favorite.
Credit to Scheffler for even playing the BMW, too. Theoretically, given his spot atop the standings, he could have skipped the tournament. Scheffler has nearly a 2,000-point lead over Rory McIlroy for No. 1 in the rankings, and with 2,000 points going to the winner this week, Scheffler is going through regardless. Taking a chance to reset while Scott continues to tend to his family matter would have been sensical.
Cromie is probably happy he chose to play, though.
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