Scottie Scheffler's Caddie on the Greatest Lesson He's Ever Learned

Scottie Scheffler's Caddie on the Greatest Lesson He's Ever Learned originally appeared on Athlon Sports.

Scottie Scheffler has taken a commanding four-shot lead over the field at the 153rd Open Championship after a bogey-free third-round 67.

As the world No. 1 continues to dazzle with his performance at Royal Portrush, remarks made by Scottie Scheffler's caddie, Ted Scott, during a 2024 interview are revisited with renewed relevance.

Scott, 52, made an appearance on "The Sweet Spot" podcast in 2024, and he discussed his journey from pursuing golf as a player to becoming a caddie, and the greatest lessons he has learned along the way.

One of the greatest lessons Scott said he tries to promote to his players is the idea of committing to your shot and swinging freely, no matter what the outcome may be.

"You have to be willing to hit the worst shot of your life to hit the best shot," Scott said. "That is the hardest thing to do in golf, but that is the secret to performing well. If you can’t do that, then you're not going to be good."

Scott attributes the quote to Brooks Koepka, who explained it to Bubba Watson, the player Scott was accompanying at the time. Watson had asked Koepka how he'd been able to find the fairway coming down the 18th hole at Pebble Beach during the 2019 U.S. Open with all the pressure of the tournament on the line and the Pacific Ocean to the left.

Scott paraphrased Koepka's response on the podcast, "Of course I knew the Pacific Ocean was right there; it's the biggest water hazard on the planet. I also knew there was a fairway out there and I just decided I'm going to swing like I'm going to hit it in the fairway, and if it goes in that water hazard, that's fine, but I'm not going try not to hit it in that water hazard, I'm going to swing like I want to hit it in that fairway.”

"I thought that was genius the way Brooks Koepka presented that," Scott added.

Scott says this skill can be practiced, and he encourages players to experiment and not be afraid to hit bad shots while working on the range. "Blade it, slice it, hook it," Scott says, "but do it with freedom. If you don't manage that in practice it's going to magnify itself in the game."

Scott’s lesson is insightful when applied to Scheffler’s brillance at Royal Portrush this week. 

While the media has been making much to-do about Royal Portrush's treacherous par-3 16th hole, nicknamed "Calamity Corner," with the grassy equivalent of the Pacific Ocean along the entire right side, Scottie Scheffler has birdied the hole three days in a row.

That's not the action of someone who is thinking, "don’t go right," while standing over the ball, but that of an artist who sees a shot and executes with freedom, no matter what trouble might await if he misses right. 

"You're always trying to help your guy as a caddie to get in that frame of mind to potentially hit the best shot of his life,” Scott went on to explain. "It's golf, you're going to hit bad shots, but you don't want to hit a bad shot without giving yourself the chance to hit a good one."

Coming into Calamity Corner on the final round of The Open, Ted Scott will be watching Scheffler like a hawk. He'll be gauging when to step in and give some extra confidence and when to step back and let his man go, as Scottie Scheffler aims to close out his first Open Championship, his fourth major in just three years. 

This story was originally reported by Athlon Sports on Jul 20, 2025, where it first appeared.