Scheffler turns to fill-in when caddie Ted Scott leaves for family emergency

St Jude Championship Golf (Copyright 2025 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.) Scottie Scheffler and his caddie walk on the first fairway during the final round of the St. Jude Championship golf tournament Sunday, Aug. 10, 2025, in Memphis, Tenn. (AP Photo/George Walker IV) (George Walker IV/AP)

MEMPHIS, Tenn. (AP) — Scottie Scheffler has turned to a tour chaplain as his caddie Sunday for the final round of the FedEx St. Jude Championship when Ted Scott had to leave due to a family emergency at home in Louisiana.

Scheffler began the final round two shots out of the lead.

Brad Payne, a chaplain to several PGA Tour players as president of the College Golf Fellowship, is a close friend of the world's No. 1 player and has been in this spot before.

Scheffler turned to him as a fill-in caddie for the third round of the 2024 PGA Championship at Valhalla because Scott's daughter was graduating. That turned out to be the day after Scheffler was arrested for not following police instructions during a traffic fatality investigation.

Scheffler fell out of contention with a 73 that day, which he later attributed to adrenaline wearing him from one of the more bizarre episodes at a major — the Masters champion was arrested, booked into jail, released and made it back to Valhalla in time for his tee time and then shot 66. The charges were later dismissed.

The PGA Tour did not disclose what led Scott to leave Memphis for Louisiana after the third round.

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Copyright 2025 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.

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