As the last of eight Signature Events of the PGA Tour season, the Travelers Championship has a greater financial incentive than most, with an overall purse of $20m available to the limited field.
Like the 2024 tournament, the winner at TPC River Highlands will earn one of the biggest prizes in the game, $3.6m, but he won’t get to keep all of that money.
An integral part of the player’s success is his caddie, and they are typically well compensated as well. Generally, the winning caddie earns 10% of his boss’s prize money, meaning that an estimated $360,000 will be heading their way at the Travelers Championship.
Last year, Scottie Scheffler continued his dominant season to win the title, which handed Ted Scott the latest in a long line of attractive paydays on his way to earning an estimated $5.3m across the season.
The World No.1 couldn’t take advantage of his co-lead heading into the third round, and faded throughout Saturday, leaving his chances of successfully defending his title hanging by a thread.
However, it was a different story for Englishman Tommy Fleetwood, who headed back to the clubhouse on Saturday with a commanding three-shot lead following a third round of 63 to leave him dreaming of his maiden PGA Tour win.
Helping Fleetwood into that position of strength was his regular caddie Ian Finnis, who will be in line for his biggest payday working with the 34-year-old should he go on to win.
Even the caddies of the players who miss out will walk away from TPC River Highlands with a decent payment, with players finishing in the top 10 of the tournament expected to award their caddie 7% of their prize money, with 5% going to the rest.
For example, the runner-up is set for a $2.1m reward, which should bank his caddie $151,200, a figure sure to take the edge off the disappointment of getting close, but not quite close enough, to helping their player win the tournament.
