The Masters: How much do caddies make?
(NEXSTAR) — It’s early April once again, which means golf’s best are in Augusta for the Masters Tournament. While they’ll be vying for the venerable green jacket and a multi-million dollar pot, their right-hand caddies will be hoping for a bit of green themselves.
Last year’s tournament winner, Jon Rahm, took home $3.24 million of the total $18 million prize purse. That’s the most a Masters champion has ever taken home, surpassing the previous year’s winner, Scottie Scheffler, by $630,000, according to CBS Sports.
This year’s winner is expected to take home the same. As of Friday, reports indicate Augusta National will not be increasing the pot for 2024.
While we know how much the winner and those ranking behind him will take home, we don’t know exactly how much a caddie takes home. We do, however, have a rough idea of how much a winning caddie may earn — and it’s nothing to shy away from.
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Like many of us, professional caddies get a weekly paycheck from their player. They’ll also, in most cases, earn a cut of a player’s winnings.
While caddies and players can have their own deals regarding pay, the general rule when it comes to tournament play is a “10-7-5” payout, former PGA Tour caddie Michael Collins previously explained on his show, “America’s Caddie.”
“If the guy makes the cut, the standard is 10-7-5 — 10% for a win, 7% for a top 10, 5% for everything else,” Collins explained, according to an Insider report. He went on to say that some caddies may negotiate lowering winning payouts in exchange for a higher weekly income.
Following that standard, Rahm’s caddie, Adam Hayes, may have collected anywhere from $162,000 to $324,000 for his work during the Masters last year. That’s more than the golfers who finished outside the top 25 (or top 15, if Hayes got a 10% cut) earned in the tournament.
There were nearly 90 golfers to start the Masters this year, but only the top 50 players and ties make the cut, Golf.com previously reported. Augusta National will pay every professional though, even if they don’t make the cut. As of 2021, players who didn’t land among the top 50 during the Masters still earned $10,000.
If the caddies for those golfers have the “standard” deal laid out by Collins above, they could take home about $500.
As big as the Masters may feel to us, it’s one of countless tournaments caddies and their golfers will participate in this year.
However, caddies are responsible for their own expenses, covering things like airfare, hotel, car rentals, food, and anything else that may pop up, Collins said during a 2021 episode of the “Green Light with Chris Long” podcast.
Depending on the tour a caddie and golfer are on, those expenses could range from $25,000 to $50,000 a year, Michael Bestor, caddie for Kevin Streelman, previously explained.
In addition to his winnings, the winning caddie can also ask to have the white jumpsuit they wore at the Masters sent their way after the tournament.
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