Scheffler's caddie will take a day off from the PGA to attend his daughter's high school graduation

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP) — Family comes first for golf’s newest dad. That’s why Scottie Scheffler didn’t think twice about giving his friend and caddie a day off during the PGA Championship to attend his daughter’s high school graduation.

Scheffler said Friday’s ceremony for caddie Ted Scott’s daughter, Gabrielle, has been on their calendar for a while. The plan always has been for Scott to leave Valhalla after the second round, then return for the final round Sunday.

“It was a pretty easy decision,” Scheffler said. “He told me at the beginning of this year that that was the date that it was, so I got a backup caddie lined up.”

This will be the first major for Scheffler as a dad. The Masters champion’s own baby boy, Bennett, was born May 8.

Scheffler said his old friend Brad Payne, who serves as a chaplain on tour, will carry the bag Saturday.

“I trust him to rake a bunker more than my buddies,” Scheffler said.

NOT PLAYERS ONLY

Jordan Spieth pushed back against the suggestion that players are taking over in the long-running negotiations between the PGA Tour and the Saudi-funded backers of LIV Golf.

In a news conference Tuesday ahead of the PGA Championship, the three-time major champion, who is one of six players on the PGA Tour policy board, said it was a “false narrative that the players are determining all these things."

“If you’re in the room, it’s very obvious that players are not dictating the future of golf and the PGA Tour,” Spieth said. “You need to have everyone’s perspective on both sides of it. ... You have a lot of strategic investors that know a heck of a lot more than any of us players.”

Spieth was responding to comments made by Jimmy Dunne, who resigned from the board this week. In a letter delivering his resignation, Dunne said that because players outnumbered independent directors on the board, “I feel like my vote and my role is utterly superfluous.”

Woods joined the tour's top policymaking body last year to give players six of 12 spots; a year before that, there were four players on the board.

Spieth said he was surprised by Dunne's departure and called it a loss. He said reports from the “outside world” that focus on the negatives in negotiations that have been dragging out for nearly a year do not tell the full story.

“Things are, unfortunately, put in a really bad light right now, and I think things are actually in a really, really good place, based on what I know, which is quite a lot in this situation,” Spieth said.

PURSUING PARIS

Max Homa came to Valhalla still seeking his first major title after a near — well, about as near as anybody gets to Scottie Scheffler these days — miss at the Masters.

The 33-year-old’s relentless pursuit of one long-sought-after goal, however, has put him within reach of another he’s only recently considered: the Olympics.

Homa finds himself in a fight with Patrick Cantlay and Brian Harman for the potential fourth spot on the U.S. team with just over a month until the tournament field is set.

A country may send four players to France provided they are in the top 15 in the world golf ranking. Heading into the PGA Championship, Cantlay was eighth, Homa ninth and Harman 10th. They’re vying for a chance to join near-locks Scheffler, Xander Schauffele and Wyndham Clark at Golf National.

Getting to Paris isn’t something Homa thought about much until he realized the math was trending in his favor a year ago. Three top 10s in his last six starts have bolstered his chances, and his desire to be on Team USA.

“Now it’s like on the tip of my mind,” he said. “We were just talking about it actually at breakfast ... I think it just felt kind of not real. As a golfer, I don’t think the Olympics ever feels like a real thing we’re going to do, and then you get a chance, and now I would really like to be a part of that.”

POSTROUND MATCH

Justin Thomas has been given a morning start for the first round of his hometown major.

That suits the two-time PGA champion just fine, because it frees him up to watch a match in his latest sporting interest — soccer.

Thomas is a minority investor in English club Leeds United, which is attempting to get promoted to the lucrative Premier League. Leeds is currently in the second tier’s postseason playoffs and has a home game against Norwich City starting at 3 p.m. in the U.S. on Thursday.

Thomas should have finished his round at Valhalla by then.

“That has worked out nicely,” he said.

Thomas said he and close friend Jordan Spieth — another investor in Leeds — have gained some extra insight into the club from conversations with Billy Foster, an Englishman who is the caddie for Matt Fitzpatrick.

So, does Thomas have a message for the team as it heads into its biggest match of the season?

“My advice is very different than probably anything that would be useful or helpful to them,” he said, “but I know I’ve really, really enjoyed learning a lot more about the sport.”

To prove that, he added: “I mean, right now I like the fact that they’re playing at (home at) Elland Road. I know that they’re a tough team to beat there, so I’m excited to watch.”

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AP Sports Writers Will Graves in Louisville and Steve Douglas in Sundsvall, Sweden, contributed to this report.

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