Million dollar income of professional golf caddies

When golf was first introduced to Vietnam many years ago, some people simply understood that a caddie was the person who carried the golfer's bag.

However, if you look closely, caddies are not just people who carry the golf bag, but they are like close friends and relatives to the athletes. A skilled and experienced caddie sometimes also gives good professional advice to the golfers he serves.

Caddies are sometimes like friends and on-site consultants for golfers.

When entering tournaments, caddies and golfers work together from practice rounds to official matches. Based on previous research information, the duo will plan and prepare for the tournament the golfer participates in.

A good caddie is sometimes also a psychological consultant, assessing weather conditions, club selection, tactics... in each specific situation from careful research and understanding of his course.

Because of such importance, the income of a caddie is much higher than what a normal person can imagine.

Tiger Woods' caddie Williams earned more than... $9 million in 12 years working for the former world's number one golfer

One of the most famous caddies in the world is Steve Williams. In 2007 alone, this caddie earned $1.4 million (about 33 billion VND) while accompanying Tiger Woods. Thereby, he entered the top 75 highest-earning people of the year on the PGA Tour that year, despite not playing a single tournament.

Including the 12 years he spent with the former world number one golfer, Steve Williams pocketed $9 million (over 207 billion VND) out of the $88.8 million in prize money that legendary golfer Tiger Woods won. That means Williams' assets are probably even higher than many businessmen running small and medium-sized enterprises.

Another caddie who has received a lot of attention is Ricky Elliott. When Brooks Koepka won the 2017 US Open with $2.16 million in prize money - a record for any tournament at the time - Ricky Elliott received about $200,000 (more than 4.6 billion VND), higher than the average annual income of 98% of Americans that year.

Phil Mickelson's caddie is also the athlete's younger brother.

$200,000 is also the amount of money that Phil Mickelson's caddie, who is also his younger brother, received after the "old man" of the world golf village won the 2021 PGA Championship a few days ago.

According to the prestigious Forbes magazine, a professional caddie has an average salary of 2,000 to 2,500 USD per week plus income from brand representation, bonuses, and tips.

In addition to salary, caddies and players also have other options for "sharing money", which is that caddies receive 10% of the prize money in every tournament; or receive a higher fixed salary and do not take a discount from rankings.

With high incomes, some caddies, after saving enough money, retire and then look to other business-oriented jobs in the golf industry, based on the relationships and prestige they had when they played alongside famous athletes, before becoming successful businessmen.

According to Dan Tri