How much do professional caddies, companions of golf players, earn? This is a question that every golf fan has at least once while watching matches on the PGA Tour, the LPGA Tour, the KLPGA Tour, and the KPGA Korean Tour.

Income varies widely. Your salary is determined by which tour you take as your main stage and who you work with. Generally, the highest earners are PGA Tour caddies. This is because the prize money is overwhelming compared to any tour in the world.

Professional caddies active in major tours such as the United States, Korea, and Japan receive similar basic salaries for each tournament. In the 2022-2023 season, the base salary of PGA Tour caddies is between $1,800 and $2,000 per tournament. The basic salary of caddies active in Korea is 1.5 million won, but there is no big difference as transportation and lodging costs are much cheaper than those in the United States.

However, there is a significant gap in incentives given to players based on their performance. The most well-known caddy incentives for golf fans are winning and top 10 bonuses. The amount of incentives players pay to their caddies is 5-7% and 3-5% of prize money, respectively. Kim Si-woo, who won the PGA Tour Sony Open last month, received $1.422 million in prize money (approximately 1.75 billion won). If 7% of the prize money is given as an incentive to win, it is calculated that Kim Si-woo’s caddy, Manuel Villegas (Colombia), received $99,540 (approximately 120 million won) in this tournament alone.

With so many caddies earning hundreds of millions of dollars, the PGA Tour is known as the best workplace among caddies. But being a PGA Tour caddy isn’t easy. Just as players make it to the PGA Tour, caddies must survive fierce competition.

The first thing caddies do to get active on the PGA Tour is to make a resume. The reason for producing a resume with career and strengths is to turn to players and management. A caddy on the PGA Tour said, “Most caddies put a lot of effort into their resumes. That’s why resumes are so important,” he said. I think I have made more than 10 resumes so far,” he explained.

Many PGA Tour caddies have gotten jobs through their resumes. Colin Morikawa (USA)’s caddy JJ Jaco bag is representative. He worked with Ryan Moore from 2011 to 2019 and was looking for a new player after they broke up. Jacobak sent his resume directly to the management to which Morikawa, who performed the best on the amateur stage at the time, belonged, and after an interview, he became Morikawa’s caddy. A management official in charge of various players on the PGA Tour said, “Since the salary varies depending on which player is in charge, caddies are also trying to find players with excellent skills.” “Sometimes I receive a resume from a caddy of a company that wants to work with me.”

It’s not just about sending emails with resumes. Some caddies go directly to players who do not have caddies at the competition site or who are likely to have broken up with the existing caddies, and express their clear intention that they want to work together. One player on the PGA Tour said, “I know like a ghost that there is no caddy. There are often caddies who first suggest that we work together for one or three competitions at the player registration site,” he emphasized. .

Being a PGA Tour caddy is difficult, so I spend a lot of time developing myself. It is basic to build a body in the off-season like an athlete. Some caddies go to professional instructors to study putts and swings. And that’s not all. Since the caddy is the only person on the course who can give advice to players, psychology is also studied separately.

An official familiar with the PGA Tour said, “I know very well that caddies cannot play an active role on the PGA Tour unless they improve every year. For this reason, he puts a lot of effort into becoming a flawless caddy,” he said.

There is another income that PGA Tour caddies earn. This is a sponsorship deposit received from a company that conducts caddy marketing such as Valspa. Valspa, which has been sponsoring PGA Tour caddies for a long time, is known to give incentives after evaluating players’ performance and exposure.

Recently, among caddies, there is a place that is evaluated as the best stage beyond the PGA Tour. This is the LIV Golf Invitational Series. This is because it is known that LIV Golf supports all caddies, such as lodging and transportation, and even pays a special down payment. An official familiar with LIV Golf said, “LIV Golf gives the best treatment to caddies as well as players. The satisfaction of the caddies is high as they are being treated like they have never been before,” he said. There are bound to be more caddies who want to work at LIV Golf, where they can work less and earn more money.” 먹튀검증