Tour Life
PGA Tour caddie reveals exactly how much money he's made—and spent—this year
Ben Silverman and caddie Bryan Kopsick at the 2024 Rocket Mortgage Classic.
Raj Mehta
How much do PGA Tour caddies make? Well, it depends on who their golfer is. And how well that golfer is playing. Given Scottie Scheffler's historic season, there have been plenty of things written about Ted Scott's earnings in 2024, but, obviously, most loopers aren't getting rich out there.
That doesn't mean there aren't a lot of guys doing well, though. And one of those guys, Bryan Kopsick, offered a detailed breakdown of his finances for the past year. And like when PGA Tour pro Ben Griffin detailed his average weekly expenses last year, we appreciated this look under the hood.
Kopsick caddies for Ben Silverman, a 36-year-old Canadian coming off his best PGA Tour season, finishing 110th on the old money list with more than $1.2 million in earnings. So what kind of cut did Kopsick get? Here's how the candid caddie broke it down.
OK, so that's a base pay of $2,000 per event, plus eight percent of Silverman's earnings—significantly higher than the standard 5/7/10 system based on top 10s and wins—and it came out to $149K for the year.
However, as Kopsick noted in his follow-up tweet, he estimates he's going to have about 50K in travel/professional expenses, so that takes him down to about $100K for the year.
Still, not too shabby. And Kopsick also noted that caddies make extra money from sponsors and that he has several, although he didn't specify how much he makes from those deals. That being said, he acknowledges that this was a very good year and that there have been some lean years in the past, especially when Ben was still on the Korn Ferry Tour.
Kopsick was also asked about comparing the money to working at a high-end golf course.
"We don't do it for the money," is not something you hear often today in regards to pro golf, so that's refreshing to hear. But Bryan believes he has "the coolest job in the entire world."
Good for you, Bryan. Hey, do what you love and you'll never work a day in your life, right?
