Golf’s richest caddies: How they earned millions guiding champions in 2025
In 2025, professional golf caddies saw their paycheques reach unprecedented heights with a mix of PGA Tour consistency and LIV Golf’s massive prize payouts making it possible.
The top earners weren’t just along for the journey – they helped guide elite players to victory and consistently finished in the top 10 of events.
From LIV’s eye-watering championship payouts to PGA Tour Majors and high-stakes tournaments, these bagmen earned life-changing sums.
It’s widely known that caddies take home 10% of their players’ prize money for an event win, around 7% for a top 10 and 5% as a base.
Using the 5/7/10 rule, we’ve broken the five highest-earning caddies of the year, revealing who they caddied for, their players’ victories, and their approximate winnings in another lucrative season.
1. Gary Matthews (Joaquinn Niemann) – $2.93million
- LIV event wins 2025: 5
- Best Major finish 2025: T8 – PGA Championship
Joaquin Niemann dominated the LIV Golf League in 2025, winning five individual events – Adelaide, Singapore, Mexico, Virginia, and the UK – each with at least a $4 million individual prize.
His caddie, Gary Matthews, earned $400,000 per win, plus $800,000 from Niemann’s $8 million LIV Individual Championship effort, where he fell just short to Jon Rahm at the last hurdle.
Additional top-10 finishes across the season pushed his total caddie earnings to approximately $2.93 million, making him the highest-paid caddie of the year.
2. Adam Hayes (Jon Rahm) – $2.75million
- LIV event wins 2025: 5
- Best Major finish 2025: T7 – U.S. Open
Jon Rahm’s consistency was remarkable. Although he did not capture a regular-season win, he recorded seven top-10 finishes in events including Riyadh, Miami, Dallas, and Chicago.
The big payday came at the LIV Golf Individual Championship, where Rahm earned $18 million for the second year running, giving Adam Hayes $1.8 million alone.
Combined with top-10 earnings from other events, Hayes finished the year with roughly $2.75 million.
3. Ted Scott (Scottie Scheffler) – $2.11million
- PGA event wins 2025: 5
- Best Major finish 2025: Win – (PGA Championship & The Open)
Scottie Scheffler dominated the PGA Tour in 2025 with five wins and 16 top-10 finishes.
While PGA Tour events typically have smaller individual payouts than LIV’s $4 million wins, Scheffler’s consistent excellence, including two Major tournament wins at the PGA Championship and Open, meant Ted Scott earned over $2.11 million.
Scheffler’s season-long dominance ensured his bagman was among the elite earners in golf.
4. Ian Finnis (Tommy Fleetwood) – $1.59million
- PGA event wins 2025: 1
- Best Major finish 2025: T16 – The Open
Tommy Fleetwood’s big moment came with a $10 million winner’s cheque in his maiden PGA Tour victory at the lucrative Tour Championship at East Lake Golf Club.
Ian Finnis pocketed $1 million from that win alone, but the prize money would have been insignificant in contrast to the jubilation of Fleetwood getting his first-ever PGA Tour title over the line.
Adding seven additional top-10 finishes during the season brought his total caddie earnings to around $1.59 million, putting him fourth on the list.
5. Harry Diamond (Rory McIlroy) – $1.38million
- PGA event wins 2025: 3
- Best Major finish 2025: Win – Masters
Rory McIlroy continued his PGA Tour success with three wins and eight top-10 finishes in 2025.
Victories at the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am and The Players Championship, the Canadian Open contributed substantially
But his and caddie Harry Diamond’s crowning moment was the Masters win at Augusta National that sealed McIlroy a Career Grand Slam as he became just the sixth player to join the coveted club.
With 10% cuts for each win and 7% cuts from additional top-10s, this brought Diamond’s earnings to approximately $1.38 million, rounding out the top five for the year.
READ MORE: Revealed: How much a golf caddy really earns in a season