It should be no surprise Drew Mathers felt the nerves he did late Sunday at Philadelphia Cricket Club. As a last-minute fill-in caddie for Sepp Straka, he had never been in this type of situation — you know, battling down the stretch with $3.6 million on the line.
Straka and Shane Lowry were tied after 54 holes at the Truist Championship, teed off together in the final pairing and were still tied with three holes to play. But Lowry bogeyed two of the last three and Straka made three pars to win the title and claim his second victory of the season.
Mathers won big, too.
“I’ve never experienced being a caddie on this level,” Mathers told the PGA Tour afterwards. “The last few holes the heart rate was spiked for sure, and that last hole the emotions kicked in a little bit after I knew Sepp could two-putt from 3 feet. I was like, ‘You got it.’ So it was awesome.”
An aspiring tour pro, Mathers, 26, is currently playing mini tour events and preparing for Korn Ferry Tour Q-School in the fall. That’s all expensive stuff, but Sunday might have helped. While it’s unclear what arrangement Straka and Mathers had in place, the typical number you hear on Tour is a caddie taking home 10 percent of that week’s winnings. Since this was a Signature Event, if Straka and Mathers landed on that 10-percent number, it would mean $360,000 for the looper.
“It helps a ton,” Mathers said. “[Pro golf] is expensive. Everything is expensive. I’m still in shock.”
