Getty Brooks Koepka and caddie Ricky Elliott
The success of Brooks Koepka on the PGA Tour in recent years has grabbed plenty of attention. Specifically, his dominance in majors since 2017 is more than just noteworthy, it’s been exceptional. Throughout Koepka’s strong play, his caddie Ricky Elliott has remained by his side and been a part of multiple major victories.
Over the past three years (not including the 2019 U.S. Open), Koepka has won four majors while finishing second once as well. This includes back-to-back wins in 2017 and 2018 at the U.S. Open along with consecutive victories at the PGA Championship in 2018 and 2019. Koepka’s dominance at the U.S. Open stands out quite a bit and is a talking point as he was in contention on the final day of the 2019 event.
When looking back to previous years of the popular PGA Tour major event, Koepka’s victories have resulted in nice paydays for Elliott as well, although the exact amount he’s made is not revealed publicly.
Brooks Koepka’s Caddie, Ricky Elliott’s U.S. Open Projected Bonuses
The bonus structure for caddies was broken down previously by Golfweek, who pointed out that the amount received typically depends on how a player finishes. They cited a story in Forbes which states that caddies receive 10 percent if a player won the event, seven percent for a top-10 finish and five percent for anything lower.
Assuming that’s true, it would mean Elliott has earned 10 percent of Koepka’s winnings in each of the previous two U.S. Opens. Here’s a look at the first-place payouts for the two events, both of which come in above $2 million.
- 2017 U.S. Open First-Place Pay: $2.16 million (per Golf.com)
- 2018 U.S. Open First-Place Pay: $2.16 million (per Golf Digest)
Based on the whopping $4.32 million Koepka made over the two-year span at the U.S. Open, a 10 percent bonus would equate to Elliott earning $432,000 in bonus money total, or $216,000 from each event.
Even going beyond that, PGATour.com shows Koepka made more than $5.612 million in earnings during the 2017 season and over $7.094 million in 2018. In turn, it’s likely that Elliott brought home a very nice annual salary over the past two years.
Ricky Elliott’s Potential Bonus at 2019 U.S. Open
As impressive as the $2.16 million back-to-back paydays Koepka received are, the 2019 U.S. Open is set to pay out an even higher total to the winner. While he had work to do when the final day of action got underway, heading into the back nine on Sunday, Koepka was tied for second while attempting to catch Gary Woodland.
According to Golf.com, the winner of this year’s U.S. Open will take home $2.25 million while second place receives $1.35 million and third earns $830,466. Here’s a look at the projected paydays for Elliott if Koepka is able to finish in first, second or third.
- First place: $225,000 (10 percent)
- Second place: $94,500 (seven percent)
- Third place: $58,132.62 (seven percent)
It’s a nice weekend for both Koepka and Elliott regardless, and when things wrapped up he finished in second place behind Woodland.
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