PGA Tour caddie Bryan Kopsick has shared how much he earned from his year working with Canadian golfer Ben Silverman, who enjoyed the best season of his career to date
PGA Tour caddie Bryan Kopsick has shared how much he earned from his year working with Canadian golfer Ben Silverman, who enjoyed the best season of his career to date PGA Tour caddie Bryan Kopsick has shared how much he earned from his year working with Canadian golfer Ben Silverman, who enjoyed the best season of his career to date
A professional caddie has revealed exactly how much he earned from a year on the PGA Tour.
Top PGA stars, such as Scottie Scheffler and Rory McIlroy, earn millions each year. But that isn’t the case for every pro golfer – and all players need a caddie on the course. Since 2021, Bryan Kopsick has worked with Ben Silverman, who has enjoyed his best year on the tour, finishing 110th on the PGA’s money list.
Kopsick caddied for Silverman in 24 events as the Canadian achieved seven top-25 finishes. The 36-year-old’s best result came at the Procore Championship in September, finishing T4 in California.
While Scheffler’s caddie Ted Scott pocketed a reported £3.84million ($5m) this year, Kopsick’s earnings are on a significantly smaller scale. However, Silverman’s caddie got a better deal than most on the tour and shared his salary calculations on social media.
He explained that Silverman received a total of £970k ($1,262,599) in prize money this year. As his caddie, Kopsick was paid a base salary of £1,500 ($2,000) per each of the 24 events and also received eight per cent of Silverman’s winnings.
Overall, his income worked out to be just over £114k ($149k), which does not take into account his estimated £38k ($50k) in travel expenses but they’re more or less covered by his sponsorship deals.
Golf fans on X were quick to point out that Kopsick’s eight per cent rate was notably higher than the standard five per cent. The pay scale for caddies usually then increases to seven per cent for a top 10 finish and 10 per cent for a tournament win, but is decided at each player’s discretion.
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Kopsick was keen to stress how much he has enjoyed working with Silverman but did not always have huge paydays when they were plying their trade on the Korn Ferry Tour. In 2021 and 2022, Silverman earned £56k ($74k) and £17k ($23k) respectively before the golfer’s earnings shot up to £393k ($512k) last year.
Kopsick admitted to spending two seasons working two jobs but insisted he would not change a thing about his career path. When asked by one X user if he was happy in his job and whether he believed his pay was fair, Kopsick replied: “1. F*** yes I am.
“I have the coolest job in the entire world 2. Oh yes I do. Beyond fair. I have zero pro golf talent and can eat ice cream the night before a round.”
Having started in the role during his college days, Kopsick revealed that caddies at a high-end course can receive up to £76k ($100k) in cash – but he prefers his job with a PGA player. “It’s tough but we don’t do it for the money,” Kopsick said. “It’s extremely rewarding to try and help someone succeed at what they’re truly good at.”
On the difficulty of establishing a work-life balance, Kopsick added: “[The job is] not for everyone. Have to learn about balance and have a smaller family. We don’t have kids and yet I still miss home like hell the minute I leave. It’s nice having lots of time off when we’re not working. There are times we go 30+ days on [the] road working in a row.”
Mirror – Sport
