How Much The Winning Caddie Earns At The Tour Championship

Tommy Fleetwood and his caddie Ian Finnis — Tommy Fleetwood's caddie Ian Finnis had a big payday 12 months ago

(Image credit: Getty Images)

The Tour Championship is one of the most prestigious events of the PGA Tour season.

The winner at East Lake not only gets to claim a PGA Tour title, but is also crowned the FedExCup Champion thanks to its status as the final three of the big Playoffs events following a season-long battle.

In other words, it’s a big deal in men’s elite golf – a fact reflected in the huge prize money offered.

Overall, a purse of $40m is available at the event, double the sum reserved for the PGA Tour’s Signature Events and $15m more than even its flagship tournament, The Players Championship.

The winner also claims a bigger prize than any other PGA Tour event, and by some distance.

Whoever wins the Tour Championship, becoming the FedExCup champion in the process, will earn prize money of $10m, more than double the next-highest on the PGA Tour – the $4.5m given to Cameron Young for his win at The Players Championship.

The new champion doesn’t get to see all that money, with various factors determining how much he actually receives.

One of the bigger slices of the $10m windfall is the money paid to his caddie.

In many cases, a player will negotiate terms with his caddie. For example, most caddies are either paid an annual salary or given a weekly base rate. That information is generally kept between them.

However, it is widely accepted that winners of tournaments generally give their caddies 10% of their prize money, on top of what else they are paid.

Brian Rolapp hands Tommy Fleetwood the FedEx Cup

That means the winner’s caddie can expect a one-off payment of $1m from his boss’ earnings – over $400,000 more than even the winner of the big DP World Tour event, the Husqvarna British Masters, earned.

That’s the same sum Tommy Fleetwood’s caddie Ian Finnis is thought to have earned after he helped the Englishman secure his maiden PGA Tour title at the 2025 event.

The caddies of players finishing further down the leaderboard are also expected do well financially out of the week.

Caddies of players finishing elsewhere in the top 10 are expected to receive around 7% of the prize money, with around 5% going to the caddies of other players in the field.

If there’s a solo runner-up at the Tour Championship, the player will win $5m. If his caddie receives 7% of that, it would hand them around $350,000.

Even JJ Spaun, who withdrew on Thursday through injury, will claim at least $355,000 for finishing the FedExCup in 30th place, meaning his caddie Mark Carens is set for a $17,750.

Mike has over 25 years of experience in journalism, including writing on a range of sports throughout that time, such as golf, football and cricket. Now a freelance staff writer for Golf Monthly, he is dedicated to covering the game's most newsworthy stories.

He has written hundreds of articles on the game, from features offering insights into how members of the public can play some of the world's most revered courses, to breaking news stories affecting everything from the PGA Tour and LIV Golf to developmental Tours and the amateur game.

Mike grew up in East Yorkshire and began his career in journalism in 1997. He then moved to London in 2003 as his career flourished, and nowadays resides in New Brunswick, Canada, where he and his wife raise their young family less than a mile from his local course.

Kevin Cook’s acclaimed 2007 biography, Tommy’s Honour, about golf’s founding father and son, remains one of his all-time favourite sports books.