Scottie Scheffler shuts down reporter's question about caddie Ted Scott

Scottie Scheffler shut down a reporter's question when asked whether he's optimistic his caddie Ted Scott will return to his bag at next week's Tour Championship.

Scheffler is without his long-time caddie Scott at this week's BMW Championship at Caves Valley GC in Maryland. 

Scott had to leave Scheffler's bag after the third round of the FedEx St Jude Championship at TPC Southwind last Saturday night.

Golf Channel confirmed Scott needed to urgently return home to deal with a "private family matter". 

Scheffler got his friend and PGA Tour chaplain Brad Payne on his bag for the final round.

The World No.1 went on to finish one shot outside of a playoff in a tie for third, but he still leads the FedEx Cup standings. 

Scheffler this week has Chris Kirk's normal caddie Mike Cromie on his bag at the BMW Championship, which is the penultimate event of the FedEx Cup Playoffs. 

Cromie is good friends with Scott, which is how the partnership has come about for Scheffler.

Scheffler thanked Kirk during his press conference for allowing Cromie to work for him. 

Kirk just missed out on qualifying for the BMW Championship after finishing one shot shy of the top 50 in the standings last week. 

"Ted's good buddies with him [Cromie]," revealed Scheffler.

"I've always liked him. He's a young guy, works hard. 

"Chris was very nice to let Cromie come work with me this week. 

"He had a good finish to the season. He was a little bit on the outside looking in, but played really good and was close at the end. 

"It was really nice of him to lend his caddie for the week. That was very kind of him."

But when a reporter then asked Scheffler if Scott might be able to return to his bag at next week's Tour Championship, which determines the fate of the FedEx Cup, Scheffler was in no mood to discuss the situation. 

"I'm not going to answer anything like that," Scheffler shut down the reporter. 

"If that's why you came out here, you're not going to get much. 

"I think Ted's where he needs to be right now, and I think caddieing is probably the last thing on his mind, as it should be.

"I've been able to talk to him a few times. The family is in good spirits. Everybody seems to be doing well. I'm not going to comment any further on anything going on with his family."

Scott first joined Scheffler's bag in 2021 following a successful stint with two-time major champion Bubba Watson.

Scheffler has won all 17 of his career PGA Tour titles with Scott on the bag. 

The four-time major champion admits he is getting to know how his new stand-in caddie Cromie likes to operate, and vice versa.

"Mike's a great guy," said Scheffler.

"He works really hard and does a good job. 

"We're both learning a new golf course this week, so it's been fun."

Scheffler added: "Mike will ask some questions about things -- basically, he's just going to try to fill in as best he can this week. 

"Just asking little stuff. A lot of it is just more routine, like, hey, how do you like me to give you the numbers? When I say I'm hitting a hold shot, he's like, well, what does that mean?

"Just little stuff like that that we're figuring out as the week goes on.

"I'd say most of it is just little stuff like that. He's like, hey, what's your hydration? When do you like to eat? Just little stuff like that. I think there's a lot of little stuff that caddies do that go kind of unnoticed throughout a round, and Michael is doing his best to try and figure those things out. I'm trying to also help remember what those things are as well."

Scheffler joins Rory McIlroy for the first two rounds at the BMW Championship.

Scheffler was also in no mood to talk about the Ryder Cup. 

Check out the Round One Tee Times at the BMW Championship.