Meet Joe Skovron ('Skovy') : Rickie Fowler's Caddie

 

Ricki Fowler (left) and his Caddie Joe Skovron (right) | Credit: @Skovy14

Rickie Fowler is one of the most iconic young golfers on the PGA Tour today. In his 10 years on tour, he's played well enough to have won 5 tournaments, including the 2015 Players Championship. In addition, Rickie has won 3 international events, two of which were on the European Tour. Rickie is well-known for his amazing skills on and around the green and has arguably one of the best putting strokes on the PGA Tour. We know that a caddie plays a major role in the success of the golfer he or she caddies for, so, who's the golf course analyst behind the super accurate yardages and the laser accurate lines on the greens? Let's take some time to get to know Rickie Fowler's caddie.

Who is Rickie Fowler's caddie?

Rickie Fowler's caddie is Joe Skovron (aka Skovy), the man behind the phenom since the beginning of Rickie's PGA tour career. Joe, like most of the caddies on tour, has deep roots in the game of golf. Because of his father, a long time PGA member, he has been around the game since birth but really came to fall in love with golf at the age of nine. What makes Joe Skovron a great caddie on tour, is that he's been involved with competitive golf since the age of nine and continued straight throughout college. In fact, Joe mentioned , in an interview with the Caddie Network, that he received a partial scholarship to attend college at UC Santa Barbara.

How did Joe Skovron and Rickie Fowler meet?

Joe Skovron and Rickie Fowler are childhood friends. Growing up in the same town, Murrieta, California, Rickie was playing in tournaments that Joe's mother ran so the two families have known each other for a really long time. The caddie relationship would start years later when, as Joe put it, he was not looking at caddying as a career path. Joe was stepping away from competitive golf and was asked to take over the Golf program at La Verne. Shortly after accepting that role, Rickie asked Joe to caddie for him at a Nationwide Tour event at Ohio State and the rest is history. They have gone on to win, in addition to the 5 PGA titles and 3 internationals, 2009 PGA Tour Rookie of the year honors, 4 Ryder Cup appearances as well as 2 appearances at the President's Cup.

How much does Rickie Fowler's caddie make a year?

 Because caddie wages are performance based, the actual number can fluctuate drastically from one season to the next. To give a rough estimate of how much Joe Skovron may have made in the 2020 season, we'll use the calculations from our friends at Sports Casting. Based on their research, they've concluded that a caddie gets paid 5% of winnings if the payer places outside the top 10, 7% if the payer finishes within the top 10, and 10% if the player finishes in 1st place. Based on these assumptions, Joe Skovron may have made as much as $65,000 in 2020

Here's the breakdown of Rickie and Joe's estimated earnings in 2020

Tournament	Finish	Rickie Fowler's Earnings	% of Winnings	Joe Skovron Earnings
Rocket Mortgage Classic	12	$131,875	5%	$6,593.75
Workday Charity Open	22	$59,830	5%	$2,991.50
World Golf Championships-FedEx St. Jude Invitational	15	$131,400	5%	$6,570.00
THE NORTHERN TRUST	49	$23,169	5%	$1,158.47
Arnold Palmer Invitational presented by Mastercard	18	$118,885	5%	$5,944.25
Waste Management Phoenix Open	37	$36,135	5%	$1,806.75
The American Express	10	$162,475	7%	$11,373.25
Sentry Tournament of Champions	5	$285,000	7%	$19,950.00
Hero World Challenge	9	$125,000	7%	$8,750.00
Grand Total	19.7	$1,073,769	6%	$65,137.97