Being On Scottie Scheffler's Bag 'Apex' For Chicago Heights Caddie

CHICAGO HEIGHTS, IL — Diego Origel knows the lay of the land at Olympia Fields Country Club about as well as one might expect for someone who has spent the better part of eight summers working a golf course that will host the world’s top 50 players this weekend.

Yet, for as many rounds as Origel —a Chicago Heights native and rising sophomore at the University of Illinois Chicago — has caddied at Olympia Fields, he figures his 18-hole walk on Wednesday will be difficult, if not impossible, to top even though his assignment for the day knows plenty about the game that brought them together for the day.

Origel was on the bag of the world’s No. 1-ranked player, Scottie Scheffler, for Wednesday’s BMW Championships pro-am event that precedes this weekend’s tournament at Olympia Fields. Scheffler, who has six PGA Tour victories to his credit — including a 2023 Masters championship — will be among the favorites to capture the top spot at Olympia Fields, which will send the top 30 players forward in the Fed Ex Cup Playoffs.

Even before learning he would be caddying for Scheffler, Origel knew plenty about the 27-year-old New Jersey native who captured the Players Championship earlier this year before finishing tied for second at the PGA Championship and third at the U.S. Open. So, when it came to working as Scheffler’s caddy for Wednesday’s pro-am, Origel just tried to keep things simple and rely on a caddying strategy that has served him well over the years — even though he admits he had to overcome the initial shock of the Wednesday’s assignment.

When a tournament official called Origel and asked if he wanted to caddie for Scottie Scheffler, Origel says he had to make sure he heard her correctly. At one point, he asked, "THE Scottie Scheffler?"

“I almost had tears of joy just because it’s a big deal to me,” Origel told Patch on Wednesday.

Origel, who is at the University of Illinois Chicago on an Evans Scholars award, always tries to take a personal approach to his caddying assignments at Olympia Fields. Origel has worked at the private club for eight years now and does his best to blend course knowledge with some personality as a way of establishing a meaningful player-caddie relationship.

A self-described golfing late-bloomer, Origel knows the various stages that golfers go through to develop their game. His caddying style allowed him to establish a routine of how much to communicate with players he is assigned to caddie for, allowing his personality and love of the game to do the rest.

Within a couple of holes, Origel is typically able to read a golfer’s talent level and assess what type of information they need most to ensure success during their round. But when it came to assisting the World No. 1 on Wednesday, Origel relied most on his knowledge of Olympia Fields’ layout and nuances to provide Scheffler with what he needed most.

“I guarantee he knows the game way better than I do,” Origel said. “Obviously, swing-wise, he doesn’t need any coaching and so mostly, I approached him with course knowledge. He’s been at Olympia before, he knows what it takes, he knows how the course plays. But here and there, he did ask for a little course knowledge, and at the end of the day, that’s what I am here for.”

He added: “Whatever he needed; I was there to explain to him.”

Origel is part of an Evans Scholars program that benefits from Western Golf Association events like the BMW Championships. The tournament has raised for than $44 million for the program since 2007, which provides college scholarships to 3,300 caddies that are part of the program. Origel has caddied at Olympia Fields for eight years now and has used the money to help support his family after his father was involved in a serious car accident that left him with serious injuries that continue to this day.

While experiences like Wednesday's certainly aren't lost on Origel, it is also appreciated by players like Scheffler given the impact the Evans Scholars program is having on youngsters across the country.

“They (the Evans Scholars) work so hard out here and then they get to school, and they work just as hard," Scheffler said Wednesday. "It’s really cool to see kids like (Diego) get the opportunity to go to college, and they definitely aren’t taking it for granted.”

In addition to a college scholarship that Origel knows directly helps him and his family, caddying at Olympia Fields has offered him unique opportunities such as the one that rolled around on Wednesday, providing him the chance to spend quality time with a PGA Tour like Scheffler.

During Wednesday’s pro-am, Origel says he and Scheffler talked everything from golf to Chicago pizza. Origel — a deep-dish loyalist despite his South Chicago roots — says he tried to pass along the love of a Chicago original to Scheffler who still prefers thin crust despite trying deep dish once before.

Origel says he became part caddy, part Chamber of Commerce employee who said he wanted Scheffler to feel welcome at a course where his ball-striking ability will play well on a course with an abundance of long Par-4 challenges. Scheffler (+700) is second only to betting favorite Rory McIlroy (+650) in the betting odds to finish the weekend on top, according to PointsBet senior editor Teddy Greenstein.

Despite the success Scheffler has found on tour this season, Greenstein points to the world’s top player’s struggles in recent weeks (tied for 23rd at the Open Championships and tied for 31st at the St. Jude Championships) as a sign that Scheffler may be tiring at exactly the wrong time.

But for Origel, Wednesday’s encounter with golfing greatness will change the way he watches Scheffler over the next four days. The two previously met at the 2020 BMW Championships event at Olympia Fields when the chance meeting in the locker room left Origel with the impression of Scheffler being one of the most genuine and pleasant people he has ever met.

Wednesday’s caddying assignment did nothing to change that although Origel says that his impressions of Scheffler being a fast mover on the golf course from TV were changed by the fact that Origel routinely beat Scheffler to his shot’s landing spot during the event.

“His golf game is completely different than seeing it on TV,” Origel told Patch. “…But I think today is the clear apex of my caddying career. I don’t think there is much that can beat it. (Caddying for) Tiger (Woods) would be one, but I think this is definitely the apex. Eight years of caddying led to this and I got there.”