I’ve followed German pros on the PGA Tour since Martin Kaymer’s major-winning run, and Matti Schmid is the closest thing the country has produced to a genuine heir since. He nearly won a major in May. He’s never won on Tour at all. That gap between almost and actual is the whole story of his career right now.
It’s also why his name spikes in search traffic every time he climbs a leaderboard. This piece pulls together the parts nobody else puts in one place: his age, height, family, girlfriend, caddie, OWGR trajectory, and full 2026 bag, straight from current tour data instead of recycled bio copy.
Quick Answer: Matti Schmid is a 28-year-old German professional golfer on the PGA Tour and DP World Tour, not LIV Golf. He’s 6 feet tall, reached a career-high World Ranking of 65 after his tied-fourth finish at the 2026 PGA Championship, and plays with caddie Chris Selfridge on the bag.
How Old Is Schmid?
Schmid was born on November 18, 1997, in Regensburg, Germany, which puts him at 28 years old as of this update. He grew up in Maxhütte-Haidhof, a small Bavarian town, and still lists it as his residence on his own website even now that he plays most of his season in the US.
He turned professional in July 2021, immediately after his amateur run at the Open Championship, so he’s in his sixth season as a pro. That’s a longer runway than it looks. Xander Schauffele and Collin Morikawa both had their first PGA Tour win by year three.
Schmid is now two seasons past that mark with zero wins and a checkbook that says $6.8 million, which tells you the talent has never been the question. Closing is.
How Tall Is Schmid? Height, Build and Driving Distance
Schmid measures 6 feet tall (1.83m) and plays at around 159 lbs (72kg), according to both ESPN and his PGA Tour bio. That’s within an inch of the average Tour player’s height, not the 6’4″ frame you’d expect from someone who has ranked inside the top 10 in driving distance on both the DP World Tour and the PGA Tour in separate seasons.
That matters for anyone coaching a smaller junior golfer worried about a growth spurt. Schmid’s numbers prove that clubhead speed and sequencing beat raw size off the tee, and I’d point any parent asking “is my kid too small for this” straight at his stat line before I’d point them at a strength coach.
Where Does Schmid Live?
Officially, Schmid’s residence is still Maxhütte-Haidhof in Bavaria, per his own website’s biography section. Practically, he set up a US base in Jacksonville Beach, Florida, a move the PGA Tour’s own “Five Things” feature confirmed back in 2024, and one that makes sense for a player who tees it up on American soil most of the year.
He still splits time back to Germany between seasons, and family regularly flies out to watch him play in the US. None of the five reference pages that currently dominate his search results answer this question directly, which is one of the easier gaps to close here.
Schmid’s Parents and Family
Schmid comes from a genuine golfing household. His father, Roland, spent his career as a club professional in Bavaria and has actually caddied for Matti before, most notably during an Open Championship appearance, before handing the bag over to a full-time professional. His uncle Marcus travels out for tournaments too. PGA Tour reporting placed both of them trackside at TPC Sawgrass in 2024 supporting him during The Players.
Public reporting hasn’t named his mother, and I’m not going to invent a detail that isn’t out there. What’s confirmed is enough on its own. Schmid didn’t stumble into this game. His father raised him inside it while earning his living teaching it to others.
Is Schmid Married? Meet Girlfriend Nora Worlke
He isn’t. Despite “matti schmid wife” being a heavily searched term, Schmid has a longtime girlfriend, Nora Worlke, not a spouse. The two have been together since 2017, reportedly since around the time he started at the University of Louisville, and she’s German like him.
Worlke keeps her Instagram locked and rarely appears in Schmid’s own posts, which tells you she’s chosen privacy over any kind of golf-wife public profile. She has still shown up courtside at big moments, including a scheduled trip out for The Players in 2024 and a trip to Utah together in October 2024. If you’re searching for a wedding announcement, there isn’t one yet.
Who Is Schmid’s Caddie? Inside the Bag with Chris Selfridge
Chris Selfridge carries Schmid’s bag, and his own story is worth more attention than it usually gets. He’s a Northern Irishman from the same small patch of country that produced Rory McIlroy and Tom McKibbin, and he was a legitimate professional golfer himself until wrist injuries ended that career in 2018.
Selfridge rebuilt a golf career from the other side of the bag instead of walking away entirely, which is the kind of resilience I respect more than most highlight-reel talent. He learned the job caddying for his friend Michael Hoey on the DP World Tour, then looped for Ryan Fox, including at the Tokyo Olympics, then spent time with Tom McKibbin before picking up Schmid on a freelance basis in 2023 that turned full-time. In the run-up to Schmid’s tied-fourth at the 2026 PGA Championship, the pair had already banked a T9 at the Cognizant Classic together.
Before Selfridge, Schmid’s regular bagman was Michael “Spongey” Waite, the caddie who’d won the 2005 US Open on Michael Campbell’s bag. Schmid has said Waite was exactly the right fit for him early on, and it’s easy to see why a rookie would want a caddie who already knew what a major Sunday felt like.
Is Schmid a LIV Golfer?
The short answer to “is Matti Schmid a LIV golfer” is no. He competes on the PGA Tour and DP World Tour, and nothing in his tournament record, his equipment deals, or his own public statements points to any LIV Golf affiliation. Every 2026 result referenced in this article, from the PGA Championship to the Wyndham Championship, comes from official Tour events, not LIV’s separate schedule.
Some players in his position eventually take a guaranteed LIV paycheck regardless of form. Schmid hasn’t needed one, and grinding a career-high OWGR ranking out of FedExCup points instead of a signing bonus says more about where his ceiling actually sits than a check would.
Schmid’s OWGR Ranking, Explained
Schmid’s Official World Golf Ranking has moved more in 2026 than in any prior season of his career. He opened the year sliding from 88th to 99th over his first five starts, according to Fox Sports’ tracking of his early-season form. Then the PGA Championship happened.
| Milestone | Date | OWGR Rank | What Happened |
|---|---|---|---|
| Early-season slide | Jan to Feb 2026 | 88th to 99th | Lost strokes tee-to-green in five straight starts |
| Career high | May 17, 2026 | 65th | Tied-fourth finish at the PGA Championship, final pairing on Sunday |
| Current | August 2026 | Low-to-mid 80s | Settled into the mid-tier of the Wyndham Championship field, right around the FedExCup Playoff cut line |
That 65th-place peak is the number every stat site quotes, but the more useful story is the swing itself, a 34-spot jump inside one week from a single major championship. No other source currently tracks that trajectory in one table, which is exactly the kind of context a bare ranking number leaves out.
What’s In Schmid’s Bag? Full 2026 WITB
Schmid’s bag has quietly become one of the more mixed setups on Tour. He isn’t a single-brand loyalist. As of his most recent sighting at the Rocket Classic in July 2026, he was carrying more than 14 clubs total between his two drivers, testing options before settling in for tournament week.
| Club | Model | Loft / Spec | Shaft |
|---|---|---|---|
| Driver (gamer) | Cobra OPTM Max-K | 9° | Fujikura Ventus Blue 6 X |
| Driver (alt) | Cobra OPTM X | 10.5° | Fujikura Ventus Blue 6 X |
| 3-wood | TaylorMade Qi4D | 15° | Accra Tour Z RPG 472 |
| 5-wood | TaylorMade Qi10 | 18° | Mitsubishi Tensei 1K Black 80 TX |
| Irons | Cobra 3DP MB (4-9) | Muscle-back, 3D-printed | Project X LS 7.0 / 130g |
| Wedges | Cobra KING | 46°, 48°, 52° | Project X LS |
| Wedge | Titleist Vokey SM11 | 56° | True Temper Dynamic Gold Tour Issue |
| Wedge | Titleist Vokey WedgeWorks | 60° | True Temper Dynamic Gold Tour Issue |
| Putter | Odyssey Ai-ONE 2-Ball | Tour-lined, Cruiser head | Stroke Lab |
| Ball | Titleist Pro V1x | Tour ball | N/A |
Five different brands
That’s a Cobra driver and irons, TaylorMade woods, Titleist wedges and ball, and an Odyssey putter, five different brands in one bag. It hasn’t always looked like this. In 2022, Schmid gamed a nearly all-TaylorMade setup with a Spider X putter, and by 2024 he’d switched his driver to a Cobra Aerojet. Anyone telling you a tour pro’s bag is a fixed, loyal thing hasn’t watched Schmid’s WITB photos change three times in four years.
The putter is the newest change of the group, and the loft jumps across his fairway woods are worth a second look too. He gamed that TaylorMade Spider X as recently as 2022, and the Odyssey Ai-ONE only started showing up in his bag within the past year. For a breakdown of what those loft numbers actually do to ball flight, madknows’ golf club lofts guide covers every club in the bag, not just Schmid’s.
Schmid’s Career Results and Best Finishes
Schmid still doesn’t have a professional win, on any tour, in either five years on the DP World Tour or three-plus seasons on the PGA Tour. What he does have is a stack of finishes that keep landing one shot short of one.
| Event | Year | Result | Detail |
|---|---|---|---|
| PGA Championship | 2026 | T4 | Final pairing Sunday, briefly held the outright lead through 7 holes |
| Charles Schwab Challenge | 2025 | Runner-up | Matched a 63 in each of rounds one and two, lost by one shot to Ben Griffin, earned $1.035 million |
| Shriners Children’s Open | 2024 | T3 | His breakout PGA Tour season result |
| Butterfield Bermuda Championship | 2023 | T3 | Secured his 2024 PGA Tour card via FedExCup Fall points |
| The Open Championship | 2021 | T59 (a) | Tied the all-time amateur record with a second-round 65 |
His PGA Tour career earnings sit at roughly $6.85 million, and he’s made 59 of 111 career cuts, a rate a shade over 53%. If you’re only impressed by trophies, that’s a fair complaint. Schmid doesn’t have one on Tour yet, and until he closes one out, he’s staying in the “nearly man” file no matter how many top-10s pile up.
Frequently Asked Questions
Where does Matti Schmid live?
His official residence is Maxhütte-Haidhof, Germany, though he’s built a second home base in Jacksonville Beach, Florida, to be closer to the bulk of his PGA Tour schedule.
What golfer’s wife was crushed by a car?
This isn’t about him. It’s a separate, unrelated 2026 news story involving a fatal collision at a golf course in England. Schmid’s girlfriend, Nora Worlke, has no connection to that incident.
What is Matti Schmid known for?
Mainly two things: tying the all-time amateur scoring record at the Open Championship in 2021 with a second-round 65, and his tied-fourth finish at the 2026 PGA Championship, where he played in the final pairing and briefly led on Sunday before finishing two shots back.
Why did Matti Schmid withdraw?
His most documented withdrawal came at the 2025 Travelers Championship, where he pulled out during the final round because of illness. He’s also withdrawn pre-tournament from the 2026 Corales Puntacana Championship and the 2026 Valero Texas Open, both times as part of broader schedule and rest management rather than a disclosed injury.
Does he play LIV Golf?
No. He plays the PGA Tour and DP World Tour exclusively and has no reported LIV Golf ties.
The Bottom Line
Schmid is 28, six feet tall, dating rather than married, and he tees it up with a former pro on his bag whose own comeback story rivals his. He’s one major Sunday away from turning “nearly” into a real breakthrough, and his 2026 season, from that PGA Championship final pairing to a career-high OWGR of 65, is the best evidence yet that it’s coming. He’s still a long way from the top of the rankings, and anyone curious what that gap actually looks like should read madknows’ Scottie Scheffler profile next to see what world No. 1 form looks like by comparison. For a closer look at how another rising PGA Tour pro’s stock has moved this fast, Chris Gotterup’s profile is worth reading too.