On Wednesday we brought you the latest drama on Matt Kuchar and his compensation for his replacement caddie. You can find that here. Like I said in that post, I’m here for the drama, so naturally I was pumped to wake up Thursday and see Kuchar has clapped back responded to the story to Golf.com.
Matt Kuchar, in an interview with GOLF.com Wednesday evening, said he is “disappointed” and “sad” that his $5,000 payment of his Mexican caddie, David “El Tucan” Ortiz, after winning $1.3 million last November in the Mayakoba Golf Classic, has led to such hurt feelings about what had been such a joyful, storybook win.
“I kind of think someone got in his ear,” Kuchar said. “I was very clear and very upfront on Tuesday [of the tournament week]. And he said, ‘OK.’ He had the ability, with bonuses, to make up to $4,000.”
Kuchar said he told Ortiz he would pay him $1,000 if he missed the cut, $2,000 if he made the cut, $3,000 if he had a top-20 and $4,000 if he had a top-10. “The extra $1,000 was, ‘Thank you — it was a great week.’ Those were the terms. He was in agreement with those terms. That’s where I struggle. I don’t know what happened. Someone must have said, ‘You need much more.’”
Ortiz described his pay as $3,000 for the week, with the $2,000 as a down payment on whatever his bonus turned out to be.
I love the imagery that comes next in the interview, especially given that we’re being led to believe ole Kuch could be a bit of a curmudgeon. I picture this miserable scene of being soaking wet and cold, then marching up to the media knowing he was going to get GRILLED. I can’t imagine the dread he was feeling.
Kuchar was wet and tired after a Wednesday pro-am round that took nearly five hours to complete. He sat on a bench in the Riviera clubhouse and calmly explained his side of the El Tucan Affair for 20 minutes without his trademark smile.
Kuchar goes on to talk about how the extra money came into play and who would pay for it:
Kuchar seemed slightly embarrassed that the additional sum had been offered, as he felt his financial obligation to Ortiz was complete. Asked how it came to be that the additional sum was offered, Kuchar said, “That was the agency.” He was referring to Excel Sports Management, which represents him. Kuchar’s agent there is Mark Steinberg, who also represents Tiger Woods and Justin Rose.
Kuchar was asked who would actually pay the money.
Kuchar smiled and said, “It’s not coming out of Steinberg’s pocket.” In other words, Kuchar would be paying. He said the additional proffered payment was Steinberg’s effort at damage control.
There’s a lot more discussed in the Golf.com post which is worth the stop, but this is the last thing that stuck in my mind and made me cringe…so hard:
“For a guy who makes $200 a day, a $5,000 week is a really big week,” [Kuchar] said.
YIKES! 1% coming down from the Ivory Tower right there. Not saying it isn’t technically true or anything, but man, the condescending and demeaning tone is just painful to see in writing. Maybe it had a different tone in person, but it’s hard to say that line in print doesn’t paint ole Kuch in a different light.
I’m not gonna lie, I’ve found this whole Kuchar thing pretty disappointing. Note, I’m not even saying he’s wrong and that his side of the story isn’t true. My problem is he just can’t stop sounding like a rich guy looking down on the world. The damage control (necessary or not) has just been terrible. I think it’d be interesting see how the likes of Rickie Fowler and Jordan Spieth would handle this situation. That’s a stretch, because I also think those guys would have handled this whole scenario totally differently from the start, but you get the point.
PS. I can’t wait for some Tour player to commission El Tucan next year because they want his skill on the course, and then they’ll be a hero for paying him better or something. This will be the gift that keeps on giving.
