Extremely Rich Golfer Matt Kuchar Defends Stiffing His Caddie

[Demovictory9]

Back in November, pro golfer Matt Kuchar won the Mayakoba Golf Classic in Mexico, which earned him $1.3 million. It’s customary for golfers on tour to give their caddies a 10-percent cut of their tournament winnings, which means that Kuchar’s caddie, David Ortiz, should have earned $130,000 for his week of work. But Ortiz only got a measly $5,000, and Kuchar doesn’t seem to think he did anything wrong.

Ortiz is a club caddie in Mexico, and was picked by Kuchar to serve as a replacement when his regular caddie was unable to make the trip. After stewing over his paltry payment for a couple of months, Ortiz sent an email to Kuchar’s agent in January asking to be paid $50,000. He was instead offered an additional payment of $15,000, which prompted Ortiz to tell Golf.com that Kuchar and his agency could “keep their money.”

Golf.com caught up with Kuchar this week, seeking explanation for why Ortiz was paid so little. Kuchar defended himself, claiming that the terms of Ortiz’s employment had been worked out in advance of the tournament, and that the caddie was only actually supposed to make $4,000; the extra $1,000 was a bonus Kuchar gave him for helping him win the tournament. Kuchar also seemed to imply that because Ortiz is from lower means than an established tour caddie, he should have been delighted to receive the little amount of money he did:

Kuchar said he did not really understand why the pay dispute has turned into such an emotional issue. Told that a $5,000 caddie payment on a $1.3 million payday seemed frugal, he nodded, but indicated he had a different view.

“For a guy who makes $200 a day, a $5,000 week is a really big week,” he said.

Kuchar is No. 10 on the all-time PGA Tour career earnings list, having won over $48 million over the course of his career. This, my friends, is one rich prick.

https://deadspin.com/extremely-rich-golfer-matt-kuchar-defends-stiffing-his-1832620093

[ploppy]

1. Wow!

I guess it's all about me. What a cheap and mean spirited bastard.

[gratuitous]

2. Reminds me of the 1977 Yankees

The Yankees won the World Series in 1977, after losing to the Reds in 1976. Flush with their victory, they announced to one and all that the players had voted to give their batboys the princely sum of $100 as their share of helping the team to victory. The Yankees were disappointed that their generosity didn't garner quite the praise they thought it deserved, because shortly after making the announcement, the Reds mentioned that the players had voted their batboys a full share of the World Series winning pot of money, considerably more than $100. Shamed, the Yankees hastily convened a team meeting to do what the Reds had done the year before.

We'll see how long Kuchar holds his position that a thousand dollar tip to his caddy on his $1.3 million victory is "a really big week."

[gldstwmn]

4. That same caddy declined to work with him again and

now I'm sure others won't want to either.

[gldstwmn]

3. Cheap ass. n/t

[oasis]

5. I wouldn't be surprised if Kuchar has a MAGA hat in his locker.

[world wide wally]

6. I wonder if he's a Trump supporter by any chance....

Hmmm ... he's cheap
He rips off his help
He's a racist
He's a pro golfer.

My guess is he is also a deplorable

[Kingofalldems]

7. I recall his dad being banned from caddying for his son

because he was so obnoxious. I bet he's a Trumpy also.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Matt_Kuchar#Personal_life

[ScratchCat]

8. It was an agreed upon fee

Ortiz knew up front that $4,000 was all he would get if Kuchar finished last, or won. A stand-in club caddie is not entitled to 10% of the golfers winnings.

The rest of Kuchar's comments:

"It's kind of too bad that it's turned into a story," Kuchar said. "I really didn't think it was a story because we had an arrangement when I started. I've done enough tournaments and had enough weekly caddies, and I'm very clear about what the payment will be. And we had an arrangement Tuesday that David was OK with, and I thought Sunday he was very much OK with it.

"I kind of feel like unfortunately some other people have got it in his head that he's deserving something different than what we agreed upon. And it's just too bad that it's turned into a story, because it doesn't need to be. We had a great week."

[kcr]

9. Yep. DUers can read. It still doesn't mean it wasn't cheap.

People who think it's okay to screw people over as long as they get permission are scumbags.

[Doremus]

10. Greedy is as greedy does. Hope karma catches up sooner than later. nt

[TeamPooka]

12. It was a fuck you I think you're worth less agreed upon fee.

[Demovictory9]

14. yes, it's like tipping American restaurant employees 15%. then going to Mexico and tipping 1%

[TeamPooka]

15. Plus the fact that you didn't win with your "regular" caddy means the new caddie might

have done a better job and earned the money, since you won this time and usually don't
Fucking ungrateful asshat.

[PTWB]

16. What? If the agreed upon fee was 4000 and he gave him 5000 how is that less?

Honestly the golfer seems like a cheap ass, but if it was an agreed upon fee then there isn’t much room to complain.

[TeamPooka]

17. meaning he offered him less than he would have to pay another, regular caddy.

Kind of like how Trump paid Polish workers $4 an hour to do professional demolition of a building that should have cost him much more.

[PTWB]

18. Ahh yeah that makes sense. It makes me wonder if racism played a part.

[TeamPooka]

19. Rich people taking advantage of poor people doesn't need to be race based. They do it for the $$$

and you should be happy with what they trickle down to you, even if the guy whose place you took on the job would have gotten 25X more than you did for succeeding the same way.

[LanternWaste]

21. Can you support that allegation with objective evidence?

"A stand-in club caddie is not entitled to 10% of the golfers winnings..."

My golfing experience states differently. Can you support that allegation with objective evidence?

[Whiskeytide]

24. I'm not the guy you were asking, but here's my two cents...

... kuchar’s regular caddie wasn’t there. I don’t know why. But on the tour your caddie is almost your team mate. Some caddies work for one golfer for years. That’s how they make a living. If you’re good - and your golfer is good, it can be a very good living.

This guy was like a temp. He filled in during the regular caddie’s absence. He should be paid whatever he agreed to be paid to work with Kuchar for the week, plus a tip if he did a great job.

My office bonuses employees when we get a large fee. It’s our custom. If we had a temp there for a week when a large fee was earned, are we obligated to bonus that temp the same bonus we might give a 10 year employee? Maybe a modest one would be nice, but I don’t think it would be expected. In fact, I would still bonus the absent employee the temp was filling for before I’d bonus the temp. (He’ll, for all we know, Kuchar’s contract with his regular caddie might obligate him to still pay him a % even if he wasn’t there).

I can’t dispute that the tip of $1k was low given the winnings. I would have done more myself. And Kuchar’s statement was a shitty thing to say and reveals that he’s probably an asshole.

But - those here claiming the temp is somehow entitled to the 10% are just piling on, IMO.

[kcr]

25. You are comparing different things. There's no piling on this poor little rich guy.

He won the tournament and got a buttload of money. He simply found a way to excuse keeping a whole lot more of it to himself, and the excuse was this guy who helped him win was a poor person.

[ScratchCat]

30. Oh come on

He didn't "find a way" to do anything. If Kuchar would have finished in second place, he would have won around $700K, and Ortiz would have still gotten $4,000. In fact, Kuchar would have had to finish T29th or worse for Ortiz' fee to be 10% or more of his winnings(37 golfers made $42K or more). That is why this is ridiculous - Ortiz and any other club caddie know what the purse amounts are and never expect more than their agreed upon fee. Pro golfers use stand-ins frequently and there is never a problem.

Like Kuchar said, someone got to Ortiz and convinced him they could get more by complaining in the media. It didn't work and the guy made a mistake turning down nearly four times his agreed upon fee.

[Whiskeytide]

34. Of course they're different things. But the analogy fits...

... as I said - the tip was too little. Perhaps $25k would have been more appropriate? I don’t really know. But a temp demanding what a regular caddie receives - probably by contract - is pretty silly. It’s manufactured outrage.

There’s enough in the news today to be genuinely outraged about.

[snowybirdie]

32. And the fact

that he's Mexican and brown only reinforces his statement, doesn't it?

[erpowers]

11. Matt Kuchar Stiffed Him Because He (the caddie) Does Not Make a Large Amount of Money

It seems Matt Kuchar stiffed his caddie because the caddie does not normally make a large amount of money. The PGA should step in and force Kuchar to pay Mr. Ortiz the full $130,000. Then the PGA should make it mandatory that golfers have to pay their caddies 10% of their tournament earnings regardless of what the caddie normally make, or if that is the golfer's regular caddie.

[TeamPooka]

13. Enjoy the $125K because it will keep you from getting any major endorsements for advertisers

he'll have golf equipment sponsors, maybe, but no major products will touch a guy like this even if he keeps winning because they are buying GOODWILL when they hire a spokesman etc.
He has no goodwill to sell them.

[Demovictory9]

42. rich golfer is apologizing and will give the caddie the full 50K he requested

[WeekiWater]

20. He should have thrown him the 15 thousand on top of his pay soon after the win.

That would have been very fair.

[Whiskeytide]

22. Sorry. I agree Kuchar's statement was shitty. But he's still probably right on this ...

... Ortiz was a fill in for Kuchar's usual caddy. That matters. The 10% share is the custom for your usual caddie.

I'm sure there is some customary practice for tipping a temp caddie - it happens often enough that there has to be a history. That's what Kuchar should be held to. He shouldn't be expected to pay/tip a temp what he pays/tips his full time caddie.

[LongtimeAZDem]

27. "He was definitely my lucky charm," Kuchar said.

“He brought me good luck and certainly some extra crowd support and did a great job as well. He did just what I was hoping for and looking for.”

But he wasn't worth a tip?

No, Kuchar is a douchebag.

[Whiskeytide]

33. I agree. But the 10% is still not owed. He should have tipped more, but not $130k.

[LongtimeAZDem]

35. I could argue that a local caddie might even be more valuable, because of their knowledge

of the course. But that's all beside the point.

If your regular caddie would get $130,000, and you tip $1000, you're a scumbag.

[RobinA]

36. It Sounds To Me

like his comments were his big faux pas here. If the caddie had complained and Kuchar said, Hey, we had a contract, I think this would not have gotten the traction it did. He had to throw in the he's a poor Mexican who should be happy about what he got, and that's when he stepped in it. I know people who think exactly like this. They give beat stuff to charity and then complain because charity doesn't take beat clothing, their reason being that the people are poor, so they should be good with the crappy stuff.

[MineralMan]

23. Matt Kuchar - Cheapjack!

It's a bad look for him, really. Wait until he needs another fill-in caddy. Besides, he won the damned tournament, so I guess that fill-in caddy did an OK job for him. If I were Kuchar, I'd tip him big for the good luck he brought.

Cheapjack!

[KayF]

26. I've never heard of him

but now I know that Matt Kuchar is a famous asshole.

[Blue_Tires]

29. Christ, what an asshole..

Give him the 10 points already

[Mendocino]

31. I wonder what

Trump pays his caddy? Probably does a Judge Smails and gives him .50.

[java108]

37. Unless there's a windmill on the course, fuck golf.

Pointless rich man's sport.

[jalan48]

38. Matt Kuchar acting like a colonialist which is why he's so surprised people care. This is how we're

supposed to treat people in the Third World.

[Awsi Dooger]

39. The major golf forums are locking threads on this topic

Right wingers dominate those sites but virtually nobody was standing up for Kuchar. The reaction on those forums was actually more condemning than here. Everyone on those sites knows how cheap this is, and that the agreement beforehand basically means nothing.

This will stick to Kuchar. He has had a good guy image dating more than 20 years, when he starred in the Masters and US Open while still an amateur from Georgia Tech. He has had virtually no negative publicity but now people who had never heard of him will know him for this and nothing else.

It would be senseless enough without the subsequent quote, which was sort of like Fuzzy Zoeller making his Tiger Woods comment even worse.

I am no longer a fan. Now I'm glad Jordan Speith stole that British Open from Kuchar over the final 6 holes a couple of years ago, even if I rooted the other way at the time.

[Awsi Dooger]

40. Kuchar reverses -- apology to caddy plus a full $50,000

http://www.espn.com/golf/story/_/id/26005383/matt-kuchar-apologize-caddie-pay-full-50000

"This week, I made comments that were out of touch and insensitive, making a bad situation worse,'' he said. "They made it seem like I was marginalizing David Ortiz and his financial situation, which was not my intention. I read them again and cringed. That is not who I am and not what I want to represent. My entire tour career, I have tried to show respect and positivity. In this situation, I have not lived up to those values or to the expectations I've set for myself.''

***

Very smart move. Kuchar was being absolutely skewered on the golf forums, far beyond here or other political sites. Those golf guys understood what a low class move this was, and that it would cause long lasting harm to Kuchar's reputation if he remained steadfast.

The subsequent remarks about "$200 per day" were so incredible it was almost like The Onion wrote it as parody.

Once Kuchar gauged the reaction to his recent comments he had to act fast. This should be sufficient.

Only a true out-of-touch type would look at the agreement beforehand and somehow brainstorm it should hold any weight given the outcome. It is the difference between understanding situational influence and going through life butchering the big picture time and again.

[TeamPooka]

43. He should give him the full 130K to really fix the PR issue.

[Demovictory9]

41. update. Golfer is apologizing and will give caddie $50K

https://www.cnn.com/2019/02/15/golf/matt-kuchar-caddie-david-ortiz-payments/index.html