This caddy was not familiar with Kuchar’s game - club distances, preferred ball flight, when to be aggressive, etc. Therefore his skill level was not similar to that of regular caddies of a tour player. So they had to settle on a different value. What’s not known here is what was the agreed upon percentage of winnings. If it was 1% then the caddie was paid appropriately, and shouldn’t be complaining. But I don’t read where the caddie is saying Kuchar didn’t pay the agreed upon amount; just that he’s not happy about that amount.
OT: OK golfers thoughts on whether Matt Kuchar stiffed his caddie after winning...
- Thread starter bwifan
- Start date
This caddy was not familiar with Kuchar’s game - club distances, preferred ball flight, when to be aggressive, etc. Therefore his skill level was not similar to that of regular caddies of a tour player. So they had to settle on a different value. What’s not known here is what was the agreed upon percentage of winnings. If it was 1% then the caddie was paid appropriately, and shouldn’t be complaining. But I don’t read where the caddie is saying Kuchar didn’t pay the agreed upon amount; just that he’s not happy about that amount.
I don't disagree with anything you say... except the part where he shouldn't be complaining.
If the standard pay for a caddie is X% including expenses, then if you bring on a caddie you should pay them that (in this case no expenses). Kuchar is a freerider and he will get pummeled for it.
LdN
10.5 months left to offset it with losses.Better question: What are you gonna tell the IRS?
And, while very nice, my stake wasn’t that big. But there were a wide range of opinions on how much to tip, so I wanted some “outside” opinions.
Here’s what I’ve heard kicking around the golf grapevine...
-The caddy had been fired earlier in the week by a pro who couldn’t stand him during the Monday pro-am. That’s why he was available for Kuchar.
-Kuchar was one of the opponents to caddies getting their own health care plan last year. That part surprised me a bunch given the experiences I’ve had with him.
-What a player and caddy agree upon should be kept in house. Someone yapped about the figure which started this whole mess.
-Whatever you think of the amount of the bonus, the caddy asking for 50k and turning down the 15k is pretty bold. He was a fill-in but I wasn’t there nor did I watch the event so i can’t speak to how much yardage/greens work the caddy did.
It’s a big black mark on Kuchar, a guy who for all observations, is a straight-up guy. He and his team haven’t helped matters by letting it fester this long without setting the record straight. The health care stuff I only heard about yesterday and like I said, it was pretty surprising.
-The caddy had been fired earlier in the week by a pro who couldn’t stand him during the Monday pro-am. That’s why he was available for Kuchar.
-Kuchar was one of the opponents to caddies getting their own health care plan last year. That part surprised me a bunch given the experiences I’ve had with him.
-What a player and caddy agree upon should be kept in house. Someone yapped about the figure which started this whole mess.
-Whatever you think of the amount of the bonus, the caddy asking for 50k and turning down the 15k is pretty bold. He was a fill-in but I wasn’t there nor did I watch the event so i can’t speak to how much yardage/greens work the caddy did.
It’s a big black mark on Kuchar, a guy who for all observations, is a straight-up guy. He and his team haven’t helped matters by letting it fester this long without setting the record straight. The health care stuff I only heard about yesterday and like I said, it was pretty surprising.
I think Sergio is in much more of a predicament. If he did that over here in a PGA Tour event, the backlash would be off the charts. He's lucky the cameras weren't following him around in Saudi Arabia. Will be interesting to see how the galleries treat him going forward. Same with Kuchar.
Sergio’s gonna get hammered at Bethpage in May, no doubt about that. He talked today about the Saudi situation, hoping that doing so will put everything to rest and he can get on with playing. But you know he will get asked about it more and that fans at certain events will catcall him about it.
Local caddie knows where you can get the best Devils lettuce and some sweet local Tang. More beneficial off the course. Pay the man.
Kuchar’s caddie payment issue is more of an issue here on this Board than any place else. This will be history once the first day of play is over at Riviera tomorrow night.
Garcia, on the other hand, is gonna get hammered anywhere and everywhere he plays in the USA. He did not play at Pebble this past weekend and is lucky he is not playing at Riviera beginning tomorrow.
Garcia, on the other hand, is gonna get hammered anywhere and everywhere he plays in the USA. He did not play at Pebble this past weekend and is lucky he is not playing at Riviera beginning tomorrow.
Plus, it sounds like he just takes the public bus to the course so he doesn’t even have gas to pay for. Kuchar should have given him a five spot and a handful of bus tokens and been done with it.
Cheap move by Kuchar. That said, I would have taken the extra $15,000 and moved on with my life.
Kuchar responds and still sounds like a dick IMO.
"Making $5,000 is a great week." Sorry Matt, not when you won 1.3 and now have over 46 mil in career earning. I totally get the guy was a bag carrier and not a caddy. You could have made great headlines doing the right thing here.
Now I am glad Spieth beat him in the Open. That guy has class. I think he tipped his barber more at Carnoustie, that Kuchar did his caddie at Mayacoba.
https://www.golfchannel.com/news/matt-kuchar-defends-decision-pay-caddie-5k-after-mayakoba-win
"Making $5,000 is a great week." Sorry Matt, not when you won 1.3 and now have over 46 mil in career earning. I totally get the guy was a bag carrier and not a caddy. You could have made great headlines doing the right thing here.
Now I am glad Spieth beat him in the Open. That guy has class. I think he tipped his barber more at Carnoustie, that Kuchar did his caddie at Mayacoba.
https://www.golfchannel.com/news/matt-kuchar-defends-decision-pay-caddie-5k-after-mayakoba-win
A professional caddie makes 10%. This dude was a looper at a local club, big difference, not applicable here. In theory Kuchar did nothing wrong. He and the stand in caddie agreed to a fee. Kuchar should have done the right thing and taken care of the guy. Now he has to live with the reputation of being a cheap F*CK.
The article quotes Kuchar's manager as saying reports about what the caddie was offered are wildly inaccurate. So the fact is we really don't know the whole story.
Ummmmmm, Sergio's tee time is 12:11pm PT provided that the rains hanging around here don't shut things down in the morning.
LOL, pretty bold prediction you've got goin' there.
Might want to give it a few more playing rounds, be they in SoCal or beyond, before making such claims. You may be surprised.
Relayer, I respectfully disagree. I think this will blow over very very quickly. Now if anything similar to this had happened here in the USA, then I think it would be a big deal.
My goof! My not-so-smart phone showed me an alphabetical list and he wasn’t on it. Will be interesting to see his welcoming committee!
No, you got it exactly right vis a vis "Time will tell!"
Let's wait and see how it plays out. There will be those among future tour galleries with short memories. Others, not so much. Regardless of one's thoughts re Kuchar's actions, there remains the possibility of it becoming a distraction from the game's competition itself. Golf doesn't need that, not at any level of play.
I hope that doesn't happen, just not so sure it won't. If ever there was the need for a mulligan by a PGA tour player, this issue with the winner's caddy would qualify.
Let's wait and see how it plays out. There will be those among future tour galleries with short memories. Others, not so much. Regardless of one's thoughts re Kuchar's actions, there remains the possibility of it becoming a distraction from the game's competition itself. Golf doesn't need that, not at any level of play.
I hope that doesn't happen, just not so sure it won't. If ever there was the need for a mulligan by a PGA tour player, this issue with the winner's caddy would qualify.
Yes, or maybe not. My point is that people are weighing in without knowing what really happened.
Jeez, if people stopped doing that there would be no need for the internet.
Not so sure about that... it's been the lead story the last 2 mornings on the the Golf channel and talked about for roughly 15 minutes or more each time. Many pro golfers are wishing this was handled differently by all party's. Kinda given the pro golfers a black eye especially Kuchar and his reputation have taken a hit.
And when the generosity of others turns out to be quite ungenerous, who suffers most? Kuchar will be hearing about this from golf fans for a long time.
I started caddying when I was 8-years-old and caddied for 7 years. I also played junior tournament golf winning several big city tournaments, but nothing statewide or higher. (Pretty decent player, played a lot, but not really good) Also, caddied a bit at Nicklaus' Muirfield golf course in Columbus, while at OSU.
I personally think this caddy is probably pretty good. Any number of things can go wrong, which can cost the player big time. Li Haotong got hosed big time recently for a totally innocent activity of his caddy not getting out of his putting line quickly enough. (dropped from 3rd to 12th) I once caddied at a US Open qualifier at my home course and gave the pro the wrong distance on the 18th hole. (I am not a great caddy which is obvious. It was a dogleg with a weird angle) Luckily, he went into the back sand trap. If he had hit a couple of yards further, he would have been in the bushes and might not have qualified for the US Open. When I caddied at Muirfield, I couldn't read the greens worth sh*t (didn't help that caddies were never allowed to play). Or, for instance, if you rake a sand trap at the wrong time, you can cost your golfer 2 shots.
So, in my view, when someone is in contention to make a million dollars, and he wins the tournament, a caddy who doesn't make any mistakes is worth $50,000.
I personally think this caddy is probably pretty good. Any number of things can go wrong, which can cost the player big time. Li Haotong got hosed big time recently for a totally innocent activity of his caddy not getting out of his putting line quickly enough. (dropped from 3rd to 12th) I once caddied at a US Open qualifier at my home course and gave the pro the wrong distance on the 18th hole. (I am not a great caddy which is obvious. It was a dogleg with a weird angle) Luckily, he went into the back sand trap. If he had hit a couple of yards further, he would have been in the bushes and might not have qualified for the US Open. When I caddied at Muirfield, I couldn't read the greens worth sh*t (didn't help that caddies were never allowed to play). Or, for instance, if you rake a sand trap at the wrong time, you can cost your golfer 2 shots.
So, in my view, when someone is in contention to make a million dollars, and he wins the tournament, a caddy who doesn't make any mistakes is worth $50,000.
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anon_xdc8rmuek44eq
Guest
I still can't believe there isn't a more formal agreement for something like this. That said, I think Kuchar's defense of his cheapness is worse than his actual cheapness.
Caddie was getting maybe a $100/day, so for a 5 day week, he makes $500. One week with Kuchar gets him $5,000 not bad work.
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anon_xdc8rmuek44eq
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That's not the right way to look at this IMO, but you and Kuchar are aligned here.
