Kuchar is embarrassingly cheap

[bens197 5,872]

I knew I never liked this guy for a reason. Cheap people are the absolute worst kind of people.

 

And before anyone says Ortiz didn’t deserve upwards of 10% because he isn’t his regular caddy, he won $1.296 million with him on the bag. Ortiz did the requisite work and deserved at least 5% which would have been $64,800. He ended up paying 0.358%

 

Kuchar and his phony dopey schtick should be singled out for this exploitation.

 

https://www.golf.com/news/2019/02/12/they-can-keep-their-money-kuchars-fill-in-caddie-breaks-silence-over-pay-dispute/

[cnosil 14,630]

How much do you think he should have paid? We have 2 stories and both are probably somewhat true. Typically agreements are made up front and unless you are a regular caddie you don’t get upwards of 10%. You can’t compare the winnings against what was paid unless you know why was agreed too. No one seems to have an issue when a player pays even though they missed the cut.

[bens197 5,872]

There isn’t an issue because they’re not taking a million dollar payday.

5%


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[RickyBobby_PR 4,839]

He is a resort caddie and not a true replacement caddie for hire so the typical player/caddie agreement if x% for service plus y% for the place they finish isn’t there. 

Usually the caddie is an independent contractor and doesn’t necessarily work for the resort so it’s up to caddie to negotiate his fee. Also sometimes resorts have a standard fee or recommended fee for the caddies.  

 

 

[TR1PTIK 2,626]

I'm with @cnosil. There's been no real mention of what was discussed prior to the round and it is very likely a flat fee was already on the table. Kuch offered an additional $15,000 and the guy rejected it. I wouldn't be complaining about making $5K over just one weekend and certainly would not have rejected the additional $15K. 

[Golfspy_CG2 25,107]

Maybe I'm the outlier here, but they agreed upon $3,000 plus a percentage to be determined of winnings.   After the win Kuchar and his agent upped it to $15,000, more than 5 times the agreed upon amount.   The caddie refused it holding out for $50,000.   I don't see a problem on Kuchar's end.  The 10% is usually reserved for the full time caddie who goes through the ups and downs of a full season and often works weeks on end without his guy making a cut, and getting barely travel expenses.   

This was a one time gig for the guy and to be offered 5 times more than the original agreed upon amount, I don't honestly have a problem with that.   

[bens197 5,872]

Maybe I'm the outlier here, but they agreed upon $3,000 plus a percentage to be determined of winnings.     

Ortiz asked for $50k. Well below 5% and perfectly reasonable for the work performed.

If Kuchar truly was this good guy could you imagine the great press if he says hey thanks for the great work, here’s $50k for the effort.

He paid him less than 1/2 of 1%.

[sixcat 3,577]

When I read the article coupled with Twitter posts from some pretty reliable journalists, it's pretty clear to me Ortiz feels he was promised 50k at some point by someone in the Kuchar camp.  Others who were present at the tournament have suggested on Twitter that Kuchar's camp paid Ortiz 5k because they couldn't come up with any more cash at that moment.  Ortiz understood Kuchar's camp would be sending an additional 45k when they got back to the states.  Tom Gillis began posting about this on Twitter two weeks prior to Ortiz reaching out to Steinberg which suggests, others knew this was happening and felt it was a disgrace.

I have always felt, people will tell you exactly who they are if you are willing to listen and observe.  It seems to me, Kuchar is telling everyone exactly who he is!

[sixcat 3,577]

5 minutes ago, bens197 said:

Ortiz asked for $50k. Well below 5% and perfectly reasonable for the work performed.

If Kuchar truly was this good guy could you imagine the great press if he says hey thanks for the great work, here’s $50k for the effort.

He paid him less than 1/2 of 1%.

 

Zero point three five eight percent!  It's pretty damming when you type it out, isn't it?!?!? 

[joen 773]

Clearly there wasn’t a written contract here. Don’t know all the details so I won’t comment one way or the other. The optics aren’t good as people are talking about it nonstop. 

[sixcat 3,577]

 

[RickyBobby_PR 4,839]

36 minutes ago, bens197 said:

 

Ortiz asked for $50k. Well below 5% and perfectly reasonable for the work performed.

If Kuchar truly was this good guy could you imagine the great press if he says hey thanks for the great work, here’s $50k for the effort.

He paid him less than 1/2 of 1%.

 

He carried a bag. He didn’t perform nearly the same duties as a tour caddie or a fill in tour caddie. He also got to sleep in his own bed and not have to worry about meals, travel, lodging there or the next stop.

He makes roughly $200/Day for his looping at the resort. There’s no requirement to pay him anything near what a tour caddie makes and whatever was agreed up if it wasn’t to his liking including the potential vagueness of the “unspecified percentage” that’s his fault and not kuch’s.

if this was such a big deal why does he wait til late January to tell his side?

[bens197 5,872]

He carried a bag. He didn’t perform nearly the same duties as a tour caddie or a fill in tour caddie. He also got to sleep in his own bed and not have to worry about meals, travel, lodging there or the next stop.
He makes roughly $200/Day for his looping at the resort. There’s no requirement to pay him anything near what a tour caddie makes and whatever was agreed up if it wasn’t to his liking including the potential vagueness of the “unspecified percentage” that’s his fault and not kuch’s.
if this was such a big deal why does he wait til late January to tell his side?

I’m glad I don’t work for a lot of the people commenting here.


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[Golfspy_CG2 25,107]

15 minutes ago, RickyBobby_PR said:

 

if this was such a big deal why does he wait til late January to tell his side?

Probably because he already blew through the original 3K

Hey. I'm usually pro caddie in all things.  They have a pretty tough job and earn every penny. 

I have a couple good friends on tour as caddies.  Having spoke to one.  He has no problem with Kuchars handling of it.  

 

[PING Apologist #9 4,562]

Man this topic is HOT! Wow! I've been sitting back reading everyone's responses to date and my take is this: If it were me, I'd have without question taken the offered 15k on the spot, run straight to the bank and then begin planning my next vacation-with new clubs of course!

Holding out for 50k? Naw, too late for that now. Now he (the caddie) just sounds like a d-bag... IMHO

[dhartmann34 1,765]

Just gonna say if there's any pro golfer that wants to pay me $3k to caddy for a week...I'm available. And I'll even pay for my own lodging and food....

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[GB13 7,776]

I think there is a large difference between what most of us would do and what is fair. I, along with most of us here, would offer the caddie additional money, maybe not 10% but still some extra money. Conversely, Kuchar's handling of the situation WAS fair. They had an agreed upon price before the tournament started and he kept that agreement. He didn't slight the caddie out of any money or wiggle out of paying him through a loophole. Kuchar did nothing wrong, he even offered the caddie additional money, something he didn't have to do. 

Again, while we might handle it differently, Kuch did nothing wrong. An agreement is an agreement. You can't retroactively change the agreement after the fact. 

[PING Apologist #9 4,562]

6 minutes ago, GB13 said:

I think there is a large difference between what most of us would do and what is fair. I, along with most of us here, would offer the caddie additional money, maybe not 10% but still some extra money. Conversely, Kuchar's handling of the situation WAS fair. They had an agreed upon price before the tournament started and he kept that agreement. He didn't slight the caddie out of any money or wiggle out of paying him through a loophole. Kuchar did nothing wrong, he even offered the caddie additional money, something he didn't have to do. 

Again, while we might handle it differently, Kuch did nothing wrong. An agreement is an agreement. You can't retroactively change the agreement after the fact. 

Well stated-SPOT ON!

[Kor.A.Door 5,838]

This is tough. The guy made an agreement and was paid according to that agreement.

should Kuchar have given him a bigger pay day, absolutely he should have, but that’s up to him, no one else. Kuchar paid the agreed price plus extra, and another offer on top of that. I don’t know how that makes him a bad person. Just because I think he should have paid more, doesn’t mean he’s a bad guy for not doing it. If it were me, I would have. I don’t hold it against Matt for doing what he said he was going to do. 

 

[Mr. 82 3,794]

I just post here what I told Katrek & Maggines on their Sirius radio show on the air.  The caddie doesn't speak English, and Kuchar doesn't speak Spanish, so I am gonna assume all the caddie was doing was carrying a bag for the week and smiling and saying, "Muy bien," everytime Kuchar drained a putt.

From my perspective, if Kuchar wants to pay me $5k a week, plus expenses to carry his golf bag on a full time basis, I'm your man.  I'll take that sort of money on every day ending in Y and twice on Sundays.

The fact that Kuchar won the tournament and took home over $1 million is irrelevant to me.  Frankly, no matter how good a caddie I think I am, I seriously doubt I am worth $5k on any week, let alone carrying a golf bag.

More context for you.  Depending on who you ask, $5k American dollars is more money then a LOT of Mexicans make in a single year.  Frankly, this caddie won the lottery just with the $5k alone.  Anything else is, well, see this however you wish.

One final note on this.  The story I am hearing this from was written by Michael Bamberger.  That's the same journalist that called a penalty on Michelle Wie for a bad drop and had her DQ'd from a tournament many years ago.  Bamberger is a POS in my book, if for no other reason then what he did to Wie.  Bamberger is always trying to create controversy and loves being in the center of it.  Do with that information what you wish.