Matt Kuchar won $1.2 million and paid his caddy $5,000. Are you on board with this?

Kuchar is well known on tour as a "phony" , as stated by a number of tour caddies. It is a certainty that the mexican caddie will retaliate against Kuchar in some form.

Allen Homer wrote:

Both guys look like idiots. The caddie should take the $20k and go away and Kuchar should stop being such a cheap-ass.

Yeah, frankly they are both greedy. And both of them, from the loose financial arrangement they made, appeared surprised that he won.

TTH wrote:

Tour caddies are paid 10% of winnings which would have been around $130,000 in this case. While I get the "they had an agreement" angle, Kuchar should be smart enough to recognize that the tip should have been much larger right from the get go and not wait for the story to come out.

His comment about the guy being "used to getting $200 per day so $5000 should be a great day" is beyond effin' stupid for Kuchar to make in sounding like the LetsRun board racists.

Kuchar also doesn't get to decide if it is a story. It is whether you, he or anyone else likes it.

That is the perfect summary. The agreement meant nothing in comparison to the big picture. Kuchar has had a public reputation of a good guy dating all the way back to his Georgia Tech days and playing well at the Masters and US Open. Now he has partially jeopardized that for no good reason at all. People who didn't know anything about his two recent victories are hearing about this, and it will stick.

The agreement was made before the tourney started.

132 golfers

60 golfers missed the cut and earned $0.

Another 42 golfers earned between 42k and 14k.

A caddy would have to have his player finish in the top 26 of the tournament to earn over $5,000 at a 10% rate.

When the caddy made the arrangement for approximately 4k, he had a roughly 20% chance of equalling that if he agreed to a customary 10%.

If you earned $200 a week average, would you work for 10% or a guaranteed 3 or 4k?

$5,000 for the weekend by just walking around with a bag of clubs? Where do I sign up? I'd like to make a guaranteed $5000 every weekend. That's $250,000 per year.

I wish I could be a caddy for Bekele or something, maybe in his hotel? He employees a lot of people and I'm his biggest fan so have a chance.

Who originally released the amount that the caddy was paid? The caddy? If so, that was kind of jerky.

Why is it anyone's business how much you pay your employees? That should only be between the employer and the employee.

Sally Vix wrote:

MeHereYouWhere?! wrote:

I saw this story yesterday...

If Kuchar and the caddy agreed to an amount beforehand, then what is the issue?

From what I have read, Kuchar even tried to give him more after he won and the caddy apparently said "no".

If it was me, I would insist on giving the guy $100,000 or so. Kuchar is a multi-millionaire. Help the guy out!

It's official - Sally is now a Socialist who spends other people's hard earned money!!

Hani Saleem wrote:

Sally Vix wrote:

If it was me, I would insist on giving the guy $100,000 or so. Kuchar is a multi-millionaire. Help the guy out!

It's official - Sally is now a Socialist who spends other people's hard earned money!!

You didn't read too well what I wrote. I said if I had been Kuchar, I would have insisted on giving the poor caddy $100K of MY money.

Bands a make hoes dance wrote:

You could argue caddy should have got minimum wage. Anyone could have been expected to perform his job the same way, whereas Kuchar was the worlds best on that tournament.

If it was me, I imagine I'd have given him a ton more but I'm not willing to say Kuchar is an ass without getting way more facts.

It seems to me that most people on here have no idea what a caddy does. A PGA tour caddie normally gets 10% of a win but a tour caddie is being paid a lot mainly because they live a transient lifestyle, travel all over the world away from their family and they do a lot more than just carry a bag. They know the players game inside and out and offer advice on club selection, strategy, help read greens, etc.

So questions which I haven't seen even asked anywhere are:

Did the caddy simply carry the bag? Or did he help Kuchar with club selection? Read the Greens? Provide invaluable local course insight that maybe Kuchar's normal caddy might not know? If he did any of the final three, he was important as Kuchar only won the tournament by 1 stroke.

For the travel reason alone, I could easily see why one would pay the local caddie significantly less than your normal caddie. Plus I dont know how he'd be any good at club selection as he doesn't know Kuchar's game.

...that “being super tight” is why they have more money in the first place?

The Riot wrote:

I see this all the time in life, people with more money than they could ever spend being super tight with it. Some celebrities get it, leave big tips which make them look decent and generous, and of course positively rocks the world of the person receiving it. Too bad Kuchar didn’t show more class.

You guys would have a field day with Tiger Woods. He is notoriously cheap. Sports Illustrated did an article on him a fews years back and mentioned a time he joined a group of Navy SEALS for lunch, when the check came around, would you expect Woods who is worth over $500M to cover it? He only paid for his meal. The SEALS all had to dig into their wallets. His caddies have been among the lowest paid on the PGA Tour. He supposedly doesn't tip either.

ustooge wrote:

Perspective wrote:

Someone makes $120k doing their job that they train for, perform at, and are successful with.

$80k after taxes

$70k after expenses

Then $12k to your assistant? No way dude

You stooge, nobody is suggesting he give away 10% of his salary. If I make $500K a year and my assistant helps me out with a big project that gets me a $100K bonus, you better believe I'm giving her at least $10K.

Yes, that's what the OP had suggested...actually greater than 10% after taxes (proposed $100k on winning pretax). No reason to call anyone names, especially when you're wrong.

I'd generally side with Kuchar here. I think he should've just said hey ill give you $20K cuz i won immediately instead of the caddy asking for some more, but how can I be sympathetic to a guy who turns down $15K because it's beneath him. You're a fill-in caddy, hotshot. I'd be more on his side if he took the $20K and bitched in private. Also, he agreed to a deal that had a nice payday with the risk of getting hosed. That was his fault. If he wanted a 10% deal with a $1K base, he could've negotiated that.

The caddie was local and probably even local to that course, so he knew it really really well, so there is a tradeoff. Kuchar didnt have a caddie that knows his distances, temperment, etx, but his caddie knew the course better than almost anyone else's.

Latest I read is that Kuchar OFFERED an extra 15k (20k total) and the caddie was insulted because he wanted 50k, so he did not accept. It was just an awkward dilemma. Funny how much easier it wouldve been if Kuchar got 2nd.

"hey man, thank you so much. Heres an extra 15k tip. great weekend"

"wtf bro, you just won, give me at least 50k"

"well now you sound kind of like an ahole, see ya later!"

I thought the traditional amount was 5% of the winnings (10% for majors). Maybe that's just for full-time caddies.

I’m 100% with Kuchar on this topic. This caddy was not his regular caddy, who does get paid 5-10% of winnings. The caddy in question was a local guy, a one-time opportunity. It is standard practice for golfers who don’t have their regular caddies with them to offer a flat amount prior to the tourney. They get that amount whether the golfer wins the whole thing or misses the cut and earns zero. $5,000 is more than most guys would have paid, and Kuchar had no obligation to increase the amount to $20,000 after he won.

It’s amazing that most of you didn’t read the whole story at all. Think about your track coach who was with you day in and day out for four years in college. Now think about an assistant who helped you out at one track meet ever, one time only. Does that guy deserve the same amount as the committed guy? No.

Does anyone know how much Rupp and Farah tipped Al Sal when they won their medals?

Free Advice wrote:

Who originally released the amount that the caddy was paid? The caddy? If so, that was kind of jerky.

Why is it anyone's business how much you pay your employees? That should only be between the employer and the employee.

Journeyman pro golfer Tom Gillis first circulated a rumour he heard going around. It picked up steam.

Kuch will never shake this. The Kooch chant will morph into something else, mark my words.