KucharGate has come to a close. Matt Kuchar, by all accounts the nicest guy on the PGA Tour, found himself in one hell of a mess over the last few weeks when news surfaced that he’d only paid David Ortiz, his fill-in caddy, a fraction of the usual fee after a victory at the Mayakoba Classic in November. Friday at the Genesis Open, Kuchar, who’d come under withering criticism for the move and subsequent statements, apologized and vowed to pay the caddy in full. “I let myself, my family, my partners and those close to me down, but I also let David down,” Kuchar said in a statement. “I plan to call David [Friday night] when I’m off the course to apologize for the situation he has been put in, and I have made sure he has received the full total that he has requested.” What happened with Kuchar and the caddy? Kuchar earned $1.3 million for his victory at Mayakoba. He’d hired Ortiz, a caddy with local knowledge of the course, since Kuchar’s regular caddy was unable to make the trip. Kuchar and Ortiz struck a handshake agreement for $4,000 if Kuchar recorded a top-10 finish, and that was what Kuchar paid, plus a $1,000 bonus after the win … even though regular caddies get 10 percent of tournament winnings. Kuchar added to the controversy when he made comments suggesting that the amount he’d paid Ortiz was “fair.” To some critics, that smacked of privilege and insensitivity, two traits which aren’t rare on tour but which Kuchar generally doesn’t display. “The extra $1,000 was, ‘Thank you — it was a great week,’ ” Kuchar told Golf.com on Wednesday. “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.’ ” Why did Kuchar change his mind? Friday, facing intense criticism and getting no support from his fellow players, Kuchar walked back those words. “This week, I made comments that were out of touch and insensitive, making a bad situation worse,” Kuchar 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.” Story continues Kuchar had initially offered another $15,000 bonus. But Ortiz had sought another $45,000, for a total of $50,000, or just under 4 percent of Kuchar’s winnings. “Matt is a good person and a great player,” Ortiz told Golf.com this week. “He treated me very well. I am only disappointed by how it all finished.” But now, it appears the matter is closed. “I never wanted to bring any negativity to the Mayakoba Golf Classic,” Kuchar said. “I feel it is my duty to represent the tournament well, so I am making a donation back to the event, to be distributed to the many philanthropic causes working to positively impact the communities of Playa del Carmen and Cancún. For my fans, as well as fans of the game, I want to apologize to you for not representing the values instilled in this incredible sport. Golf is a game where we call penalties on ourselves. I should have done that long ago and not let this situation escalate.” ____ Jay Busbee is a writer for Yahoo Sports. Contact him at jay.busbee@yahoo.com or find him on Twitter or on Facebook. More from Yahoo Sports: • Report: Kaepernick wanted massive deal to play in AAF • Super Bowl-swindling fugitive caught being rude to teen spa worker • Racial taunt of HS basketball player leads to outrage • Steph Curry regrets putting daughter Riley in NBA Finals spotlight<doc-sep>Open this photo in gallery Matt Kuchar of the United States plays his shot from the 13th tee during the second round of the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am at Spyglass Hill Golf Course on Feb. 08, 2019 in Pebble Beach, Calif. Chris Trotman/Getty Images Matt Kuchar is one of those professional golfers most people don’t recognize, but who has done extremely well for himself. The 40-year-old American has earned some US$47-million in prize money over his career. That’s 10th highest in history. One presumes he’s made a chunk more in endorsements. But I’m pretty sure he can still go out for dinner without getting hassled. If you had to sketch out your own perfect, low-stress, high-reward athletic rock-star existence, this might be it. Kuchar gets a Tiger Woods lifestyle without Tiger Woods problems. Story continues below advertisement After two decades on tour, all he had to do to keep that going was play golf, be decent and not talk too much. That didn’t go so well. Three months ago, Kuchar won the Mayakoba Golf Classic in Mexico. The winner’s cheque was US$1.3-million. Kuchar’s regular caddy couldn’t make it, so he used a local bagman named David Ortiz. Top golfers have contracts with their caddy that pay them a salary plus bonuses. But a one-time-only guy traditionally gets a cut of the purse. The going rate is 5 per cent of the total, going up to 10 per cent if the golfer finishes in the top 10. It’s not a hard rule, but it’s the done thing. In this case, Ortiz said he was expecting 50 grand. He and his wife planned to use the money to open a laundromat. What a lovely story that would have been. After winning, Kuchar happily enjoyed some good press out of the unusual partnership, calling Ortiz his “lucky charm.” Then he paid him five grand. Story continues below advertisement Ortiz complained to Kuchar’s agent, golfing bigwig Mark Steinberg. According to Ortiz, Steinberg offered to sweeten the deal by US$15,000. Offended, Ortiz refused. After letting it marinate for a bit, Ortiz went public this week. Suddenly, Kuchar went from being one of the sport’s good, ol’ boys to pro golf’s Marie Antoinette. The simple thing for Kuchar to do would have been to make up a fib about crossed wires and pay Ortiz. He can afford it; it’s the smart PR play; and it’s the right thing to do. You don’t often stumble out of a bad-news story into a good-news one so easily. If I were Matt Kuchar, I would have bought the guy his laundromat. Called it ‘Kuch’s Cleaners’ or something. He could’ve been a working-class hero. Instead, Kuchar responded by giving an interview so tone deaf that only dogs and plutocrats could hear it. Kuchar decided to argue the facts of the case, insofar as he understands them. He’d agreed to pay Ortiz US$4,000 if he won. The extra grand was a tip. “This seems to be a social-media issue more than anything,” Kuchar told Golfchannel.com on Wednesday. “I think it shouldn’t be, knowing that there was a complete, agreed-upon deal that not only did I meet, but exceeded. Story continues below advertisement “So I certainly don’t lose sleep over this. This is something that I’m quite happy with, and I was really happy for him to have a great week and make a good sum of money. Making $5,000 is a great week.” One wonders if Matt Kuchar would show up to your golf tournament if you offered him that same “good sum of money.” One doubts it. An underreported aspect of the professional athletic life is the extreme cheapness of many competitors. After all, it’s not really any of our business. But there are endless barroom stories told by hacks about seven- and eight-figure earners who expected to be comped meals, rounds, etc. and the shenanigans that resulted when they were asked to pay. On some level, it’s hard to blame them. These are people used to being served. They’ve been conditioned to believe that the real world works just like the locker room or clubhouse. That waitresses, lobby boys and shopkeepers should be happy to give them things. Delighted, even, to do work for no other reward than the opportunity to bask momentarily in the presence of a great man/woman. I’ve never seen Major League Baseball players quite so tickled as when someone comes around with their road per diems stuffed in envelopes. You’d think a few hundred bucks cash wouldn’t matter to guys making $10-million a year, but it does. Story continues below advertisement Kuchar’s fault here isn’t cheapness, though that’s part of it. I mean, come on. If it was in your power to entirely change someone’s life by giving them 50 bucks – which is, relatively, what that 50 grand means to Kuchar – wouldn’t you do it? Not a random passerby, but someone you’d spent a few days with and got to know a little bit? I’m guessing most people would. Were it just cheapness, this story would not resonate as much as it has. Every one of us has a friend or relative who refuses to tip more than 10 per cent, or wants to chisel on every transaction. It’s not a sin. It’s embarrassing. Don’t be that guy. Still, it’s not a sin. But what Kuchar has inadvertently revealed is his terminal disconnect from the lived reality of regular people. He actually thinks Joe Lunchbucket will hear his argument – ‘Sure, I made more than most of you will in a lifetime to swing a stick for four days, but, hey, a deal’s a deal.’ – and nod along with him. Not in America. Not in most places. Not in 2019. What Kuchar has done is remind people what many professional athletes think of the proles – that they are lesser, and so should be happy with whatever they’re given. That’s not a good look for Kuchar. It’s not a good look for the PGA.<doc-sep>(CNN) The relationship between golfer and caddie is one of sport's most delicate balancing acts. As well as providing guidance on how various courses play, helping with club selection and reading greens, caddies need to be psychologically perceptive in saying the right thing at the right time to their employer. But when the relationship breaks down things can turn ugly -- as US golfer Matt Kuchar is finding to his cost. The American is ranked 10th on the PGA Tour's all-time money list and has earned more than $46 million, but he's been forced to defend his payment of a few thousand dollars to stand-in caddie David Ortiz after winning last year's Mayakoba Classic in Mexico. Read More<doc-sep>"This seems to be a social media issue more than anything": Funny enough, Kuchar is one of the least-involved PGA Tour pros on social media. He's not on Twitter, where rumors of a $3,000 payday originated from fellow tour pro Tom Gillis, and his Instagram account has posted just 16 times, none of which have come in the past two years. Social media is where this story (and many others) spread, but Kuchar's comment seems to hint that this isn't a real issue, but one gossiped about by people online with nothing better to do. Also, Kuchar seems to be contending Ortiz is only unhappy because social media rabble rousers planted bad thoughts in his head. Even if that's the timeline of how things shook out, the fact remains the same: Ortiz received about $125,000 LESS than what a regular caddie would have received for that week's work.<doc-sep>
Cheapness has a new face. It also has a new sound: Kooooch! PGA Tour golfer Matt Kuchar doubled down on his cheapskateyness this week when he tried to justify paying David “El Tucan” Ortiz, a fill-in local club caddie, $5,000 for helping him win $1.3 million in November at the Mayakoba Golf Classic in Mexico. Let’s do the math, shall we? If you divide $5,000 by $1.3 million, it works out to … Matt Kuchar is a jerk who paid his caddie less than four-tenths of 1 percent. The math doesn't look much better after Kuchar caved Friday and agreed to pay Ortiz the full $50,000 he had recently requested. Regular PGA Tour caddies earn between 5 and 10 percent of their player’s winnings each week, with the rate rising according to the order of finish. That means under normal circumstances, Kuchar’s caddie could have earned $130,000. [ Caddie tips: How much to pay your bag man at the golf course ] Imagine that. Kuchar's initial payment was like going to a restaurant and having great service and a wonderful meal for $100, then tipping the waiter 38 cents. Oh, and the waiter carried around your dirty dishes for a whole week. Kuchar said he and Ortiz initially agreed on a graduated paycheck before the tournament. At the Genesis Open near Los Angeles on Wednesday night, Kuchar told Golf.com he was disappointed Ortiz felt he was underpaid after the fact. “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. … “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.’ ” Someone did, Kuch. Pretty much the entire golf world. Lake Orion’s own Tom Gillis, a former PGA Tour pro now on the Champions Tour, was among the first to chime in last month with a tweet criticizing Kuchar. On Thursday, Gillis tweeted about Kuchar’s comments: “What would Jack or Arnie done in this situation??? Seized the opportunity to change a mans life.” [ 5 pro golfers who paid their caddies more generously than Matt Kuchar ] There was a GoFundMe page trying to raise $45,000 for Ortiz. Gillis had kicked in $100. Kuchar’s behavior and explanations are ridiculous and embarrassing. But they’re borderline profane when you consider he’s 10th on the PGA Tour’s career earnings list with $46,627,590. And he just earned $1.152 million last month for winning the Sony Open. Kuchar also has lucrative sponsor deals with Bridgestone, Workday and Skechers. Hmm, I wonder what some unhappy emails to those companies might do to Kuchar’s deal. Kuchar did well to make this right by agreeing Friday to pay the full amount, but he'd do even better if he presented the check to Ortiz at next week’s World Golf Championship in Mexico City. Even if he does, he might get plenty of heat from angry fans who will be chanting something that sounds a lot like Kooooch but isn’t. Kind of the way $5,000 might seem fair to some people but isn’t. Kuchar’s rating: 0.0038/10. Kuchar’s spirit animal: Scrooge. [ Matt Kuchar defends low pay to caddie ] Tip calculator So how much should you tip a caddie if you’re playing a weekend round at Bushwood Country Club? Glad you asked. If the club doesn’t post the gratuity, Golf.com suggests paying “what you feel is deserved,” which is anything from a flat $20 to 20 to 50 percent of the caddie fee. Here’s what I do. If the round costs less than $100, I tip $20. Over $100, I tip $40. If I’m a guest and don’t pay for the round, I usually double that. If the course is wet or especially hilly and the caddie is walking, I throw in a little more. And if I’m strapped for cash, I offer my caddie total consciousness on his deathbed. Caddies’ rating: 18/10. Caddies’ spirit animal: Job from the Old Testament. Contact Carlos Monarrez at cmonarrez@freepress.com or follow him on Twitter @cmonarrez.