Golf Champ Matt Kuchar is defending his $5,000 payout to David “El Tucan” Ortiz for his caddy work, that helped the golfer win a $1.3 million purse at last fall’s Mayakoba Golf Classic.
Ortiz says that he feels that Kuchar took advantage of him with a caddy fee that was many times lower than the fee the golfer pays his usual caddy, CBS reported.
According to Kuchar, when his usual caddy could not make the game, he made an agreement with Ortiz on a fee schedule based on how well Kuchar would do at the tournament. Kuchar insists that everything was understood before tee off. However, now Ortiz is complaining about his earnings.
“I kind of think someone got in his ear,” Kuchar told Golf.com. “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.”
Kuchar also noted that Ortiz raked in some good money. “For a guy who makes $200 a day, a $5,000 week is a really big week,” he said.
“I think people know me well enough to know I wasn’t trying to get away with anything, that is not how I operate,” Kuchar added.
It also appears that Kuchar says he won’t “lose sleep” over the incident has no intention of backtracking to offer the caddy more.
“It’s done. Listen, I feel like I was fair and good,” Kuchar said. “You can’t make everybody happy. You’re not going to buy people’s ability to be OK with you, and this seems to be a social media issue more than anything. I think it shouldn’t be, knowing that there was a complete, agreed-upon deal that not only did I meet but exceeded.
“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.”
Follow Warner Todd Huston on Twitter @warnerthuston.
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