Typically each player has an agreement with their regular caddie. They are all different but generally get paid something like 5% for making the cut 7% for a Top 10-20 finish. And 10% for a win. It’s all negotiated on the front end. Kuchar didn’t use his regular caddie he used a local guy in Mexico. They agreed to $4,000 for a top 10 that was it. Kuchar threw him an extra grand “to be nice”. I tend to be team Kuchar on we agreed on this so you get this. However, if you are going to tip him it should have been more than just a grand. I think they both look bad in this case.
Thanks. I never knew how the pay of caddies worked. Learned something new today. I agree with the final two points. I still tend to be Team Kuch on this but I also agree that if he was going to tip the guy, give the guy a reasonable tip, in particular if he was helpful.
Kuch is not only an asshole....he's legitimately dumb. For example his newest comments from yesterday.... http://www.golfwrx.com/545174/kucha...s-200-a-day-a-5000-week-is-a-really-big-week/
This is such a non-story for me. Kuch and El Tucan agreed to the $$ beforehand. It screams of someone with an ax to grind against Kuch using this guy to do it. The standard PGA Tour caddie rates don't apply bc he doesnt have the same expenses to cover. If the guy had an issue with the % because Kuch won. He'd have the same issue with %s if Kuch finishes 10th. He didnt then. And it was only after someone got to him he did. I'm an asshole, I know.
Was still like 180k. And people would still be angry if he paid him 4k out of 180k. The caddie agreed to the rate beforehand. Not Kuch's problem.
Are you really saying the caddy was in a position to negotiate his rate? That’s a bad take. He had no choice. Kuch took advantage of him since he had all the leverage.
I'm saying that the caddie agreed to it beforehand and clearly didn't have an issue with it until some time later when someone told him he got abused. The guy made a nice paycheck in relation to his normal daily good day. He could have told Kuch he needed or wanted a better deal than was offered. Im also sure this is a more prevalent issue in those type events than we know. Ultimately the guy had no expenses beyond whatever it cost him to get to and from the course. No flights, no hotels etc.
They had an agreement. Kuch fulfilled it. Its not like Kuch tried to not pay the guy for what theyd agreed to.
QuackAttack with some real doozies going on itt but I won't go in because he explained why he is the way he is....
Normal Caddie Pay Scale is entirely different. Those deals have to provide for accomodations and expenses related to the player's tournament locations. This guy has none of that. Hes a local looper. He doesnt have to buy a flight, a week in a hotel, meals because hes not at home. One week local caddie deals are never the same as a professional tour caddie's pay. If this was Kuch borrowing Rose's caddie for the week, I'd expect the terms to be on that scale. A local guy will never get that. I've caddied a few times for some guys on different level tours and I know I was never making what the other guy's regular caddie was making.
Normal caddie payscale doesn't apply for a random local. The guy just toted his bag for 5K. I think in hindsight, Kuchar should've probably given the guy an extra 20K, but I don't know all the details. Maybe he was lazy? Seemed like a pretty cheap bonus, but could be more to the story. Maybe Kuchar is cheap.
Why wasn't Kuchar's "normal" caddie on the bag? Not that it really matters, just hadn't heard why yet.
I'd be willing to say that his role is plenty important.....in the case of the tournament being discussed I would say the caddies role was worth hundreds of thousands of dollars. If Kuchar had to lug his own clubs around all 4 days he wouldn't have won the tournament and likely wouldn't have even placed top 10.
Kuchar was not expected to play that event + bc of that, the Caddie lined up another function of some sort; not-golfing-related iirc.
I don’t mean the difference between having a caddie and carrying your own bag. Obviously. Because that’s absurd. But the difference between El Tucan and the next guy El Pajaro
It is also a crap event and Kuchar was the best player down there. He didn't win because his caddy was exceptional.
All that caddie did was carry a bag. He might have given some insight on some putts(if local) but he wasn't picking out the clubs or helping with shot selection.
You don't think he was walking off yardage for Matt, giving him numbers? Helping him pick out targets on tee shots? Of course he was, that's what caddies do.
The people that are arguing that ‘it’s a pretty good day’ compared to what they are normally making is such a fucking weird take. ‘You sir, are now the top engineer for Apple for the next year, but since you were used to making $12 an hour at Best Buy, while working through college, we are going to pay you 1/10th of the normal rate because it’s still a pretty good day for you!’
This is why it became a “thing”. This is why his fellow Tour pros decided to air him out on it. This is why this story didn’t die the first, or second, or eighth time it came up. Kuchar is known to be cheap by his colleagues.
He might have walked off some yardage but I doubt he was actually helping him out. He's not a professional caddie. So no, I don't agree with most of what you said.
Kuchar is the kind of guy that runs up a $5000 dinner tab at Cheesecake Factory but only tips $100 because that’s a huge tip for the server compared to most tables and they should be thankful he came into the restaurant that night.
Yep. I could see that. I will say he's a great guy by all accounts. I know a guy who's helping with his house and says he is all class and great family to work with. Being cheap like that is not a good look though.