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Matt Kuchar secured his second PGA Tour win in three months at the Sony Open in Hawaii but, in the aftermath, talk on social media continued not about his supreme play, but an allegation dating back to his previous victory at the Mayakoba Golf Classic.
It started late on Friday night when fellow professional golfer Tom Gillis tweeted the following:
Even better. Who's gonna b the one to identify the player the paid his caddy 3k after winning a PGA tour event last fall??? https://t.co/YiRK44tpSN
— Tom Gillis (@tcgillis) January 12, 2019
For his victory in Mexico, Kuchar had local caddie David Giral Ortiz, affectionately known as ‘El Tucan’, on the bag, and pocketed $1.296 million for what was then his eighth PGA Tour victory.
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Gillis alleged that, of the winner’s prize, ‘El Tucan’ received just $3,000 of that – a fee agreed prior to the event. That’s works out at a mere 0.23%, with a caddie’s rate typically somewhere between 5% and 10% of a player’s earnings.
The tweet caught the attention of Justin Rose’s caddie Mark ‘Fooch’ Fulcher, while fellow PGA Tour pro Steve Flesch gave an inkling that it could be Kuchar.
He must have gotten confused by the Peso exchange rate
— InTheFlesch (@Steve_Flesch) January 12, 2019
Shortly before the 40-year-old teed off for his third round at Waialae Country Club, Gillis then named Kuchar as the player, tweeting:
Again, the tweet quickly circulated and prompted a question to Kuchar in his post-round press conference on Saturday evening.
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“That’s not a story,” he said. “It’s wasn’t 10%. It wasn’t $3,000. It’s not a story.”
In follow-up tweets, Gillis said his source ‘couldn’t be any closer to the caddie’, he has ‘someone he trusts speaking directly to the caddie’ and that he has nothing against his fellow American, only that he wishes for El Tucan to get paid what he deserves for the victory.
Todd there's proof plenty of proof. Would NEVER send it out if I wasn't 100 percent positive. Trust me. The man will get paid. https://t.co/uGuONE22rR
— Tom Gillis (@tcgillis) January 13, 2019
Following his four-shot victory over Andrew Putnam, Kuchar wasn’t asked again about the allegation, but Gillis remained adamant that ‘El Tucan’ had only received the $3,000.
Your thoughts
What do you make of the story? And how much would you have expected the caddie to receive from a winner’s cheque of $1.296 million. Let us know in the ‘Comments’ section below.
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