Kuchar apologizes, agrees to pay caddie $50,000
Matt Kuchar apologized Friday for what he said were insensitive comments about the caddie he used at the Mayakoba Classic in Mexico last fall and said he would pay the $50,000 the caddie requested.
He also said he would make a donation to the tournament to be distributed to charities in the Cancun area.
“Golf is a game where we call penalties on ourselves,” Kuchar said in a statement released by the PGA Tour. “I should have done that long ago and not let this situation escalate.”
Kuchar’s regular caddie couldn’t make the trip to Mexico in November, so he used David Ortiz from El Camaleon Golf Club. Kuchar won for the first time in more than four years and earned $1,296,000. Ortiz received $5,000. Kuchar defended the payment — regular PGA Tour caddies typically get 10 percent from the winner — by saying they had an agreement at the start of the week. In an interview with golf.com, Kuchar said he did not understand why there was such a big buzz on social media.
“For a guy who makes $200 a day, a $5,000 week is a really good week,” Kuchar said.
Ortiz had told the website he didn’t expect the full 10 percent as a fulltime caddie, but that he thought it was worth $50,000. He said he sent three emails to Kuchar’s agent, Mark Steinberg at Excel Sports Management, and was offered an additional $15,000, which he turned down because he found it unacceptable.
Now he’s getting his money after Kuchar spent the last two days defending the arrangement.
PGA TOUR
Justin Thomas put together enough birdies in a cold rain at Riviera to reach 10-under-par and share the lead with Adam Scott when the second round of the Genesis Open in Los Angeles was halted by darkness.
Thomas, who opened with a 66 earlier Friday morning, went eight consecutive holes without a par — six birdies, two bogeys — when he ended his day with a two-putt par on his 12th hole of the round at No. 3.
He was 5-under on the day. Scott, who won at Riviera in 2005 when rain shortened it to 36 holes, also was 5-under on his round. three-putts, and followed a 45-foot eagle putt with two bogeys as the rain got stronger.
J.B. Holmes, who made a hole-in-one when he opened with a 63 for a one-shot lead after the first round, was at 9-under through nine holes.
“It was awesome to see that,” Holmes said about his ace.
The ball landed well behind the pin on the left side of the bunker and spun back some 20 feet on the rain-soaked greens of Riviera.
“Hit it exactly how I wanted it and it went in,” Holmes said. “It looked good the whole time.”
Jordan Spieth played six holes Friday morning to complete a bogey-free round of 64. 50-and-over tour. The 61-year-old Scot won the 1985 British Open and 1988 Masters.
Ames had a hole-in-one with a 9-iron on the 141yard 12th hole at The Classics at Lely Resort. He won the 2017 Mitsubishi Electric Classic for his lone senior title.
“The course is there for the taking,” Ames said.
Jay Haas, at 65 years old, bettered his age for the first time on the tour with a 64.
EUROPEAN TOUR
Thomas Pieters battled the wind to shoot a 6under-par 66 and move into a four-way tie for the lead after the second round of the European Tour’s World Super 6 in Perth, Australia.
Pieters is joined by Panuphol Pittayarat, Matthew Griffin and Ryan Fox at 8-under at Lake Karrinyup.
Playing in calm conditions in the morning, Fox’s second 68 moved him on to the leaderboard where he was later joined by Panuphol, who finished with a 66, and Griffin, who shot 70.