Kooch: Caddie flak got so bad even my gran was feeling it
MATT KUCHAR insists the hardest part of becoming golf’s Public Enemy No.1 was receiving anguished phone calls from his gutted granny.
The American’s image has been tarnished by a string of incidents in the eight months since he stiffed a local caddie who had stepped in to help him win a PGA Tour event in Mexico.
Paying local looper David Ortiz a mere £4000 cut of his £1million winnings was widely condemned and only made worse by an illadvised defiant attempt to justify himself.
But the flak didn’t stop with Kuchar making a grovelling apology and an additional payment to compensate Ortiz to the tune of 50 grand.
Within three months he was embroiled in a row with Sergio Garcia over a putt he hadn’t conceded to the Spaniard during the World Match Play.
Then in May he was slaughtered for asking for a third opinion after two referees refused to give BY EUAN McLEAN him a free drop from a divot in the fairway during the Memorial Championship.
Amid the worst of the condemnation Kuchar had support from Phil Mickelson – no stranger to a public crucifixion himself – but yesterday he revealed the toughest moment was hearing how it affected his family.
Kuchar said: “It was difficult, I don’t do social media so it helped I didn’t see much.
“However, hearing from my grandmother and the things she was hearing and talking to me about was really tough.
“You really want to make your parents and grandparents proud and I never wanted them to be in that position.
“Phil Mickelson pulled me aside a couple of times and said, ‘Listen, this is a tough deal – I’ve been through way worse. It will pass. This will go away’.
“The caddie thing was a tricky situation. But you learn from your setbacks.”