Hard to believe it’s been a year since Matt Kuchar’s improbable Mayakoba Classic win without his regular caddie to enjoy 10% of the $1.3 million winner’s check. Instead, a mysterious man named El Tucan was on the bag and failed to receive what is normally paid to bagmen after a win, despite making that little bit of difference to get Kuchar back as a PGA Tour winner.
Pro golfer Tom Gillis leaked word of severe underpayment—$5000—but Kuchar dug in and only after heckling, reputation tarnishment and full escalation into a national news story did one of the PGA Tour’s all time leading money winners decide to pay his looper a nice $50,000 chunk of change.
Adam Schupak of Golfweek reviews the saga that may end up in paragraph one of Kuchar’s obituary. Whether it prompts questions of Kuchar this week, or a very visible food tester, remains to be seen. But it could be a good week for tips from the Kuchar clan.
I forgot this:
During the Genesis Open in February, where one fan cracked, “Go low, Kuch, go low! Just not on the gratuity!” and others had launched a GoFundMe account to raise money for Ortiz, Kuchar issued a statement in which he apologized for his initial actions and did what he should have done long ago: cut a check to Ortiz reportedly for $50,000.
And now El Tucan has spoken to the New York Post’s Mark Cannizzaro who says the check was, indeed, life changing.
“Fifty thousand dollars, for me, is big,’’ Ortiz said. “It’s everything to me and not too much to [Kuchar]. The $50,000 I needed for my business and to fix my kitchen and bathroom at home and to buy a new cell phone.’’
Ortiz, too, bought himself a used BMW with the money.
But getting to that place, where Ortiz was paid at least a reasonable sum, was an ordeal that changed both his and Kuchar’s life.
