News

Matt Kuchar and David “El Tucan” Ortiz held clear-the-air talk at last month’s WGC-Mexico Championship

Published

7 years ago

Mar 27, 2019

The Matt Kuchar-David Ortiz caddie pay dispute dating back to last year’s Mayakoba Classic came to an end last month, and according to a report from Golf.com, the two have since had a face-to-face meeting where both men apologized.

The controversy began after Kuchar had paid Ortiz just $5,000 for his part in the American’s victory at the 2018 Mayakoba Classic, and from there the story played out as a controversial soap opera, which culminated in Kuchar forking over an extra $45,000 in compensation after claiming he had “missed the boat with this one.”

Per Michael Bamberger’s report for Golf.com, the two men met each other in the clubhouse at the WGC-Mexico Championship and apologised to each other. Speaking on the 40-minute meeting where the two men buried the hatchet, Ortiz told Bamberger in a phone interview alongside an interpreter that

“Matt said, ‘Hey, David, how are you?’ I apologized for the (difficulty) the situation created. I told him it was never my intention to embarrass him, but I felt eventually I had to tell the truth. Matt also offered an apology. He said it was all a misunderstanding. He asked me how my family was. He showed me a picture of his family and a video of a hole-in-one made by one of his sons.”

Asked what it was like for him to see the additional $45,000 in his bank account, Ortiz’ translator said: “He is speechless.”

Matt Kuchar is in action at this week’s WGC Match Play. The 40-year-old is in Group 8 alongside Jon Rahm, J.B. Holmes and Si Woo Kim.

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Gianni Magliocco

Gianni is the Managing Editor at GolfWRX. He can be contacted at gianni@golfwrx.com

16 Comments

Stink Floyd

Mar 28, 2019 at 10:47 am

Kuchar PR Machine in full effect

Reply Report comment
Dave r

Mar 27, 2019 at 4:38 pm

Give it rest already .Its over done and the media is still beating it to death. Find something else to talk about get tired of this article on every golfwrx since it happened. Oh by the way get rid of Zinger ,talk about boreing.

Reply Report comment
- Stephen
  
  Mar 28, 2019 at 2:43 pm
  
  Go to another golf website, then. There’s so many to choose from.
  
  “Find something else to talk about get tired of this article on every golfwrx since it happened.”
  
  Did you write this sentence with a fucking crayon!?
  
  Reply Report comment
Dan

Mar 27, 2019 at 4:25 pm

I can’t stand Zinger as a commentator but he made a great point. He said “this guy isn’t a pro caddy, he doesn’t do the work a pro caddy does week in and week out, he doesn’t deserve 10%”. I’m not saying who’s right or wrong but it was a good point.

Reply Report comment
- HP
  
  Mar 28, 2019 at 6:48 am
  
  He is right, and $50K is less than 5%. I hope Ortiz paid his income tax like rest of us.
  
  Reply Report comment
Deshaun

Mar 27, 2019 at 3:31 pm

Social Media Extortion at its finest
&
El Tuscan should donate the proceeds to fund the wall

Reply Report comment
- Stephen
  
  Mar 28, 2019 at 2:38 pm
  
  Lol @ “extortion”. You’re a pussy if you think Kuchar was extorted. Don’t worry though, the twitter army won’t be coming after your money or the cash of other temporarily embarrassed millionaires.
  
  Reply Report comment
robert

Mar 27, 2019 at 3:08 pm

Someone should pick up El Tucan on Monday to caddie for the week, agree to a % of winnings, and then miss the cut. I bet he wont complain in the future about a guaranteed flat fee

Reply Report comment
- JP
  
  Mar 27, 2019 at 8:15 pm
  
  Better yet, how about NOBODY ever use him again. Unless you’re willing to get beaten to death in the media for Nottingham giving in to demands that fall outside any prior agreement. Just force this guy into a new line of work.
  
  Reply Report comment
  - Stephen
    
    Mar 28, 2019 at 2:32 pm
    
    Is Kuchar dead!? Lol. You’re pretty fired up there, guy.
    
    Reply Report comment
    - JP
      
      Mar 28, 2019 at 7:01 pm
      
      Not fired up, just hate to see this kind of extortion. It’s sad when a pregame agreement is followed PLUS a generous bonus was given, and that’s when the social media BS starts. Fired up? How about you go read the previous story on this and count the number of times Kuchar was called names and put down for completing his end of the deal and still gave the guy $1,000 tip. Those people pounding Kuchar seemed “fired up”.
      
      Reply Report comment
      - Stephen
        
        Mar 30, 2019 at 5:57 pm
        
        How is what Kuchar experienced extortion? Extortion is when you’re coerced into giving money and it’s a criminal offense. If you think a bunch of people calling a guy a cheapskate is extortion than you’re pretty soft. The decision to pay more was Kuchar’s alone. Kuchar is doing just fine.
        
        Reply Report comment
        
        JP
        
        Mar 30, 2019 at 6:59 pm
        
        MAGA!
        
        Reply Report comment
        
        Stephen
        
        Mar 30, 2019 at 9:16 pm
        
        LOL – that’s you’re response!? Your previous comments made everyone think you’re racist. Thanks for removing any doubt!
        
        Reply Report comment
cg

Mar 27, 2019 at 11:43 am

Yes, Matt Kuchar made a mistake. In fact, a shocking one. I had always been a fan, but this event changed how I felt about at him. However, he admitted his mistake and made things right. I like the fact that he personally met with the caddie, and gave him a more deserved compensation. “Kooch” is back on my list of favorites!

Reply Report comment
- Stephen
  
  Mar 28, 2019 at 2:34 pm
  
  Well said!
  
  Reply Report comment

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News

Testing Lorem Ipsum

Published

2 hours ago

May 13, 2026

Pro Shop

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News

2026 PGA Championship betting odds

Published

2 days ago

May 12, 2026

Gianni Magliocco

Scottie Scheffler leads the betting ahead of the second major championship of the year, with the World Number One a +345 favorite to get his hands on a second PGA Championship.

Rory McIlroy who won the Masters back in April is a +800 shot to complete half of the calendar slam at Aronimink Golf Club this week, while Jordan Spieth can be backed at +5900 to become a career grand slam winner.

Here is the full betting board for the 2026 PGA Championship courtesy of DraftKings.

Scottie Scheffler +345 – (Check 0ut his WITB here)

Rory McIlroy +800 – (Check out his WITB here)

Jon Rahm +1300
Cameron Young +1500
Bryson DeChambeau +1700
Xander Schauffele +1850
Matt Fitzpatrick +1950
Ludvig Aberg +2000
Tommy Fleetwood +2600
Collin Morikawa +3500
Brooks Koepka +3900
Justin Rose +4300
Russell Henley +4600
Si Woo Kim +4700
Justin Thomas +4800
Robert MacIntyre +5300
Patrick Cantlay +5300
Viktor Hovland +5400
Tyrrell Hatton +5500
Jordan Spieth +5900
Sam Burns +6000
Hideki Matsuyama +6200
Adam Scott +6400
Rickie Fowler +7000
Chris Gotterup +7400
Patrick Reed +7400
Min Woo Lee +7800
Ben Griffin +8000
Sepp Straka +8400
Shane Lowry +9000
Akshay Bhatia +9200
Maverick McNealy +9200
Joaquin Niemann +9200
Jake Knapp +9200
Jason Day +9600
Kurt Kitayama +10000
J.J. Spaun +10000
Harris English +10500
Nicolai Hojgaard +11000
Gary Woodland +11000
David Puig +11000
Michael Thorbjornsen +12000
Jacob Bridgeman +12000
Keegan Bradley +12500
Corey Conners +14000
Alex Fitzpatrick +15000
Sungjae Im +15500
Sahith Theegala +15500
Harry Hall +15500
Alex Noren +16000
Thomas Detry +16500
Marco Penge +16500
Kristoffer Reitan +17000
Alex Smalley +17000
Wyndham Clark +17500
Sam Stevens +17500
Keith Mitchell +17500
Daniel Berger +18500
Ryan Gerard +20000
Nick Taylor +20000
Rasmus Hojgaard +21000
Dustin Johnson +21000
Pierceson Coody +23000
Aaron Rai +24000
Jordan Smith +24000
Angel Ayora +24000
Bud Cauley +25000
Matt McCarty +26000
Jayden Schaper +26000
Brian Harman +27000
Taylor Pendrith +27000
Ryan Fox +27000
J.T. Poston +27000
Cameron Smith +29000
Ryo Hisatsune +29000
Michael Kim +29000
Max Homa +29000
Denny McCarthy +29000
Tom McKibbin +30000
Rico Hoey +32000
Matt Wallace +32500
Ricky Castillo +33000
Haotong Li +33000
Michael Brennan +34000
Max Greyserman +36000
Stephan Jaeger +37500
Christiaan Bezuidenhout +37500
Rasmus Neergaard-Petersen +39000
Aldrich Potgieter +40000
Andrew Novak +42000
Patrick Rodgers +42500
Daniel Hillier +42500
Max McGreevy +46000
Billy Horschel +48000
Chris Kirk +48000
Ian Holt +49000
Casey Jarvis +49000
William Mouw +50000
Steven Fisk +50000
John Parry +50000
Nico Echavarria +52500
Garrick Higgo +52500
John Keefer+55000
Matthias Schmid +57500
Austin Smotherman +57500
Sami Valimaki +60000
Andrew Putnam +60000
Lucas Glover +62500
Daniel Brown +62500
Jhonattan Vegas +75000
Emiliano Grillo +80000
Mikael Lindberg +85000
Adrien Saddier +100000
Bernd Wiesberger +100000
Elvis Smylie +110000
Stewart Cink +130000
Kota Kaneko +130000
David Lipsky +150000
Chandler Blanchet +150000
Andy Sullivan +150000
Joe Highsmith +180000
Adam Schenk +200000
Travis Smyth +200000
Davis Riley +225000
Martin Kaymer +400000
Brian Campbell +400000
Padraig Harrington +450000
Kazuki Higa +450000
Jordan Gumberg +450000
Ryan Vermeer +500000
Austin Hurt +500000
Tyler Collet +500000
Timothy Wiseman +500000
Shaun Micheel +500000
Y.E. Yang +500000
Michael Block+500000
Mark Geddes+500000
Luke Donald+500000
Bryce Fisher+500000
Jimmy Walker +500000
Jason Dufner +500000
Jesse Droemer +500000
Jared Jones +500000
Garrett Sapp +500000
Francisco Bide +500000
Zach Haynes +500000
Paul McClure+500000
Derek Berg +500000
Chris Gabriele +500000
Braden Shattuck +500000
Ben Polland +500000
Ben Kern +50000

Tour Photo Galleries

Photos from the 2026 PGA Championship

Published

2 days ago

May 11, 2026

GolfWRX Staff

GolfWRX is on site for the second major of 2026: The PGA Championship from Aronimink in Newtown Square, Pennsylvania.

The tournament’s location, just outside Philadelphia, and its status as a major championship mean GolfWRXers are in for a treat: WITBs from a strong field, custom gear celebrating the PGA Championship, and the rich culture of the City of Brotherly Love — we have noted a relative absence of cheesesteak-themed items thus far this week, but most of the rest of the usual suspects are well represented.

Check out links to all our photos below.