Matt Kuchar Says He Hasn’t Paid For Golf Since The 90s, Which Is Fitting Given His Rather Cheap History

Matt Kuchar says that he hasn’t paid for a round of golf in about 30 years, and while it’s rare to hear about a professional golfer paying to play golf, a three-decade run of playing for free is so on the nose given Kuchar’s (rather cheap) past.

Professional golfers – whether they’re a Touring pro, a PGA teaching pro, or even a player trying to earn their way through mini tours – typically get on courses for free or at a very discounted rate at the very least. There are certainly exceptions to this ‘rule’ as a no-name professional can’t just call up Pebble Beach or TPC Sawgrass for example and say ‘hey, get me on the tee sheet tomorrow.’ 

Of course, Kuchar isn’t some no-name player. He’s a nine-time winner on the PGA Tour, a former Top Five player in the world, and a four-time Ryder Cup player, which means the number of courses he can get on for free far outnumber the courses he’d have to hand over a couple of hundred dollars to play.

Having said all of that, Kuchar telling Sports Illustrated that he hasn’t paid for a single round of golf since before his college days at Georgia Tech in the mid-90s is both impressive and hysterically on brand at the same time given his history of not exactly paying his caddie their fair share.

Matt Kuchar notoriously underpaid his caddie after winning the Mayakoba Golf Classic. Credit: Kyle Robertson-USA TODAY Sports

We have to go back to November 2018 when Kuchar won the Mayakoba Golf Classic in Mexico for context here.

Kuchar did not have his then-regular caddie, John Wood, on the bag that week and instead employed a local caddie, David Giral Ortiz. He went on to win that week earning just under $1.3 million to pad his career earnings that were already north of $50 million.

Typically, players pay their caddies about 10% of their tournament earnings, especially after a win when taking home a life-changing paycheck. Instead of writing Ortiz a check that should have been around $130,000, Kuchar paid him $5,000 cash.

Kuchar and Ortiz apparently struck a deal in which he would pay the caddie $1,000 if the golfer missed the cut, $2,000 for making the cut, $3,000 for a top-20 finish and $4,000 for a top-10, but no provision about what may happen if Kuchar found the winner’s circle.

Kuchar went on to win again in January at the Sony Open, and the story of Ortiz being stiffed by Kuchar started to make the rounds on social media in a hurry with the caddie claiming that he was offered an extra $15,000 but turned it down knowing he was entitled to much more.

In his return trip to Mayakoba the following year, Kuchar apologized for how he handled the situation but also half-played the victim card himself.

“That was a tough thing on me and my family, but it was really tough when I heard from my grandmother and she’s reading headlines about her grandson,” Kuchar said. “I think I’ve always tried to make her proud. I’ve got kids of my own, you try to set a good example.

“I’m disappointed in myself. It’s a moment I’m not proud of, but it’s one of those things you do your best as a father to teach kids lessons, and there’s no better thing than to show them, you do your best to make it right and try to keep moving forward and stay positive.”

Kuchar’s grandmother may have been upset seeing her grandson being slandered for grossly underpaying his caddie after earning over $1.2 million in a week, but it’s safe to say Ortiz was feeling much worse than Nanna.