98 golfdigest.com | may 2019
kuchar stood just inside the glass doors
leading from the clubhouse of the Sea Is-
land Golf Club to the putting green.
It was a week before Christmas in Geor-
gia, and Kuchar’s 11-year-old son, Cameron,
was working his way through the putting
course that snakes around the green.
Kuchar’s smile could not have been wider.
“I love the fact that both my kids love
to play,” he said. “I’ve never pushed them
to play or to practice. When they ask me to
play or go to the range, I go. But it’s their
call when we go, and their call how long
we s t ay.”
Inside the clubhouse, Kuchar’s wife,
Sybi, glanced at her watch. Cameron had a
dentist appointment, and Matt’s teacher,
Chris O’Connell, was on his way from the
airport to spend some time with him before
the holidays. The Kuchars’ younger son,
9-year-old Carson, was playing tennis with
Sybi’s parents.
Life in Kuchar World was hectic, but
clearly happy.
“I’ve been unbelievably lucky to be
able to build the life we have,” Kuchar had
said earlier that morning. “This has been a
perfect place for us to raise our family, and
it’s been great for me as a place to play and
practice when I’m not on tour. I don’t think
I could ask for anything more than that.”
That was Kuchar’s public persona: the
devoted family man who behaves with grace
and style in victory and defeat.
But that image took a massive hit in
February when Kuchar became embroiled
in what was arguably the first real contro-
versy of his career. It started the previous
November with a victory—an important
one. Kuchar hadn’t won on the PGA Tour in
more than four years, and, having turned 40
in June, he had genuine worries about how
much golf he had left.
As he often does, Kuchar decided to
combine playing in a tournament with a
family vacation, bringing Sybi and the boys
with him to the Mayakoba Classic. He gave
John Wood, his regular caddie, the week off
and hired a local caddie, David Ortiz, for the
tournament.
Tour caddies get paid a flat fee when a
player misses a cut—it varies depending on
the length of the relationship—and, typi-
cally, get 5 percent of what a player makes
when he makes a cut; 7 percent for a top-10
finish and 10 percent for a win.
Kuchar and Ortiz agreed on $1,000 for
the week, $2,000 for a made cut, $3,000 for
a top 20 and $4,000 for a top 10. But Kuchar
won—meaning he collected almost $1.3 mil-
lion. Had Wood been on the bag, he would
have received about $130,000. Kuchar gave
Ortiz a $1,000 bonus, paying him $5,000.
Then word got out that Kuchar had paid
Ortiz only $3,000. Kuchar said that wasn’t
true, adding he had paid Ortiz more than
that, but less than 10 percent.
Ortiz and a businessman he had looped
for at Mayakoba released a letter Ortiz had
sent to Mark Steinberg, Kuchar’s agent, ask-
ing for another $45,000. The initial email
said that Steinberg, on Kuchar’s behalf, had
offered an additional $15,000. “It was actu-
ally an additional $20,000,” Kuchar said. “It
was rejected. That’s when I got stubborn.”
MATT
TOP-10 FINISHES IN MAJORS 2 2017 Open Championship T- 3 2012 Masters T- 4 2017 Masters T- 5 2014 Masters T- 6 2010 U.S. Open T- 7 2015 PGA
Championship T- 8 2013 Masters T- 9 2018 Open Championship T- 9 2017 PGA Championship T- 9 2012 Open Championship T-10 2010 PGA Championship
