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David Ortiz shares his side of the story from his Mayakoba controversy with Matt Kuchar

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Matt Kuchar returns to the site of his 2018 Mayakoba victory this week—a week which proved extremely damaging to the 41-year-old’s public persona.

The result of last year’s win was overshadowed after Kuchar paid his stand-in caddie, David Ortiz, $5,000 for helping him to his eighth PGA Tour win and the $1.3 million prize at Mayakoba. After a messy, publicised back and forth, Kuchar eventually paid Ortiz $50,000, and over the weekend the Mexican caddie revealed his side of the story.

Speaking to the New York Post, Ortiz revealed that he carries no animosity towards Kuchar following the incident, stating

“Kuchar is a good person. I’m not angry. Everything is good. Not paying was not good. But I have no anger.”

Per the report, before the event, Kuchar’s deal with Ortiz was that he would pay the stand-in caddie $1,000 for the Tuesday practice round, $1,000 for the Wednesday pro-am and $3,000 for the tournament rounds (cut made, or no cut made).

However, Ortiz then requested 10 percent should Kuchar go on to win, to which the 41-year-old responded “Of course,” though Ortiz claims, “it felt like he was just looking at me like I’m this little guy.’’

Kuchar’s payment of $5,000 did not equal one percent of his winnings and led to plenty of vocal critics amongst golf fans and pundits alike.

It was then director of golf at El Camaleon, David Lopez, who got involved on Ortiz’ behalf. Lopez contacted Kuchar’s agent, Mark Steinberg, who curtly blew off Lopez’ request that Ortiz’ payment be increased, responding to his email saying “No. What we paid you is fair.”

Following Kuchar’s comments that, “For a guy who makes $200 a day, a $5,000 week is a really big week”, Lopez once again emailed Steinberg stating that the issue had now become a racial one, and per the report, two days later, Ortiz had been sent an extra $45,000.

All’s well that ends well for Ortiz, who explained to the Post how important the $50,000 is to him.

“Fifty thousand dollars, for me, is big. It’s everything to me and not 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.”

 

 

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Gianni is the Managing Editor at GolfWRX. He can be contacted at [email protected].

19th Hole

TaylorMade signs 15-year-old AJGA Rolex Junior Player of the Year to an NIL contract

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This week, TaylorMade Golf announced that they’ve signed AJGA Rolex Junior Player of the Year, Miles Russell, to an NIL contract.

In a statement, TaylorMade called Russell “nothing short of remarkable”.

“Miles’ record setting success at his young age is nothing short of remarkable and we are excited he chose us to support him in his growth as a golfer to continue to accomplish his career goals. Identifying and developing the top junior talent in the world has always been a priority for us at TaylorMade. Miles and his family epitomize the type of athlete and human being we are looking to add to Team TaylorMade.”

Russell has broken plenty of records in recent months. This season, he was named American Junior Golf Association’s Rolex Boys Player of the Year, making him the youngest male player to receive the award. The record was previously held by Tiger Woods who was about 10 months older than Russell at the time he received the award.

At age 14, J he became the youngest player ever to win the Junior PLAYERS Championship at TPC Sawgrass at age 14.

The 15-year-old also played in his first Korn Ferry Tour event on Thursday, the LECOM Suncoast Classic, and shot a first-round 68.

In the aftermath of the agreement, Russell released a statement.

“I have had a great relationship with the team at TaylorMade for years now and couldn’t be more excited to continue to work with them in the future. TaylorMade has a history of developing the top junior talent in the world to help reach their goals of becoming PGA TOUR and major championship winners. I am looking forward to working with the team to reach those and other goals I have laid out for my career.”

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Group of PGA Tour caddies sign endorsement deal with underwear company

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In an interesting turn of events, a group of PGA Tour caddies have signed an endorsement deal with an underwear company.

Geno Bonnalie (Joel Dahmen), Aaron Flener (J.T. Poston), John Limanti (Akshay Bhatia) and Joel Stock (Will Zalatoris) and John Ellis (Wyndham Clark) have signed a deal with the underwear brand, SAXX.

Here are some details about the endorsement deal:

  • The deal eclipses six figures in total value, extending what last year marked the first significant apparel agreement with a group of pro caddies. Of note, Geno and John Ellis appeared in the Netflix docuseries, Full Swing.
  • The caddies will wear SAXX underwear, shorts and polos on and off the course.
  • SAXX will donate $100 to the Testicular Cancer Foundation for every birdie made by the caddies’ players for the rest of the season.
  • SAXX will bring the Ball Masters to the masses at the Travelers Championship, hosting a fan activation with underwear giveaways, photo opportunities, appearances from the Ball Masters and more.
  • Fans can become an honorary Ball Master, which includes a year’s worth of underwear, among other things. Go to SAXX.com/ball-master-application from now until June 15 to enter.

The partnership is great for the caddies and also represents a great cause.

Check out the video they shared on YouTube:

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Man charged with stealing millions of dollars worth of memorabilia from Augusta National

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Augusta National

According to a report from the Chicago Tribune, a man has been charged in Chicago with stealing millions of dollars’ worth of memorabilia from Augusta National.

The man, Robert Globensky, was charged with transporting the memorabilia across state lines.

The report states that between 2009 and 2022, Globensky allegedly transported “millions of dollars’ worth of Masters golf tournament merchandise and historical memorabilia” from Augusta National “and transported to Tampa, Florida, knowing the same had been stolen, converted and taken by fraud.”

The document was filed Tuesday in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois.

Per the court records there is no mention that Globensky worked for the golf club.

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