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Matt Kuchar and David “El Tucan” Ortiz held clear-the-air talk at last month’s WGC-Mexico Championship
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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SuperStroke acquires Lamkin Grips
SuperStroke announced today its purchase of 100-year-old grip maker Lamkin Grips, citing the company’s “heritage of innovation and quality.”
“It is with pride and great gratitude that we announce Lamkin, a golf club grip brand with a 100-year history of breakthrough design and trusted products, is now a part of the SuperStroke brand,” says SuperStroke CEO Dean Dingman. “We have always had the utmost respect for how the Lamkin family has put the needs and benefits of the golfer first in their grip designs. If there is a grip company that is most aligned with SuperStroke’s commitment to uncompromised research, design, and development to put the most useful performance tools in the hands of golfers, Lamkin has been that brand. It is an honor to bring Lamkin’s wealth of product innovation into the SuperStroke family.”
Elver B. Lamkin founded the company in 1925 and produced golf’s first leather grips. The company had been family-owned and operated since that point, producing a wide array of styles, such as the iconic Crossline.
According to a press release, “The acquisition of Lamkin grows and diversifies SuperStroke’s proven and popular array of grip offerings with technology grounded in providing golfers optimal feel and performance through cutting-edge design and use of materials, surface texture and shape.”
CEO Bob Lamkin will stay on as a board member and will continue to be involved with the company.
“SuperStroke has become one of the most proven, well-operated, and pioneering brands in golf grips and we could not be more confident that the Lamkin legacy, brand, and technology is in the best of hands to continue to innovate and lead under the guidance of Dean Dingman and his remarkably capable team,” Lamkin said.
Related: Check out our 2014 conversation with Bob Lamkin, here: Bob Lamkin on the wrap grip reborn, 90 years of history
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Tour Rundown: Pendrith, Otaegui, Longbella, and Dunlap soar
Take it from a fellow who coaches high school golf in metro Toronto: there’s plenty of great golf played in the land of the maple leaf. All the greats have designed courses over the USA border: Colt, Whitman, Ross, Coore, Mackenzie, Doak, as well as the greatest of the land, Stanley Thompson. I’m partial to him, because he wore my middle name with grandeur. Enough about the architecture, because this week’s Tour Rundown begins with a newly-minted, Canadian champion on the PGA Tour. Something else that the great white north is known for, is weather. It impacted play on three of the world’s tours, forcing final-round cancellations on two of them.
It was an odd week in the golf world. The LPGA and the Korn Ferry were on a break, and only 13/15 of the rounds slated, were played. In the end, we have four champions to recognize, so let’s not delay any longer with minutiae about the game that we love. Let’s run it all down with this week’s Tour Rundown.
PGA Tour: TP takes TS at Byron’s place
The 1980s was a decade when a Canadian emergence was anticipated on the PGA Tour. It failed to materialize, but a path was carved for the next generation. Mike Weir captured the Masters in 2003, but no other countrymen joined him in his quest for PGA Tour conquest. 2024 may herald the long-awaited arrival of a Canadian squad of tour winners. Over the past few years, we’ve seen Nick Taylor break the fifty-plus year dearth of homebred champions at the Canadian Open, and players like Adam Hadwin, Corey Conners, Adam Svennson, and Mackenzie Hughes have etched their names into the PGA Tour’s annals of winners.
This week, Taylor Pendrith joined his mates with a one-shot win at TPC Craig Ranch, the home of the Byron Nelson Classic. Pendrith took a lead into the final round and, while the USA’s Jake Knapp faltered, held on for the slimmest of victories. Sweden’s Alex Noren posted six-under 65 on Sunday to move into third position, at 21-under par. Ben Kohles, a Texan, looked to break through for his first win in his home state. He took the lead from Pendrith at the 71st hole, on the strength of a second-consecutive birdie.
With victory in site, Kohles found a way to make bogey at the last, without submerging in the fronting water. His second shot was greenside, but he could not move his third to the putting surface. His fourth was five feet from par and a playoff, but his fifth failed to drop. Meanwhile, Pendrith was on the froghair in two, and calmly took two putts from 40 feet, for birdie. When Kohles missed for par, Pendrith had, at last, a PGA Tour title.
360° and in!
A nervy par save by @TaylorPendrith to remain one back as he seeks his first PGA TOUR victory @CJByronNelson. pic.twitter.com/LVFXUSidSg
— PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) May 5, 2024
DP World Tour: China Open in Otaegui’s hands after canceled day four
It wasn’t the fourth round that was canceled in Shenzhen, but the third. Rains came on Saturday to Hidden Grace Golf Club, ensuring that momentum would cease. Sunday would instead be akin to a motorsports restart, with no sense of who might claim victory. Sebastian Soderberg, the hottest golfer on the Asian Swing, held the lead, but he would slip to a 72 on Sunday, and tie for third with Paul Waring and Joel Girrbach. Italy’s Guido Migliozzi completed play in 67 strokes on day three, moving one shot past the triumvirate, to 17-under par.
It was Spain’s Adrian Otaegui who persevered the best and played the purest. Otaegui was clean on the day, with seven birdies for 65. Even when Migliozzi ceased the lead at the 10th, Otaegui remained calm. With everything on the line, Migliozzi made bogey at the par-five 17th, as his principal competitor finished in birdie. To the Italian’s credit, he bounced back with birdie at the last, to claim solo second. The victory was Otaegui’s fifth on the DP World Tour, and first since October of 2022.
.@adrianotaegui birdies the 16th to tie the lead at -17 ?#VolvoChinaOpen pic.twitter.com/p4tfE5DRJa
— DP World Tour (@DPWorldTour) May 5, 2024
PGA Tour Americas: Quito’s rains gift title to Longbella
Across the world, superintendents and their staffs will do anything to prepare a course for play. Even after fierce, nightime rains, the Quito TG Club greeted the first four groups on Sunday. The rains worsened after 7 am, however, and the tour was forced to abort the final round of play. With scores reverting to Saturday’s numbers, Thomas Longbella’s one-shot advantage over Gunn Yang turned into a Tour Americas victory.
64 held the opening-day lead, and Longbella was not far off, with 66. Yang jumped to the top on day two, following a67 with 66. He posted 68 on day three, and anticipated a fierce, final-round duel for the title. As for Longbella, he fought off a ninth-hole bogey on Saturday with six birdies and a 17th-hole eagle. That rare bird proved to be the winning stroke, allowing Longbella to edge past Yang, and secure ultimate victory.
.@TBalla21 eagles 17, shoots 65 on Saturday to take a one-shot lead into the final round of the KIA Open. pic.twitter.com/TTOL2LxSdh
— PGA TOUR Americas (@PGATOURAmericas) May 4, 2024
PGA Tour Champions: Dunlap survives Saturday stumble for win
Scott Dunlap did not finish Saturday as well as he might have liked. After beginning play near Houston with 65, Dunlap made two bogeys in his final found holes on day two, to finish at nine-under par. Hot on his heels was Joe Durant, owner of a March 2024 win on PGA Tour Champions. Just behind Durant was Stuart Appleby, perhaps vibing from his Sunday 59 at Greenbrier on this day in 2010. Neither would have a chance to track Dunlap down.
The rains that have forced emergency responders into action, to save hundreds of lives in the metro Houston area, ended hopes for a third day of play at The Woodlands. Dunlap had won once previously on Tour Champions, in 2014 in Washington state. Ten years later, Dunlap was the fortunate recipient of a canceled final round, and his two days of play were enough to earn him TC victory number two.
Off the green? No worries for @ScottDu12500063
8-under solo leader @InsperityInvtnl pic.twitter.com/hoj5OujL5C
— PGA TOUR Champions (@ChampionsTour) May 4, 2024
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Morning 9: Pendrith’s maiden Tour win | Morikawa back with former coach | Brooks victorious
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Stink Floyd
Mar 28, 2019 at 10:47 am
Kuchar PR Machine in full effect
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.
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!?
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.
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.
Deshaun
Mar 27, 2019 at 3:31 pm
Social Media Extortion at its finest
&
El Tuscan should donate the proceeds to fund the wall
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.
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
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.
Stephen
Mar 28, 2019 at 2:32 pm
Is Kuchar dead!? Lol. You’re pretty fired up there, guy.
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”.
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.
JP
Mar 30, 2019 at 6:59 pm
MAGA!
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!
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!
Stephen
Mar 28, 2019 at 2:34 pm
Well said!