Gillis updates Kuchar accusation over caddie pay
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It’s the Matt Kuchar caddie saga that just won’t go away.
Tom Gillis, the former PGA Tour player and Champions Tour member who accused Matt Kuchar of failing to pay the local caddie he used even 1% of his winnings is Mayakoba, is back with another claim.
Matt Kuchar’s latest victory at the Sony Open was clouded in controversy after Gillis originally called him out on twitter for paying his local caddie ‘El Tucan’ just $3000 of his $1.296million Mayakoba winnings.
Gillis has been acting as the unofficial spokesman for the Mexican caddie, and says he just wants him to be paid fairly. As for what Gillis thinks that number is? $50,000.
When asked about it Kuchar was dismissive of the claim, stating to Golf Channel ‘That’s not a story’. “(What I paid him), it wasn’t 10 percent. It wasn’t $3,000. It’s not a story.”
Gillis immediately clapped back to Kuchar, stating he had someone ‘speaking directly to the caddy’ and he received his agreed $3,000 but nothing more, and that is goal is to get the man paid. He has stated on numerous occasions there was plenty of proof, and he wouldn’t have sent out the tweet if he wasn’t 100% positive.
And now, Gillis says that he himself has been in touch with El Tucan for the past few days to confirm he received $5,000 (not the originally stated $3000) – which would work out at around 0.385% of Kuchar’s winners cheque. Gillis incorrectly calculated it as 0.0023%.
Of course, it’s worth noting the validation of this entire accusation so far resides just in a series of tweets, and Kuchar is yet to be asked about the latest development.
“Been in direct contact with El Tucan now for a few days,” Gillis wrote. “He did receive a total of 5k. Not 3k after tournament. Still only 0.0023% percent of check. Fortunately there’s no more middle man. Stay tuned hopefully he gets paid properly”
According to the twitter account belonging to a man named Mark Graubart, who seems to have met with El Tucan, the caddie had not complained until it was explained to him what he should have been paid. Gillis agreed that the ‘dialect had been a challenge’.
All we can say is, in the words of Gillis, stay tuned.
