How Much Money Should Each Player Give A Four Caddy At A Resort

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Feb 14, 2019, 11:36pm EST |

After Matt Kuchar's $5K Payment, A Closer Look At The PGA Tour Player-Caddie Relationship

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News came out this week regarding PGA Tour professional Matt Kuchar and how much he paid his caddie David "El Tucan" Ortiz after winning the Mayakoba Golf Classic in November.

Kuchar earned $1.29 million for the victory, which could make this the best season of his long, successful career. He won again in January at the Sony Open, leads the FedEx Cup points standings and has climbed to 10th on the PGA Tour career money list with $46.6 million in earnings.

Ortiz is the caddie coordinator at the El Camaleon Golf Course, where Kuchar fired 22-under for the one-shot victory. He filled in for Kuchar's regular caddie on the recommendation of the Mayakoba tournament director and received $5,000 for a week of work.

The winning caddie at a PGA Tour event typically receives 10% of the earnings, or $129,000 in this case.

Kuchar responded at the Genesis Open in Pacific Palisades, California, this week, explaining that the compensation had been agreed upon by the two men, in response to Ortiz telling his side of the story a few days earlier.

It's a bizarre situation, to say the least. PGA Tour caddies typically travel the world to work for their professionals. In most cases, when a pro needs a substitute for a week, he relies on another experienced Tour caddie, a friend or a family member.

Using a local caddie is rare, but not unprecedented. Sergio Garcia arrived at the 2012 Wyndham Championship in Greensboro, North Carolina, seeking a caddie after parting ways with his regular man the week before. He hired David Faircloth and won the tournament. The amount he paid Faircloth was never revealed, but sources close to the situation confirmed it was also less than the standard 10%.

How does the business arrangement typically work?

Professionals' caddies, just like the golfers for whom they work, are self-employed, independent contractors responsible for paying their own expenses. This year, the PGA Tour began providing caddies with a health insurance subsidy for the first time. The Association of Professional Tour Caddies had sued the Tour over the matter in 2015.

Each player-caddie arrangement is unique and typically involves a verbal rather than written agreement. The PGA Tour has no policy regarding the payment of caddies, demanding only that a golfer competing in one of its tournaments must use one.

Pros pay their caddies an agreed-upon weekly salary, typically in the $1,500-$2,000 range, which caddies use to pay for their own airfare, car rentals, lodging, food, etc. The deal hinges on the player's performance. The better he plays, the more money the caddie makes. A caddie might make 5% or 6% if his player makes the cut, 7% or 8% for a top-10 finish and 10% for a victory. There are myriad bonuses and performance-related raises. In addition, as a player climbs in the world rankings, he qualifies for World Golf Championship events, which have lucrative purses and guaranteed paychecks. A caddie's travel expenses can also decline as his player's ranking rises as he joins the boss on private jets rather than flying commercial between tournament stops.

And there's tons of cash available to the caddies for the top players.

Last season, Justin Rose won $8.1 million for his Tour finishes and a $10 million bonus for winning the FedEx Cup. Justin Thomas led the PGA Tour money list with $8.6 million. On the PGA Tour alone, 114 golfers earned at least $1 million in prize money.

So there's plenty of money available to professional golfers and their caddies—but for some more than others.

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