Fore Please. 2019 Golf Running Thread

Just catching up. Kuchar totally owns this and just make it right and make it $75,000 or even $100,000.

As for Riviera, going to be a long slog to finish this thing by Sunday.

 

No. Garcia has a track record as a petulant lout and while what he did this time was egregious, it's a golfer-on-golf crime. Kuchar's behavior was a lack of humility and selfishly hoarding the financial gifts of a charmed life, and that really rubs people the wrong way, whether they're golf fans or not. Those that are hung up on "they had an agreement and Kuchar honored it" just don't get it. Kuchar was stiffing the guy, pure and simple, and when confronted about it his reaction was to belittle everyone from whoever was asking ("this isn't a story") to day laborers ("it was a lot of money for him!") to everyone kvetching on social media (a fight you'll never win).

I strongly doubt Kuchar woke up this morning and on his own decided to make this right. And we know it wasn't Steinberg, who doesn't have a decent PR bone in his body. Maybe his wife set him straight (judging a book by its cover, Sybi Kuchar seems like a kind and decent Tour wife). But my money's on the PGA Tour fixing this, because players' images are paramount to keeping the money flowing and this story was spreading like wildfire far beyond the insulated walls of golf, and making everyone associated with the sport look terrible.

It's never too late to right this kind of wrong, but Kuchar will feel the collateral damage for years to come. You're not going to see him in new Sketchers TV ads or Tour b-roll anytime soon. And he's going to have to spread around greenbacks like Al Czervik for a long time to make the whispers stop, which ultimately will cost a lot more than that $50,000.