Are Caddies getting paid too much?

In my last post on Scorum I spoke about the story that went global in the golf world. Matt Kucher won a PGA tour event with a local mexican on his bag. He won $1.3 million by coming first in that tournament and he paid the local caddie $5,000. This story went viral because most pro golfers pay their caddies as a norm 10% if the they win a golf tournament. It is why Steve Williams is the highest paid sportsman in New Zealand. He was on Tigers caddie in his prime and amassed a fortune of $20 million. Now most of the top golfers have their own long term caddie but you have seen high profile players like Phil and Rory ending their partnerships with their long term caddies. More and more pro's are opting for local caddies where they discuss a contract before the event. This way the pro golfer does not have to have a caddie on their payroll.

Having a caddie on your payroll is expensive. Let's crunch the numbers. So you make a contract out . 10% if you win. 8% for second and a flat 7% for all other placed finishes. As far as I am aware this is the norm. Of course these are private contracts and may differ but its around about these percentages. Now the 10% if a pro golfer wins is off the total prize money. A pro golfer is required to pay tax in the state or country they win it in . This is win you get the big names to Dubai (0% tax) So if a golfer wins 1 million at a big event, they will pay at least 45% (depending on state tax with the higher tax bracket.) This leaves them with 650k net. The caddies take is 100k. So now you are left with 550k. Bitter pill to swallow there. But thats not all!

Now here is the interesting part. A golfer is required to pay tax in the country or state they play in . If they don't it is withholding tax and they could end up getting jail time. Now the fun bit. A caddie doesn't have to declare as they are being paid by the golfer and not a club or company in that state. This means the caddie doesn't have to declare anything. Most of them are nomads anyway which means when the 100k hits their bank account, some savvy international accountant and residency rules may be able to ensure that the caddie receives 99.9%.

All of a sudden I do not feel sorry for the caddies anymore!


A tsunami just hit my bank account -JP Fitzgerald after Rory McElroy won 10 million in the Fedex Cup

I heard a story recently on the European tour last year where an amateur won the open. The pro golfer in 2nd place got all the 1st place purse. This golfer in particular gave his caddie 8% instead of the 10% because he did indeed finish second. It was somewhat short sighted by the pro as the caddie ended their partnership a week later. I look forward to your comments on this one and any more insight you can give. The Matt Kucher story has gathered momentum now and I think people are seeing through the whole Forrest Gump thing that Kooch has going. .