GOLF
Matt Kuchar apologized Friday for what he said were insensitive comments about the caddie he used at the Mayakoba Classic in Mexico last fall and said he would pay the $50,000 the caddie requested.
He also said he would make a donation to the tournament to be distributed to charities in the Cancun area.
“Golf is a game where we call penalties on ourselves,” Kuchar said in a statement released by the PGA Tour. “I should have done that long ago and not let this situation escalate.”
Kuchar’s regular caddie couldn’t make the trip to Mexico in November, so he used David Ortiz from El Camaleon Golf Club. Kuchar won for the first time in more than four years and earned $1,296,000.
Ortiz received $5,000.
Kuchar defended the payment – regular PGA Tour caddies typically get 10 percent from the winner – by saying they had an agreement at the start of the week. In an interview with golf.com, Kuchar said he did not understand why there was such a big buzz on social media.
“For a guy who makes $200 a day, a $5,000 week is a really good week,” Kuchar said.
Ortiz had told the website he didn’t expect the full 10 percent as a full-time caddie, but that he thought it was worth $50,000.
PGA: Justin Thomas put together enough birdies in a cold rain at Riviera to reach 10-under par and share the lead with Adam Scott when the second round of the Genesis Open was halted by darkness at Los Angeles.
Thomas was 5 under on the day. Scott also was 5 under on his round.
Tiger Woods was 1 under after 30 holes.
LPGA: Karrie Webb had a double-bogey 5 on her way to a 74 and is seven strokes behind second-round leaders Wei-Ling Hsu and Madelene Sagstrom in the Women’s Australian Open at Adelaide, Australia.
CHAMPIONS: Playing partners Sandy Lyle and Stephen Ames matched the course record at 8-under 63 to share the first-round lead in the Chubb Classic at Naples, Florida.
EUROPEAN TOUR: Thomas Pieters battled the wind to shoot a 6-under-par 66 and move into a four-way tie for the lead after the second round of the World Super 6 at Perth, Australia.
HOCKEY
ECHL: Michael McNicholas scored the winner, his second goal of the night, 2:30 into overtime to give the visiting Maine Mariners a 4-3 win over the Norfolk Admirals.
Dwyer Tschantz and Greg Chase also scored for the Mariners, who won their third straight.
SKIING
WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS: Henrik Kristoffersen gave Norway its second individual gold medal of the world championships by toppling an under-the-weather Marcel Hirscher to win the giant slalom at Are, Sweden.
Kristoffersen produced an aggressive second run under the lights to win by 0.20 seconds over Hirscher. Pinturault won the bronze medal, 0.42 seconds back.
BOBSLED
WORLD CUP: Elana Meyers Taylor and Lake Kwaza of the U.S. won a women’s race at Lake Placid, New York, putting together a dominant second run.
It was the second consecutive World Cup win for Meyers Taylor, and her fourth medal in as many races with Kwaza pushing her sled this season.
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