Carly Booth’s Message Is A Failure of Management

The function of agents and managers is largely dictated by their clients. For some, the job is about maximizing sponsorship opportunities. For others, it’s little more than a glorified travel agent. But whatever the varying demands, every management team shares – or ought to share – one basic responsibility: protect the client, sometimes from themselves.

If they succeed in keeping clients out of situations that could make them look like fools or jerks – even if they’re both – their most valuable work goes unseen. Fail and the world notices.

There have surely been lots of those unseen successes in golf this year, but the glaring failures have been plentiful too.

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The People (and Tom Gillis) Vs. Matt Kuchar

Public shaming has come a long way since wrongdoers were pilloried in the town square. Medieval stocks and floggings aren’t necessary if you have a keyboard and 124 characters.

That was the length of a tweet posted Jan. 11 by PGA Tour veteran Tom Gillis: “Even better. Who’s gonna b the one to identify the player the paid his caddy 3k after winning a PGA tour event last fall???”

He was referring to Matt Kuchar, who in November won the Mayakoba Golf Classic in Mexico using a local caddie, David Giral Ortiz. Cheapskate-gate had all the ingredients of a Twitter telenovela: a wealthy Tour pro with a saccharine public image, a resort bagman unfairly stiffed. Kuchar was hauled into Twitter’s town square and keyboard warriors, undeterred by the lack of evidence presented, hurdled kids and the elderly in their haste to toss brickbats.

Continue reading “The People (and Tom Gillis) Vs. Matt Kuchar”