Matt Kuchar strangely stops play on the 72nd hole at the Wyndham Championship
Aaron Lai won by two shots at the Wyndham Championship on Sunday to claim his first PGA Tour title.
But the tournament didn’t officially end when darkness fell over Sedgefield Country Club in Greensboro, North Carolina.
That\’s because Matt Kuchar bizarrely stopped playing after hitting his tee shot on the 18th hole, opting to mark his ball in the pine straw 212 yards from the hole and walk the course with the other players in the last group as they completed their rounds.
\”It has been a really bizarre sequence of events,\” said CBS Sports analyst Trevor Immelman as the network\’s broadcast came to a close. Kuchar led the tournament after 36 holes, but was out of contention at 11 under par 18 holes into the 36-hole marathon due to weather delays caused by Tropical Storm Debby.
It was already dark and visibility was low, so tournament officials informed Kuchar, Chad Ramey and Max Gleitherman that they would be allowed to finish the hole now or the next day, rather than honking the horn to stop play. In an apparent attempt to finish the match quickly, Kuchar unknowingly crashed into the group in front of him, which included Rye, who had a one-shot lead over Greiserman at the time.
“Why did he tee off on 18 when the fairway wasn’t clear?” “To me, it was a clear mistake,” Golf Channel’s Paige MacKenzie later said. “It was just total disrespect.”
After Kuchar’s ball landed left of the fairway, he was out of the running for a PGA Tour playoff but told the umpire he planned to finish his round on Monday morning. Ultimately, Lai birdied the final hole to extend his lead to two strokes, with Glazerman close behind in second.
When the sun rose again on Monday, Kuchar was the only player back on the field to officially announce his results.
He hit his second shot on the green and parred the hole to finish in a tie for 12th, earning him $134,695.
