Matt Kuchar finally finishes his Wyndham Championship round
Kuchar had no chance of winning the tournament, yet he decided to finish his final round Monday morning.
Matt Kuchar wrapped up his Wyndham Championship one day after everyone else. (Charlie Neibergall/AP)
It took a herculean effort to finish the PGA Tour’s Wyndham Championship by Sunday night after the remnants of Hurricane Debby washed out an entire day’s worth of play Thursday. But after everyone was forced to play 36 holes Sunday, Aaron Rai sank a six-foot birdie putt at the 18th — in near total darkness —
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Matt Kuchar, playing in the final group one behind Rai’s threesome, declared he was done playing for the day after hitting his tee shot well awry of the fairway at No. 18. At seven strokes behind Rai, he had no chance of victory and no shot at clinching a spot in the PGA Tour’s 70-man playoff, which begins Thursday. Nonetheless, Kuchar told tournament officials that it was too dark for him to finish his round, even though Greyserman and Chad Ramey, his playing partners, continued on to finish the hole.
And so Kuchar returned to the course by himself Monday morning to wrap up his round. He received line-of-sight relief for his tee shot because it was blocked by a scoreboard and parred the hole in six minutes to finish in a tie for 12th. He made $134,695; a bogey at the hole would have cut his winnings to $77,025, while a birdie would have given him a $223,833 payday.
After finishing his round, Kuchar apologized to course and tournament officials who had to return to the course Monday morning and said he decided to stop playing Sunday evening only because of his errant tee shot.
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“Nobody wants to be that guy … the one guy that didn’t finish,” Kuchar said. “I can’t tell you how many times I have been finished with a round … bummed out that somebody didn’t finish, that we didn’t get to make the cut because somebody didn’t finish. Here it’s me now as the guy that didn’t get to finish the tournament.
“Last night was dark. … I think had I been in the fairway with a normal shot, I probably would have attempted to finish. … Coming back in the morning, I never would have taken that drop last night. I never would have thought to ask. I knew I was in a terrible situation; I was praying to make bogey from where I was. To walk away with par, nearly birdie, is a huge bonus.
“Everybody wants to get done; nobody wants to be that … we all want to get done. So, yeah, you hit the tee shot and kind of decide from there. And you guys saw the predicament I was in — it was a horrible place. Had it been a standard shot, I most likely would have proceeded.”
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When it becomes too dark for golfers to play, tournament officials usually blow an air horn, and the golfers then have the option of finishing the hole they’re playing or marking their ball and returning the next day. But because only one group was left on the course Sunday night, no horn was blown, though officials informed Kuchar’s group that they had the option not to finish.
After the horn was “theoretically blown,” as Kuchar said to an official, he decided to end his round, explaining that he was trying to help his playing partner Greyserman, who squandered a four-stroke lead over his final five holes.
“I was trying to set an example for Max,” Kuchar told Golf Channel’s Todd Lewis after his round. “We were so far past when we should’ve stopped playing. We saw what Max did on hole 16; they should’ve blown the hole there. I feel bad — the poor kid should’ve won this tournament. By me not playing, it may show Max he has an important shot to hit.”
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Kuchar’s decision to stop — and his decision to tee off at No. 18 even though the group ahead of him was still on the fairway — was widely questioned.
“Why did he tee off on 18?” Golf Channel’s Brandel Chamblee said. “Because if he had hit a good drive, it would’ve got down there and possibly disrupt the flow of Aaron Rai and the group in front of them. … He could’ve stopped long before this if he wanted to stop.”
This is not the first time Kuchar’s antics have drawn attention. After winning a 2019 tournament and nearly $1.3 million in Mexico with local caddie David Ortiz on his bag, Kuchar initially paid Ortiz only $5,000, well short of the 10 percent PGA Tour caddies usually receive when their golfer wins.
“For a guy who makes $200 a day, a $5,000 week is a really big week,” Kuchar initially said. “I certainly don’t lose any sleep over this.”
After receiving a barrage of criticism, Kuchar paid Ortiz $50,000 — still well short of 10 percent of his prize money — and apologized.
