Matt Kuchar Sunday on the left of the 18th hole at Sedgefield Country Club.
CBS
Matt Kuchar, in the end, made a ho-hum par.
However, the journey to his four strokes will be remembered and imprisoned for a while. His approach, after all, went like this on the 508-yard, par-4 18th at Sedgefield Country Club, during Sunday's final round of the PGA Tour's Wyndham Championship:
– A short shot was hit around 8:15 pm ET while three fellow professionals were preparing to play their second shots from the fairway up, one of the players being the tournament leader;
– The tee shot is pushed to the left, into the nearby 10th hole;
– The choice from the law enforcement officer is to continue playing as night falls in Greensboro, NC, or to stop and come back on Monday morning, however, interesting in some ways, no horn of darkness is sounded;
– The decision to pause, even though Kuchar was not in line to win; was not in contention to make the Tour's postseason (Wyndham is the Tour's final regular-season event); and his teammates on the final tournament team, Chad Ramey and Max Greyserman, elected to tee off, Greyserman teeing off to start the hole;
– An endless number of thoughts from various viewers questioning Kuchar's movements;
– Returning at 8 on Monday morning, where Kuchar hit the range, hit the practice green, hit the officials for temporary relief as he returned to his ball, hit the green after receiving help, hit the green. and hit one of his four putts.
Kuchar then spoke to a standing group of reporters, though one question was more pressing than the rest.
Why?
It seems that Kuchar had predicted it was coming. A reporter started the post-round huddle by asking a question about Kuchar's score, but the longtime coach explained it at length. A later question asking if Kuchar would have done anything differently, however, was more telling.
He said he wouldn't.
“I hope it doesn't cause too many problems,” said Kuchar.
Without forcing various officers and employees to return to him alone, that would not have been possible. So what was Kuchar's reason? He repeated the explanation he gave to Todd Lewis of the Golf Channel on Sunday – he didn't know that eventual winner Aaron Rai, the player who led Greyserman by a shot, finished 18th in the group to go two up, too. he believed that Greyserman would also stop, knowing what was at stake. Kuchar said he thought he would “make it easier” on his teammates' decision by calling it a day himself, although it was unclear if he raised the idea with Grayserman face-to-face.
Kuchar said if he had been on the course after his tee shot on 18, he probably would have tried to play, but he also watched Grayserman four-putt the 16th – and questioned whether the darkness played a role in the collision. (Of course, if Kuchar had hit the 18th fairway, with a bunch of Rai, Billy Horschel and Cameron Young standing on it, a whole new set of problems would have arisen.)
Matt Kuchar stands awkwardly around the 72nd hole, signaling the end of the Tour event
Nick Piastowski
“I didn't see Aaron Rai make birdie the last time, so I've been trying to figure out what I'm going to do for 10 years,” Kuchar said Monday morning. “I don't think Max will end up having a chance to win the tournament. I thought Max definitely had a shot to win and I thought there is no way in this situation you are hitting this shot; he comes back in the morning 100 percent of the time.
“So I said, ok, Max will stop, I will stop, make it easy for him. Me too, coming back in the morning, as if I wouldn't take that [relief] It went down last night, I never thought to ask. I knew I was in terrible shape, I was praying for a bogey where I was. Going for par, almost a birdie, is a huge bonus.
“Also, it stinks—nobody wants to be that guy who shows up today, one person, one hole. Even one hole, part of the slot.
“So I apologize for this tournament, to everyone who had to leave. I know it stinks, I know the ramifications, I know it stinks. I'm really sorry for forcing everyone to come out here.”
Another curiosity was the tee shot.
Why did he hit that so soon when he was about to quit? Kuchar said there is a “rule of thumb” at play.
“The general rule of thumb – I don't know if you know it – the general rule of thumb when you're playing, you try to hit the tee shot if you can hit the shot,” he said. “If you have a reasonable method, you hit it, you put it in in the morning. You mark it, you wait if you have any kind of important putt. “
Did Kuchar see the players on the fairway when he hit?
“Obviously, obviously I wasn't hitting just to push,” he said, “I was thinking — I was on the pavement, there was a pink guy walking green. I thought it was Billy Horschel. There was a pink shirt walking behind the green, I thought they were up and they weren't.”
With his partner, Kuchar finished in a ten-way tie for 12th place and earned a $144,965 paycheck. Before his second shooting on Monday, several other scenarios were at play. Had he held on for an eagle — which was unlikely, even in his free time — he would have jumped into a tie for sixth, which would have paid him $305,137.50. If he had birdied, he would have been six-under for seventh, which would have paid him $240,950 – and a bogey would have dropped Kuchar to seven-under 21, which would have paid him off. $83,232. However, nothing would advance him in the Tour's postseason – Kuchar would not accumulate enough points on Monday to move into the top 70.
So Kuchar will stay now. Most notably, he was the only player to play in the playoffs every season since the FedEx Cup began in 2007.
Another question, though:
Have you seen the reaction to this 12-hour, one-hole test?
Kind of.
“Thank you, I avoid those things,” he said. “I got a call from my agent, he said hey, you're making noise, so that's the little I've heard.
“Thank you for not being a part of social media.”
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