Matt Kuchar finally finished the Wyndham Championship in front of a small crowd on Monday after surprisingly missing the final hole on Sunday evening.
Kuchar was the only player in the field to return to Sedgefield Country Club on Monday after exercising his right to not complete the 72nd hole of the weather-affected tournament.
Needing a win to continue his run as the only player to reach the FedEx Cup playoffs every year since its inception in 2007, Kuchar went 10-way 12 when he connected his tee shot on the 18th.
Play was halted when the other two players in the final round, Max Greyserman and Chad Ramey, were out as well, giving all three a chance to close the hole as daylight quickly dwindled.
But when Ramey and Greyserman – who trailed by four shots after 13 holes but managed to hold off England's Aaron Rai for eagle – opted to call it quits, Kuchar informed tournament officials that he would mark his ball and return on Monday.
The 46-year-old American did just that and started playing at 8am local time, getting a break on the board before hitting his second shot close to the green, then hitting the pin with his pitch and chipping in for par. .
Speaking on Sunday evening, Kuchar defended his decision to stop playing.
“I was trying to set an example for Max,” Kuchar said Golf The station.
“We have passed the time when we should have stopped playing. We saw what Max did on hole 16 (four-putting for double bogey) – they should have blown the horn there.
“I feel bad, the poor kid should have won this competition. With my not playing, it might show Max that he has an important shot to hit.”
The 18th round ensured that Kuchar received an estimated £105,000 in prize money, while the unexpected bird would have been worth an additional £70,000. A bogey would have reduced his payday to £60,000.
It was not clear how many greenskeepers and tournament staff had to work on Monday for Kuchar to finish, but at least they saw the strange incident.
“I don't expect we're going to bring that to you tomorrow,” CBS analyst Jim Nantz joked Sunday evening.
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