Matt Kuchar has defended his contentious choice to leave the last hole unfinished at Sunday’s Wyndham Championship.
Matt Kuchar has defended his contentious choice to leave the par-4 18th hole unfinished on Sunday night during the Wyndham Championship final round.
On Monday morning, Kuchar, 46, made the decision to mark up his ball in the left rough and come back to finish the hole.
That was even though, at Sedgefield Country Club, he and his playing partners, Max Greyserman and Chad Ramey, decided to play the entire hole as night fell.
Kuchar’s choice to make a comeback on Monday seemed puzzling considering that he finished T12 in the competition and was unable to qualify for the first FedEx Cup Playoffs event of the week.
To compete in the FedEx St Jude Championship, Kuchar had to win the Wyndham Championship.
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Due to Kuchar’s decision, a number of officials from the tournament, volunteers, greens staff, and event crew had to come back on Monday in order to give him one or two more chances to win down the 18th.
From his position in the trees, Kuchar would make about $200,000 with an unlikely birdie.
About $120,000 would be the value of a par, and about $70,000 would be the value of a bogey.
These might seem like big sums to the typical player, but this man’s career earnings on the PGA Tour are set to top $60 million.
He could have easily completed his task with the remaining members of his group and left.
Fans of the PGA Tour reacted negatively to Kuchar’s Monday call to return on social media.
“I don’t expect we’re going to be bringing you that coverage tomorrow,” even chief CBS host Jim Nantz stated.
Though Kuchar has received backlash on social media, he has defended his choice.
Considering that Greyserman four-jabbed the 16th hole for a double bogey, he believes the horn should have been heard well before the 18th hole.
Kuchar stated to Golf Channel:
“My goal was to lead by example for Max.
“The time that we ought to have stopped playing was so far gone. They ought to have sounded the horn at hole 16, where Max made a double bogey by four-putting.
“I’m sorry, the poor kid deserved to win this competition. My absence from the game could indicate to Max that he has a crucial shot to make.”
With five holes remaining, Greyserman took a four-shot lead after he holed out for eagle on the par-4 13th.
However, at the fourteenth hole, he sent his tee shot OB and proceeded to card a disastrous quadruple-bogey eight.
With a birdie on the par-5 15th, he went one shot ahead, but on the par-3 16th, a costly double out of nowhere knocked him out of the lead.
The eventual winner, Aaron Rai, proceeded to birdie the last hole in order to complete a perfect final round 64 and defeat Greyserman by two shots. This was Greyserman’s second consecutive solo second place finish on the PGA Tour.
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