Matt Kuchar has defended his controversial decision not to complete the final hole of the Wyndham Championship on Sunday.
Matt Kuchar has stood by his controversial choice to not finish the par-4 18th hole during the last round of the Wyndham Championship on Sunday evening.
46-year-old Kuchar opted to mark his golf ball in the rough on the left side and come back the next morning to finish playing the hole. Despite the darkness settling in at Sedgefield Country Club, he continued to play the hole while his partners, Max Greyserman and Chad Ramey, chose to finish it out.
Kuchar’s choice to return on Monday was perplexing as he was ranked T12 in the tournament and did not qualify for the first FedEx Cup Playoffs event this week.
“Kuchar had to secure a victory at the Wyndham Championship in order to qualify for the FedEx St Jude Championship.”
Kuchar’s choice also resulted in several tournament officials, greens staff, volunteers, and event crew having to come back on Monday just so he could take a few more shots on the 18th hole.
Kuchar would make approximately $200,000 if he were to make an unexpected birdie from where he is located in the trees.
If the golfer achieves a score of par, he would earn approximately $120,000, but if he scores a bogey, he would only take home around $70,000.
Although these amounts may seem substantial for an ordinary player, the individual in question is on the verge of reaching a milestone of earning over $60 million throughout his career on the PGA Tour.
Could he have simply completed the work with his team and left? Kuchar’s decision to come back on Monday was heavily criticized by fans of the PGA Tour on various social media platforms.
Even lead CBS host Jim Nantz said: “I don’t expect we’re going to be bringing you that coverage tomorrow.”
But despite being slammed on social media, Kuchar has stood by his decision.
He considers the horn should have sounded well before the 18th hole, especially after Greyserman four-jabbed the 16th for a double bogey.
Kuchar told Golf Channel:
“I was trying to set an example for Max.
“We were so far past when we should’ve stopped playing. We saw what Max did on hole 16 (four-putting for a double bogey) – they should’ve blown the horn 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.”
Greyserman held a four-shot lead with five holes remaining. He secured an eagle on the par-4 13th hole. However, on the 14th hole, he unfortunately hit his tee shot out of bounds, resulting in a disastrous quadruple-bogey eight on his scorecard.
He took the lead by one stroke after making a birdie on the par-5 15th hole, but lost it when he unexpectedly made a costly double bogey on the par-3 16th.”
Aaron Rai, who eventually emerged as the winner, finished with a flawless final-round score of 64 and birdied the last hole to secure a two-shot win over Greyserman. It was Greyserman’s second consecutive second-place finish on the PGA Tour.