Matt Kuchar Has Finally Completed the Wyndham Championship

Kuchar saved par on No. 18 to secure a T12.
Aug 11, 2024; Greensboro, North Carolina, USA; Matt Kuchar during the fourth round of the Wyndham Championship golf tournament at Sedgefield Country Club. Mandatory Credit: Jim Dedmon-USA TODAY Sports
Aug 11, 2024; Greensboro, North Carolina, USA; Matt Kuchar during the fourth round of the Wyndham Championship golf tournament at Sedgefield Country Club. Mandatory Credit: Jim Dedmon-USA TODAY Sports / Jim Dedmon-USA TODAY Sports

Adverse weather forced the PGA Tour to cram parts of three rounds into Sunday in an effort to wrap up the regular season and head into the FedExCup Playoffs. An unusual day turned truly bizarre when leader Max Greyserman holed out an eagle then posted a quadruple bogey on successive holes and suffered through a four-putt double, allowing Aaron Rai to swoop in and capture his first Tour win of the year.

But that was merely a sideshow to the Matt Kuchar situation. Kuchar, who needed to win in order to extend his streak of making the playoffs every year since 2007, looked like he just might do that before surrendering the lead late in the third round. On the 72nd hole of the tournament he teed off when Rai was lining up what would prove to be the tournamet-sealing approach, then refused to hit another shot after it sailed wide.

Meaning he and he alone showed up to the course to get a favorable ruling, chip out to 34 yards away, clip the flag pole, and pop in a par-saving shortie.

Getting up and down preserved Kuchar a 12th-place finish and a bigger payout (here's the final prize money). One can argue with the process, but not the results.


Published |Modified
Kyle Koster

KYLE KOSTER

Kyle Koster is an assistant managing editor at Sports Illustrated covering the intersection of sports and media. He was formerly the editor in chief of The Big Lead, where he worked from 2011 to '24. Koster also did turns at the Chicago Sun-Times, where he created the Sports Pros(e) blog, and at Woven Digital.