Matt Kuchar was in a hurry.
And then he wasn’t.
Aaron Lai will leave Sedgefield Country Club with the trophy after Sunday’s marathon at the Wyndham Championship, but Kuchar is the only player in the field who will stay for another day. As the day waned, Kuchar, who finished in a 10-player tie for 12th place and out of contention for the final three-way, elected not to take his second shot on the 72nd hole.
As the television cameras showed Lai signing his scorecard and putting the finishing touches on his first PGA Tour victory, they cut to Kuchar marking his ball in the left rough 212 yards from the hole, CBS course reporter Dottie Pepper delivered a message from PGA Tour rules official Ken Tackett.
“Matt Kuchar said he’s not going to play any more golf today,” Pepper said.
CBS commentator Trevor Immelman questioned the decision because the horn had not sounded to signal sunset, but another rules official, Orlando Pope, told the broadcast team that the sun had already set and, instead of blowing the horn, decided to only notify Kuchar and the other two players in the final group, Max Glaserman and Chad Ramey.
In one of the videos shown by the news outlet, Kuchar can be heard asking the umpire, “Did the horn technically sound?”
Glazerman and Ramey have finished the hole, but Kuchar must return again Monday morning to complete the tournament.
If the decision seemed odd, it was because after a birdie on the 17th hole, Kuchar rushed to the 18th tee box and hit a quick drive. Luckily, Kuchar’s tee ball went well left of the fairway because Lie was still in the middle of the fairway preparing to hit his second shot.
Kuchar also started this week 113th in the FedExCup standings and was projected to move up to 103rd with a par on the final hole, meaning he was already eliminated from the 70-man playoff that begins next week.
However, if Kuchar makes a par on the final hole he will win $134,695, but if he makes a birdie on the final hole his prize will drop to $223,833, and if he makes a bogey his prize will drop to $77,025.
Kuchar later explained his decision to Golf Channel’s Todd Lewis, saying he was trying to help Glazerman in hopes that he would do the same and stop playing, and that he told Tackett he was done for the day before Lai birdied the final hole ahead of them to put him two strokes ahead of Glazerman.
“I was trying to set an example for Max,” Kuchar told Lewis. “It was way past time to stop playing. I saw what Max did on the 16th hole. I should have skipped a hole there. I’m sorry. That poor kid should have won this tournament. Maybe by me not playing I can show Max that he has to take some important shots.”
Golf Channel’s Brandel Chamblee said he was “still puzzled” by Kuchar’s comments.
“Why did he tee off on the 18th hole?” Chamblee said. “If he had hit a good drive, the ball might have landed there and disrupted Aaron Lai and the group in front of him. … He could have stopped earlier if he wanted to.”
Paige MacKenzie of the Golf Channel added: “Max is able to make his own decisions. To say I wanted to influence this other player’s decision is a strange thing to say.”
Either way, Kuchar will still be playing golf and few will be there to watch on Monday morning.
“I don’t think we’ll be able to bring you that coverage tomorrow,” CBS announcer Jim Nantz said.
