Photo by Ben Jared/PGA TOUR via Getty Images
The Wyndham Championship did not finish until Monday morning, not because it needed to determine the winner, but for Matt Kuchar.
Welcome to Playing Through’s daily ritual — Golf Talk Today.
Each day, the crew will discuss various elements of the PGA Tour, LPGA, LIV Golf, and more.
This morning, I have some thoughts on how the whole Wyndham Championship ended.
For those who do not know, the regular season finale technically did not finish until Monday at 8:06 a.m. ET.
Not because they needed to crown a winner but for someone who decided to steal the spotlight.
Matt Kuchar.
In the ultimate selfish move, Kuchar decided it was too dark to finish for the day. After a marathon weekend of golf, one would think getting it over with would be a top priority, but not for Kuchar.
He marked his ball and just left the golf course — mind you, after he attempted to hit into the eventual winner Aaron Rai’s group on 18.
Honestly, I could not believe the nine-time PGA Tour winner would do something like this. It seemed like he tried to steal the spotlight away from Rai, who had just won his first-ever PGA Tour event and advanced to the FedEx Cup playoffs.
Nope. Instead, we were all baffled at Kuchar’s choices.
Evidently, he wanted to set an example for Max Greyserman, per an NBC Sports article. Meanwhile, Greyserman and Chad Ramey finished the hole, and Kuchar did not.
“We were so far past when we should’ve stopped playing,” Kuchar told reporter Todd Lewis. “ saw what Max did on hole 16; they should’ve blown the horn there. I eel 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 did not have the finish he wanted. He amassed a four-shot lead through 13 holes. Things derailed from there as he made a quadruple bogey on 14, a birdie on 15 and a double bogey on 16.
He went from comfortably winning the tournament to finishing runner-up. Of course, that is a tough pill to swallow, especially for a young PGA Tour player.
It feels icky for Kuchar to use someone else’s shortcomings as his reason for walking off the course. Why did he decide to be the martyr of the Wyndham Championship?
In my opinion, Kuchar’s drive into Rai’s group was petty. It was not good, but if it were, it could have disrupted play more than it did — if possible.
Was it dark? Yes, but he should have finished with the rest of his group.
I also get that this is their job, and if he had made bogey, his paycheck would have gone from $223,833 to $77,025. However, Kuchar has almost $60M in career earnings, so I think he is okay in the financial department.
Matt Kuchar is about to cross the $60M mark in career earnings on the PGA Tour alone. He’s not going to make the FedExCup playoffs regardless of what happens. This is just insane behavior.
— Brendan Porath (@BrendanPorath) August 12, 2024
To bring back the countless number of people for three shots is absurd and rude. Many of those people likely had to change flights and other travel arrangements to accommodate him.
It takes a lot of people to run the PGA Tour’s tournaments, and for something like this to happen, it is a domino effect— everything likely gets behind schedule.
51 years ago, Chi Chi Rodriguez won @WyndhamChamp in a Monday finish
Perhaps in homage, Matt Kuchar will do the same
Kuchar on cart headed to range, final prep for 8 am restart .. playing 72nd hole, current T12 pic.twitter.com/7RpPv7RGdb
— Kevin Prise (@PGATOURKevin) August 12, 2024
Kuchar ended his 17-year playoff run, which could also explain why he decided to steal the thunder. All runs eventually end, and it did for the former Georgia Tech player who did not play well enough to make the playoffs.
To honor Kyle Porter, a CBS Sports reporter, Golf = Normal Sport, and that is the only way to sum up this disaster of a finish.
This piece is a little longer than our typical Golf Talk Today articles, but what are your thoughts about the latest Kuchar-gate on the PGA Tour? Did he make the right choice to come back on Monday morning?
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Savannah Leigh Richardson is a golf staff writer for SB Nation’s Playing Through. For more golf coverage, follow us @_PlayingThrough on all major social platforms. You can also follow her on Twitter @SportsGirlSL and Instagram @golf_girl_sl.
