As 2024 comes to a close, SI Golf’s writers and editors reflect on the year’s craziest stories.
During the waning stages of the final round of the Wyndham Championship, Matt Kuchar hit his drive left of the 18th fairway as darkness began to overtake Sedgefield Country Club.
His playing partners, Chad Ramey and Max Greyserman, were already out of the hunt for the win (Greyserman had faded badly on the back nine) and looking to finish the hole so they could get out of Greensboro, N.C, after a marathon 36-hole Sunday. Kuchar, however, decided to mark his ball and told officials he was done playing, opting to come back the next morning to finish.
At 8 a.m. Monday, the 46-year-old returned and proceeded to make a par, which he said after the round would have been highly unlikely Sunday night in near-darkness. He also said he was doing a favor to Greyserman, which the rookie later disputed.
The difference between par and bogey was financially notable, as his T12 with the closing par (which included a line-of-sight drop from a scoreboard) won a shade under $145,000, whereas a bogey would have gotten him about $77,000.
But the decision also created a great deal of backlash for the nine-time Tour winner, as many believed it was a selfish decision to make tournament employees and volunteers come back for a few minutes on a Monday for what many deemed a meaningless result.
Bob Harig: It is easy to pile on Kuchar, as undoubtedly this situation looked awful, and highlighted the issues the Tour faces with pace of play. The event had been plagued with weather issues and finishing on time to make the cut as well. But in Kuchar’s defense, it was dark. And only the week prior had he played well enough to move inside the top 125 in FedEx points for the first time in a tough season. Greyserman had four-putted the 16th green and that was on Kuchar’s mind, too. His T12 helped him move up eight spots to 105th—and he eventually finished 109th after the fall. The one shot might have proved to be an important difference.
Jeff Ritter: It was a bizarre moment, but I suspect it would’ve hardly made a ripple if not for Kuchar’s track record with, um, let’s call it “self-inflicted finance-related controversy.”
This article was originally published on www.si.com as Golf’s Most Shocking Stories of 2024: Matt Kuchar Finishes the Wyndham By Himself.
