Matt Kuchar won a hole-for-one after refusing to finish the final round of the Wyndham Championship because of darkness.
That meant the veteran golfer had to return to Sedgefield Country Club in Greensboro, North Carolina, at 8 a.m. Eastern time and play the 18th hole alone on Monday to close out the tournament that Aaron Lai won at 18-under to close the PGA Tour regular season.
The 46-year-old Kuchar shot the 508-yard par-4 in six minutes to finish in a tie for 12th place at 11 under par and win $135,000 in prize money.
“I was praying for a bogey from where I was,” Kuchar said in an interview after the hole Monday. “To finish with par and almost a birdie, I’m just happy.”
But more importantly, he’s moved up 10 places to 103rd in the FedExCup playoffs, as he needs to finish inside the top 125 to retain his tour card next year.
After finishing just 212 yards from the flag on Sunday, Kuchar was apologetic about calling tournament staff back to finish the hole.
“Nobody wants to be that guy today who’s out there by himself on one hole, let alone one hole, and doesn’t even make half a putt on one hole,” Kuchar said Monday. From ESPN.
“So I apologise to the tournament and to everyone who had to play. I know it’s awful, I know the impact, I know it’s awful. Of course I apologise to everyone for forcing them to play.”
He got to this point after his tee shot on the 18th hole went wide left and he didn’t want to rush the decision on how to approach his next shot.
On Monday, he had a good view thanks to the scoreboard near the green, but ended up dropping it into a nearby fairway.
He missed the green with his second shot, then hit the flagstick with his third and tapped in for par.
“If I’d been in the fairway and I’d been hitting a normal shot, I probably would have tried to finish,” Kuchar said. “If I’d come back in the morning, I definitely wouldn’t have dropped it last night. I wouldn’t have even thought to ask. I knew I was in a bad spot.”
