In what was likely the loneliest Monday finish ever, Matt Kuchar returned to Sedgefield Country Club at 8 a.m. Monday to complete his final round.
The lone golfer to not finish Sunday at the 2024 Wyndham Championship, Kuchar was in a tie for 12th when he hurriedly teed off on the 18th hole. Minutes later, he informed a rules official he was done for the day, electing not to complete the round in the growing darkness. Everyone else did, including tournament winner Aaron Rai, playing in the group ahead.
Tour rules official Orlando Pope explained that rather than blow the horn to suspend play due to darkness, all three players in Kuchar’s group were given the option to finish Monday but only Kuchar opted to do so, reversing course after driving left into trouble.
Rai went ahead and celebrated on the 18th green Sunday with the trophy but the victory was not deemed official until Monday, nor was the final top 70 for the FedEx Cup Playoffs official till then.
After Kuchar’s drive Sunday left him way left of the fairway, the first ball he struck Monday flew 189 yards, according to ShotLink, and ended up in front of the green. From there, he hit his third from 34 yards away onto the putting surface to 2 feet, 4 inches and then he made his par.
“Listen, nobody wants to be that guy, which I feel I turned into, the one guy that didn’t finish. I can’t tell you how many times I have been finished with a round thinking, bummed out that somebody didn’t finish, that we didn’t get to make the cut because somebody didn’t finish. Here it’s me now as the guy that didn’t get to finish the tournament,” Kuchar said Monday after playing the final hole as a single with a Tour official as a marker. “Again, it stinks to, nobody wants to be that guy that’s showing up today, one person, one hole. Not even one hole, half a hole to putt. So apologies to the tournament, to everybody that had to come out. I know it stinks, I know the ramifications, I know it stinks. Certainly I apologize to force everybody to come out here.”
In terms of dollars, a tie for 12th earned Kuchar $144,965. He had ending up with bogey at the last, his payday would’ve shrunk to $77,025, while a birdie would’ve netted him $223,833. Kuchar’s all-time on-course earnings on the PGA Tour now stands at $59,932,212.
Asked if he had heard any of the reaction to his decision, Kuchard said, “Thankfully, I avoid that stuff. I did get a call from my agent, said ‘Hey, you’re causing quite a stir,’ so that was the little I heard. I’m grateful to not be a part of the social media thing.”
Golfweek’s Adam Schupak contributed to this article.