GREENSBORO, N.C. — There will be a Monday finish on the PGA Tour after all.
That’s because Matt Kuchar elected to mark his ball in the pine straw 212 yards from the flag on the 18th hole and wait to finish his round at the Wyndham Championship on Monday due to darkness. That means the tournament and Aaron Rai’s first victory on the PGA Tour technically isn’t official, though Kuchar’s score can’t impact that result.
Kuchar, who was the 36-hole leader at 12 under and playing in the final group, needed to win to remain the only player to qualify for every FedEx Cup playoff since it debuted in 2007. He was out of the running at 11 under and in a 10-way tie for 12th. Curiously, he had teed off on the 18th hole and unknowingly hit into the group in front of him, which included Rai, who was nursing a one-streak lead at the time. With the sun having set, Kuchar seemed to rush to make sure the group got done. Tour rules official Orlando Pope explained that rather than blow the horn to suspend play due to darkness, all three players — Chad Ramey was the third in the group — were spoken to and given the option to finish on Monday but only Kuchar opted to do so, reversing course after driving left into trouble.
Golf Channel’s Todd Lewis spoke to Kuchar, who said, “I was trying to set an example for Max. We were so far past where we should’ve stopped playing. We saw what Max did on hole 16; they should’ve blown the horn there. I feel bad, the poor kid should’ve won this tournament. By me not playing, it may show Max he has an important shot to hit.”
Kuchar can be heard on the TV broadcast saying to Tour rules official Ken Tackett, the chief referee this week, “Horn’s been theoretically blown?” Kuchar informed Tackett of his decision to wait to finish before Rai made birdie at 18 when Greyserman was only one shot back and Greyserman could’ve still tied him.
Lewis said that Kuchar went over to Greyserman and said, “I’m done maybe you should follow my lead.”
However, Shelby Swanson, a reporter with the Raleigh News & Observer who witnessed the exchange between Kuchar and Greyserman, didn’t hear Kuchar directly tell him to slow down and wait until Monday.
“It was more wink-wink, nod-nod,” she said. “He said something along the lines of ‘Hey, I’m finishing tomorrow.’ Greyserman walked closer and said, ‘OK, if I finish do I have to come back tomorrow?’ Kuchar said no. Greyserman didn’t say anything, walked back to his ball and played his second shot.”
Golf Channel’s Paige Mackenzie and Brandel Chamblee said they were perplexed and sharply criticized Kuchar’s decision.
“Why did he tee off on 18 when the fairway wasn’t clear? To me that was the egregious error,” she said. “It was completely disrespectful.”
“That was more surprising to me than seeing Max Greyserman make a quadruple bogey,” Chamblee said of Greyserman’s costly eight on the 14th hole. “I’ve seen people do what Max did. I’ve never seen anything happen like what happened on the 18th tee.”
Weather wreaked havoc with the Wyndham Championship all week making Sunday a race against daylight to complete the tournament. Tropical Storm Debby dumped more than five inches on Sedgefield Country Club on Thursday, postponing the first round until Friday. An overnight storm on Friday delayed the resumption of play on Saturday.
A 36-hole cut wasn’t made until Sunday morning. The 67 players who made it had to play at least 36 holes on Sunday — they didn’t regroup after the third round, were given only a short break between rounds and utilized a split-tee start. Kuchar’s group didn’t tee off in the final round until 3:21 p.m. ET.
It was touch and go whether a winner would be determined before darkness and while that goal was met, Kuchar will return to play the final hole as a single (with a Tour official as a marker) on Monday at 8 a.m ET.
CBS’s Jim Nantz noted the surprise decision and said, “I don’t think there will be anyone here to watch it and I don’t suspect we’ll be bringing you that coverage tomorrow.”