Tag: Monday finish

Matt Kuchar returns alone for Monday finish at 2024 Wyndham Championship with par on 18

The one-man Monday finish puts an official end to the tournament.

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. Had he ended 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.

Here’s why Matt Kuchar curiously elected to be the only player to finish final round on Monday at Wyndham Championship

Kuchar will return to play the final hole as a single on Monday at 8 a.m ET.

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.”

AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am final round postponed until Monday

On Sunday, the PGA Tour decided to rest.

PEBBLE BEACH, Calif. — On Sunday, the PGA Tour decided to rest.

The final round of the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am has been postponed to Monday due to inclement weather and safety concerns. Overnight rain continued to fall Sunday morning and although it is expected to dissipate later in the day, the high winds are forecast to remain throughout the day. Due to safety concerns caused by sustained winds of 35-40 miles per hour and gusts expected to be more than 60 mph in the afternoon, there will be no golf played on Sunday.

“Our regulations say we need to make every effort to play 72 holes, which includes playing on Monday,” PGA Tour chief referee Gary Young said after Saturday’s round.

That means Wyndham Clark, who shot a course-record 60 on Saturday at Pebble Beach Golf Links, will sleep on a one-stroke lead over Ludvig Aberg for a second night. Tee times are scheduled for 8 a.m.-10:25 a.m. PT (11 a.m. ET) off Nos. 1 and 10.

There is a scenario where the tournament could be shortened to 54 holes and Clark declared the winner of the $20 million signature event.

“We would not start play on Monday if we knew we couldn’t finish the round on Monday,” Young said. “So, the drop-dead time on that would mean we would have to start play on Monday by 10:15 a.m. at the latest in order to complete play.”

The Monday forecast is for more showers in the morning. The course already is waterlogged from a collection of on-and-off rain all week, leading to concern that balls may plug in the rough.

“We just want to make sure that on Monday, if we get to that point, that the golf course is such that we are conducting a good quality championship, the conditions are of professional standards,” Young said. “We want to make sure that the golf course is of the quality on Monday that we would not want golf balls disappearing into the fairways and losing golf balls.”

There also is a scenario where play could extend to Tuesday.

“Our regulation states that we can’t start play on Monday without knowing that we could finish play on Monday. If we did that and then for some reason weather rolled in on us that caused us to delay again, if more than half the field has finished play, then we would extend play into Tuesday,” he explained. “But we would need more than half of them to have completed their round on Monday.”

This marks the third Monday finish in the last year six year at the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am, which previously required a Monday finish in 2019 and last year. The AT&T was shortened to 54 holes in 2009; the last time a Tour event was shortened to 54 holes was at the 2016 Zurich Classic of New Orleans.

Fifty-nine of the 80 players in the AT&T field this week are schedule to play in the WM Phoenix Open at TPC Scottsdale, which begins Thursday.

The 2023 Masters could be headed for a rare Monday finish

There have been five Monday finishes at the Masters.

There are few things that irk the all-powerful members of Augusta National more than breaking with tradition. It’s why there are no phones allowed on the grounds, why the food prices remain unchanged and why the second weekend in April every year is reserved for the Masters.

The 2023 tournament will put one of Augusta’s favorite traditions to the test.

Due to an increasingly unfavorable weather forecast, the Masters might have to consider finishing up the final round of play on a Monday — that means no twilight ceremony to place the green jacket on the new champion outside Butler Cabin.

Rain — and a couple of fallen trees — delayed the end of the second round until early Saturday morning. The third round only made it about 15 minutes into the TV broadcast before the horn was sounded and play was halted for the day.

The top two players on the leader board, Brooks Koepka (13 under) and Jon Rahm (9 under), had only made it through six holes at that point.

So with nearly half of the third round still to play, plus another 18 holes in the final round, a Sunday finish is getting dicey. The Masters have completed 36 holes in one day on four occasions, but the last instance was in 2003. A lot has changed since then — especially when it comes to broadcast rights.

Which brings us back to the dreaded Monday finish. It’s only happened five times in the history of the tournament. Could this year’s Masters become the sixth?

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How to watch the Monday finish at 2023 AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am

It’s the first unplanned Monday finish on the PGA Tour since the 2022 Players Championship.

It’s the first Monday finish on the PGA Tour since the 2022 Players Championship.

Wind gusts as high as 32 MPH on Saturday at the 2023 AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am on the Monterey Peninsula wiped out a good chunk of the third round, forcing tournament officials to call it for the day. That pushed the tournament to a Monday finish, the first at Pebble since 2019.

CBS is in its second weekend of Tour coverage in 2023 and aired the start of the final round Sunday. Monday’s action will be on Golf Channel from 11 a.m. ET until the end of play.  ESPN+, the exclusive streaming partner of the PGA Tour, will have live coverage starting at 11 a.m. ET and is scheduled to go till 6:30 p.m. ET.

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Players Championship: Third round finally ends with Anirban Lahiri atop the leaderboard at sun-lit TPC Sawgrass

“I’m just trying to stay in the moment and just do what I need to do next,” said Lahiri.

PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. – And on the fifth day, the final round of the Players Championship will begin.

With various storms pushing the PGA Tour’s flagship event into a Monday finish – we hope – the third round was completed at 10:55 a.m. ET, 19 hours and 39 minutes after it began.

At the top of the leaderboard was India’s Anirban Lahiri, who is ranked No. 322 in the world and looking for his first PGA Tour title. He completed a third-round, 5-under 67 to move to 9 under through 54 holes.

“I got off to a really good start yesterday, kept the momentum going, and came back out this morning,” he said. “I’m happy with the way I finished and just looking forward to the rest of the day.

“There’s not much to get too far ahead of yourself. I’m just trying to stay in the moment and just do what I need to do next.”

Players: Leaderboard | How to watch Monday | PGA Tour Live on ESPN+

The final round began at 11 a.m. ET, with the leaders scheduled to go off at 1:01 p.m. ET. Threesomes will go off both the first and 10th tees.

There were 14 players within three shots of the lead heading into the final round. A shot back in second place was Sebastian Munoz (65), Doug Ghim (68), Paul Casey (69) and Sam Burns (71).

Plenty of fireworks exploded across the sun-drenched Stadium Course at TPC Sawgrass, the biggest was an ace from 219 yards on the 8th by Viktor Hovland, who hit 4-iron. He shot 68 to move to 4 under through 54 holes.

It was his second on the PGA Tour, the eighth on the hole since 1983. But there was little time for celebration.

“If I would have made the putt on 9 (on his last hole), as well, to get to 5, I would have felt a lot better,” he said. “But I’ve been playing really well the whole week. I just haven’t really been able to capitalize on any putts. Maybe if I get a few putts going early and maybe it starts blowing in the afternoon and gets a little shaky, then maybe (I can contend), but got a lot of work to do.”

Munoz polished off a bogey-free 65 with his seventh birdie of the round coming on the last. Kevin Streelman made six birdies in his last 11 holes over two days to get back into the tournament at 6 under with a 66.

“I could have made one more putt, but I mean, I’m really happy where I am,” Munoz said.

Said Streelman: “Clearly it’s soft right now, which allows the fairways to get a little wider. Also allows the greens obviously to get a little softer. We’re able to maybe fire at a few more pins than we would otherwise, and we’re all ready to get out of here, too, so the better you play, the quicker you play.”

The players are playing the ball down after being able to lift, clean and place in earlier rounds. While some players were expecting mud balls Monday morning, there were few and they were far between.

“The course is in fantastic shape for all it’s been through in the last five days,” said Kevin Kisner, who shot 68 to move to 6 under. “I think it’s totally fair to play the ball down these last two rounds. Greens are still super receptive. I don’t know if they’re going to be able to get out and do anything to them between rounds, which I doubt, but there will be some low scores this afternoon, I imagine.”

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Hal Sutton was a master of Players Championship Monday finishes, including toppling Tiger Woods

Hal Sutton and Jack Nicklaus share a unique piece of golf history.

PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. – When Hal Sutton held off Jack Nicklaus by one shot to win the 1983 PGA Championship at Riviera Country Club north of Los Angeles, the Golden Bear turned to his crystal ball.

“This will be one of many major championships for you,” Nicklaus told the 25-year-old Sutton that day, adding that he could be the “Next Jack” and become the game’s dominant force with the game he possessed.

While that never came to be – Sutton didn’t win another major – the two are linked in Players Championship history as the only players to win the PGA Tour’s flagship event twice – with all four titles captured on a Monday.

“That’s something. Monday finishes are rare, and we each did it twice,” Sutton said over the phone. “Not bad standing next to Jack in that way.”

This week’s storms have forced the Players Championship into a Monday finish for just the eighth time. Nicklaus won the inaugural Players in 1974 on Monday and the 1976 Players on Monday; the runner-up both years was J.C. Snead. Add his 1978 Players title – coming on a Sunday, mind you – Nicklaus is the only three-time winner of The Players.

Sutton won the 1983 championship in the second year it was played at TPC Sawgrass. Seventeen years later, he won the 2000 Players by holding off heavy favorite Tiger Woods by one shot with his “be the right club today,” on 18.

Players: Leaderboard | How to watch Monday finish | PGA Tour Live on ESPN+

“It’s hard enough to win a golf tournament when you have to play four days, but when you add the fifth day to it, it just makes it that much harder,” said Sutton, 63, a winner of 14 PGA Tour titles, a former Ryder Cup captain and the PGA of America’s Player of the Year in 1983.

Sutton said his mindset heading into the Mondays was different.

“I was chasing the lead in the first one and I was sitting on the lead in the second one,” Sutton said.

In 1983, Sutton came from four shots back with a final-round, 3-under-par 69 on Monday to win by one shot over Bob Eastwood.

“My mentality was to just string one good shot after another good shot and see what happens,” Sutton said. “It wasn’t blowing as hard as it was (on Saturday of this year), but it was blowing hard. A key shot was on 17 when I hit an 8-iron into the middle of the green and it rolled back to the hole to about six inches.

“Believe me, I wasn’t aiming at the flag.”

Seventeen years later, Sutton was ranked No. 11 in the world heading into the Players. Woods was No. 1 – by an astonishing 10 points. Woods, who had yet to play four full years on the PGA Tour, already had won 19 of his record-tying 82 PGA Tour titles, including three in 2000 heading into the Players. He had won two of his 15 majors; he would win three consecutive majors later in 2000.

But when play was halted on Sunday due to another storm, Sutton had a three-shot as the two were on the 12th hole.

“My mindset was, and I was pretty specific about this, I had to get to the 16th hole with a three-shot lead,” Sutton said. “Because I might not go for the green in two at 16 and he probably would, which means he might make eagle and I might make par. And that’s exactly what happened. He made eagle and I made par and I went to 17 with a one-shot lead.”

Both parred 17, setting up Sutton’s memorable call from the middle of the fairway on 18. He was 178 yards from the flag and pulled a 6-iron. As the ball flew toward the flag, Sutton emphatically said, “be the right club today.” It was, coming to rest 10 feet from the hole. Woods went over the green but chipped to less than a foot, forcing Sutton to two-putt. He did.

“It felt great. I had never said, ‘be the right club today’ in my life,” Sutton said. “But I knew I had the perfect yardage; I knew there was nothing that could take the tournament away from me after I hit it. The only thing that could hurt the shot was a puff of wind. That’s why I said what I said, I just didn’t want to be surprised.

“Playing alongside Tiger made it a lot different. He was beating everybody at the time. That week Colin Montgomerie said we were all playing for second. The week before Davis had a three-shot lead and Tiger ran him down and won.

“Tiger needed to be beat at the time. I felt the pressure of being the guy in charge and trying to beat him. It was added pressure and the win felt a little bit better.”

With his victory in 1983, Sutton won $126,000 – becoming the first six-figure winner in The Players. Seventeen years later, he won $1.08 million – becoming the first seven-figure winner in The Players.

“I think back to those tournaments all the time whether the PGA Tour is playing on Monday or not,” Sutton said. “When you’ve had success on a demanding course like the Stadium Course at TPC Sawgrass, against the best field in golf, you don’t forget you won there.”

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Northern Trust tee times for Monday’s final round

The first of three FedEx Cup Playoffs tournaments concludes at Liberty National on Monday.

The PGA Tour postponed the completion of the 2021 Northern Trust this week due to the projected path of Hurricane Henri, leaving the entire final round to be played Monday morning.

The Northern Trust is being held at Liberty National Golf Course, which sits on the water across the bay from New York and the Statue of Liberty.

“We are on the good side of it. But it’s going to bring two to four inches of rain, wind, sustained winds, gusts to 35, maybe even up to 60 if we get on the wrong side of this,” said PGA Tour rules official John Mutch. “For public safety, for everyone’s safety, we felt it was the right thing to do.”

All times listed are ET.

Northern Trust: Scores | Photos | Get to know Liberty National

Tee times

1st tee

Tee time Players
7:30 a.m. Patton Kizzire, Zach Johnson, Jordan Spieth
7:41 a.m. Joaquin Niemann, Talor Gooch, Adam Schenk
7:52 a.m. Joel Dahmen, Sebastián Muñoz, Mackenzie Hughes
8:03 a.m. Stewart Cink, Harry Higgs, Cameron Champ
8:14 a.m. Aaron Wise, Patrick Cantlay, Robert Streb
8:25 a.m. Alex Noren, Kevin Na, Doug Ghim
8:36 a.m. Keegan Bradley, Sungjae Im, Lee Westwood
8:47 a.m. Keith Mitchell, Charley Hoffman, Pat Perez
8:58 a.m. Cameron Tringale, Brooks Koepka, Xander Schauffele
9:09 a.m. Harold Varner III, Sam Burns, Hudson Swafford
9:20 a.m. Viktor Hovland, Tom Hoge, Corey Conners
9:31 a.m. Justin Thomas, Tony Finau, Shane Lowry
9:42 a.m. Cameron Smith, Jon Rahm, Erik van Rooyen

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10th tee

Tee time Players
7:30 a.m. Paul Casey, Rory McIlroy, Billy Horschel
7:41 a.m. Cam Davis, Carlos Ortiz, Scottie Scheffler
7:52 a.m. Hideki Matsuyama, Seamus Power, Garrick Higgo
8:03 a.m. Harris English, Daniel Berger, Abraham Ancer
8:14 a.m. Brandt Snedeker, Chris Kirk, Kramer Hickok
8:25 a.m. K.H. Lee, Marc Leishman, Maverick McNealy
8:36 a.m. Chez Reavie, Bryson DeChambeau, Gary Woodland
8:47 a.m. Peter Malnati, Anirban Lahiri, Ian Poulter
8:58 a.m. Max Homa, Kevin Streelman, Webb Simpson
9:09 a.m. Lanto Griffin, Luke List, Russell Henley
9:20 a.m. Andrew Putnam, Dylan Frittelli, James Hahn
9:31 a.m. Denny McCarthy, Scott Piercy, Brian Harman

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Sunday, fun day? What some PGA Tour players say they’ll do with day off at Northern Trust

Jon Rahm: “If COVID quarantine has taught us anything, it’s what to do the whole day cooped up in a room.”

After 54 holes at The Northern Trust, the tournament has come to halt. It’s not that PGA Tour players haven’t dealt with weather delays before but this one is a little different.

It was announced Saturday afternoon that Sunday’s final round was being pushed to Monday at Liberty National in Jersey City, New Jersey, because of the heavy rain and wind brought by Hurricane Henri. The Tour announced the move based on the projected path of the storm and warnings issued by the National Hurricane Center.

Much of the tournament infrastructure was taken down and will have to be put back up, according to PGA Tour rules official John Mutch.

“Move things that look like they could become airborne,” he said. “We have a lot of different people here. We have ShotLink, television, agronomy staff, and the operations staff and everybody is going to work in their areas to secure everything, tents, things like that for sure.”

Northern Trust: Leaderboard | Photos | Yardage book

So what do some players plan to do to pass the time?

“I have no idea,” tournament co-leader Jon Rahm said. “If COVID quarantine has taught us anything, it’s what to do the whole day cooped up in a room. We’re at a hotel, so instead of me getting up to get food, I can room service the food and hopefully the fitness center and spa and some of the amenities at the hotel are open and we can take advantage of it. At the same time we have a 4-month old in the room that needs a lot of attention. Take a lot of walks around the hotel, I don’t know, but it’s definitely going to be a fun family day.”

“If the weather is what it’s supposed to be, then it’s going to be an indoor day and a lot of Netflix and reading and eating,” said Tony Finau, who’s tied for fourth, two shots back. Finau hasn’t posted a top-10 finish since the PGA Championship in May. His last top-5 was a solo second at the Genesis Invitational in February.

He said he plans to putt in his room during the break after his putter let him down on Saturday.

“I need to have a talk with it. It needs to wake up. We’ve got 18 holes to go. We’re in the Playoffs,” he quipped. “It’s more common I think than you guys would think, guys putting in their room. I’ve done it many times.”

But not so much chipping.

“Not as much. I think hallway games, that’s probably more like in the hallway where you can chip to things.

“A couple years ago I think at the Greenbrier, maybe 2018. I was in there chipping in the hallway with a couple guys. … it’s a lot harder to chip off carpet because you have to utilize like the bounce. It’s hard to get the leading edge underneath the golf ball.”

Justin Thomas experienced a mid-tournament day off at the Zozo Championship in 2019, when he and Tiger Woods and Jordan Spieth among others watched “Joker,” and waited out a storm in a Domino’s Pizza in Narita, Japan.

“Probably a lot of putting in my room and a lot of eating and a lot of TV watching.” Thomas said of his Sunday plans.

As for Shane Lowry, he’s finding some positives in the situation.

“All Ireland final is on at half-eleven, or half-ten in the morning, so I get to watch that which I’m pretty happy about,” he said. “I think there’s worse cities to be stuck in for a day off than New York, so I’m sure I’ll find something to do.”

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