Presumably, dozens of Wyndham Championship staffers will be asked to return to Sedgefield Country Club on Monday so Matt Kuchar can finish off his PGA Tour season with a likely bogey. Aaron Rai has already won the tournament.
The final groups were always going to be up against Mother Nature's clock. The field was forced to play two-plus rounds of golf on Sunday in North Carolina due to Tropical Storm Debby. Minutes before the finish line, Kuchar made a baffling decision.
Here's what happened on the last hole of the PGA Tour regular-season finale.
Matt Kuchar's controversial Wyndham call
Kuchar — who has earned $59.8 million in his PGA Tour career — had been in contention earlier in the event after consecutive 64s, but fell back with a third-round 70. The 46-year-old needed a win to qualify for the FedExCup Playoffs.
Playing in the final group, Kuchar was sitting in a 10-way tie for 12th place (-11) after a birdie on No. 17 got him back to 1-over for the round. Amidst increasing darkness, at the end of a long afternoon behind the gruelingly slow Rai, Kuchar sprinted to his tee shot on the par-4 18th. He missed the fairway, while hitting into the group ahead (Rai was unfazed; his tidy approach set-up the winning putt).
Kuchar's partners, Chad Ramey and Max Greyserman, elected to finish up.
Suddenly, there Kuchar was, the last guy left on the course after an exhaustive day in North Carolina — for everybody. And then, as if he was never in a hurry, Kuchar marked his ball.
According to sound picked up on the broadcast, a rules official confirmed that while no official word was given, it was fair to assume a “theoretical” darkness horn had been blown. (Once the horn sounds, players can elect to pause their rounds.)
This means Matt Kuchar will need a bulk of the tournament infrastructure returning to place on Monday so he can chip out of the woods and putt once or twice. (Alternatively, he could simply withdraw. Perhaps he'll do that tonight.)
One reporter on the ground gathered that Kuchar was frustrated after not being informed where Rai's group was on 18 due to the darkness, so his decision is driven by … spite, not visibility?
Kuchar did not address the media (as his round isn't over), but he did provide a curious explanation to the Golf Channel's Todd Lewis.
“I was trying to set an example for Max,” Kuchar said, of Greyserman, a PGA Tour rookie. “We were so far past when we should've stopped play. … By me not playing, I thought it might show Max he's got an important shot to hit.”
Kuchar began the week 113th in the FedExCup standings. He'll move up to 103th if he saves par.
“I don't expect we'll be bring you that coverage tomorrow,” CBS' Jim Nantz said on the telecast.
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