Matt

Kuchar

Kuchar has been a model of consistency over the course of his career and that shows up in the record books as he’s now the only golfer to make the FedExCup Playoffs every year since the inaugural 2007 edition. The 45-year-old was honored but also humble when talking about the accomplishment, “There are a lot of young great players out there that just haven’t been around for this long. I expect them to certainly go way past 17 years. I probably just happen to be in that lucky sweet spot of timing from when I came along to when the Playoffs began. There’s only so many players out here that have that potential. So the pool of us is small. It’s not like there’s thousands of guys with this chance.” Kuchar did all of his work early in the season as he arrives with just one top-35 finish over his last nine events played. He’ll look to get back on track this week at TPC Southwind where he’ll open at 60th in the FedExCup race, needing to jump at least 10 spots to earn a seat at next week’s BMW Championship.

Kuchar entered the week ranked 7th on the tournament’s all-time money list. He’s piled up another big finish this week after four rounds of 70 or better at TPC San Antonio. He ranked 3rd in strokes gained approach on the week and 6th in around-the-green play. “Love the golf course. I’ve had some good results. I keep getting close to putting my name on that trophy and getting those boots, but I’ll keep chipping away at it.” This goes in the books as his fourth top 15 of the season, now 40th in the FedExCup race.

Kuchar is no stranger to success at the Valero, arriving at 7th on the tournament’s all-time money list. It was more of the same today as he gained 2.9 strokes on approach and 1.8 strokes around-the-green. “I was lucky to get away with a couple loose ones today, but for the most part games on some pretty good form and I enjoy this golf course a lot.” If this co-lead holds then it would be his 12th time posting a first-round lead or co-lead on the PGA TOUR and first since the 2020 Genesis Invitational.

Kuchar is the 59th seed this week but he’s known for being a menace in head-to-head play. He claimed the opening hole with a par and never looked back. Kuchar led the match after 16 of the 17 completed holes. Hovland did manage to tie the match at the par-4 10th but Kuchar responded with back-to-back birdies to separate. “Fortunately I had a chip-in on 11. He was kind of you know lucky on a few putts. He had some great putts just horseshoe out. I think you need some of those breaks to go your way, and they went against Viktor unfortunately. Sometimes that happens. I was the lucky recipient today.” Kuchar continues to preach confidence in his game in 2023. With this win he is now 35-11-4 in his career at this event, just one shy of the tournament record holder, Tiger Woods.

Kuchar opened his day with a 16'10" eagle splashed, set up from a 189-yard approach. He would remain dialed in with his irons as he gained strokes on approach on each of his first 12 approach shots today, gaining 3.7 strokes on approach at day’s end (2nd best). Kuchar’s tossed together a few good rounds since the start of the year and feels good about his game right now, “Started playing decent last week in Phoenix and kind of excited to building on that and get some momentum going because I felt as good as I felt in a long time during that kind of swing that I had in Hawaii.” He twirled a T7 at the Sony Open in Hawaii.

Kuchar arrived as a course horse but looked shaky out of the gate with three straight bogeys to open his week. He traded 19 birdies with just three more bogeys for the final 69 holes. Talking about that start he had this to say, “I thought, this is crazy. I’ve been playing as good as I can remember. I’ve been out training on the Big Island at Kohanaiki and playing some rally good golf. So very much looking forward to the week. To get off to that start was a head scratcher.” This will go in the books as his eighth career top 10 at Waialae Country Club, in 18 total starts.

Kuchar opened his season with a T12 in Napa (Fortinet Championship) and was set to make his second start of the new season. He cited a knee injury as the culprit for his late decision to back out ahead of round one. His 11th-hour WD will not sit well with gamers who backed him but Kevin Roy is certainly glad that he was given a chance to tee it up at TPC Summerlin. Kuchar has just five top 10s in the last three seasons and if injuries are a part of the equation then he’ll be tough to trust moving forward in fantasy leagues.

Kuchar opened his day with a birdie but swallowed a three-putt bogey on the following hole and found water at the fourth. It was smooth sailing from there with highlights that included a hole-out from the greenside bunker at the ninth and an 11'11" birdie splash at the 16th. “I got fortunate. I made a bunker shot on the 9th, was looking like I was going to make bogey there, walked off with a birdie, and after that played some really good golf on the back nine and pleased to be in at 3-under par.” Kuchar gained 1.8 strokes on approach during his opening round and led the morning wave in around-the-green play (+2.6).

The 43-year-old, who was attempting to become the first 40-something to win on TOUR since Lucas Glover (age 41) 36 events ago at the 2021 John Deere, settles for a third top 10 of the season in 12 events and second podium, second straight after a T2 at the Valero Texas Open. This was his 19th Heritage and 18th consecutive made cut, recording a seventh top 10 and third top 3, joining a solo 2nd in 2019 and a come-from-behind win in 2014. The Georgia Tech alum, who was chasing his first win since the 2019 Sony 71 starts ago, signed for rounds of 68-69-67-68, one of only two to put all four rounds in the 60s, along with champion Jordan Spieth, and totaled 18 birdies against six bogeys, ranking 2nd SG: Putting (7.252), highlighted by a 2.674 on Sunday, and 36th SG: Tee-to-Green (2.544), drug down by a 55th-ranking in Approach (-1.167), -2.641 of that in R4. This is his 37th career podium in 501 events and the first time recording back-to-back top-3 finishes since T3 at the 2016 PLAYERS and solo 3rd at the 2016 AT&T Byron Nelson.

Through 25 events on the season, there hasn’t been a 40-something-year-old that’s won, and there hasn’t been any since Lucas Glover, age 41, at last season’s John Deere (36 events ago). However, Kuchar, age 43, is the only 40-something that will be in the overnight top 10, and Stewart Cink won here last year at age 47, as did Jim Furyk in 2015 (44), so there is some precedence. The Georgia Tech alum, who’s handed in rounds of 68-69-67 and will be in the third-to-last pairing on Sunday with Georgia alum Hudson Swafford, won his seventh TOUR title here in 2014, coming from four back (T7) with 7-under 64 to win by one, and his eighth and ninth TOUR victories, his most recent, came at the 2019 Mayakoba (54-hole leader by four) and the 2019 Sony as the 54-hole leader by two, both of those at age 40. At the three-quarter pole, Kuchar ranks 10th SG: Around (2.848), highlighted by a 1.170 today, 7th in SG: Putting (4.578), 1.477 SGP today, and a lowly 55th in SG: Off-the-Tee (-1.100), but has eked out positive gains OTT in R2 (0.279) and R3 (0.166), respectively. See link below to post-round comments.