Matt Kuchar is holding up the end of the Wyndham Championship and the PGA Tour's regular season by being the only player not to finish on Sunday night in Greensboro, North Carolina.
The PGA Tour's regular season was set to come to an end at sunset on Sunday as a marathon final day of the Wyndham Championship was set to conclude at Sedgefield Country Club. Aaron Rai has effectively won the tournament.
However, Rai's first PGA Tour victory will have to be made official on Monday because of Kuchar.
Kuchar was playing the final threesome along with Chad Ramey and Max Greyserman, on a day when the second round had to be completed and the third and final rounds played in full. There would be no re-pairing after the third round, and there were threesomes going off the first and 10th tees in each round.
Greyserman, whose four-stroke lead evaporated with a quadruple-bogey 8 on the 14th hole that directly followed an eagle 2 on the 13th hole, finished the tournament to conclude his PGA Tour regular season with a runner-up finish.
Ramey, who had a tough Sunday by shooting 73-74 for a combined 7-over final day, also finished out his round.
Kuchar, though, only hit his drive on the final hole. He pulled it left on the down-then-up 503-yard finishing hole on the Donald Ross design. Then, he chose to not finish the round. Under the Rules of Golf, a player has the option to not continue when they feel they are unable to play due to darkness. By exercising that option, Kuchar has the right to come back to Sedgefield on Monday morning to finish the 18th hole -- as the only player to still need to finish.
Kuchar told Golf Channel that he chose to do it in an effort to encourage Greyserman to take his time on the final hole -- and perhaps as a form of protest over slow play on Sunday and the PGA Tour not calling play sooner.
“We were so far past when we should’ve stopped playing," Kuchar said. "We saw what Max did on hole 16; they should’ve blown the hole 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.”
Since every player has not finished their round, Rai's first PGA Tour win will not become official until Kuchar completes the 18th hole. Kuchar had to win the Wyndham Championship to qualify for the FedEx Cup playoffs by finishing in the top 70 in the standings. This will mark the first year that Kuchar has not qualified for the playoffs since the post-season concept started in 2007.
How Kuchar finishes the tournament will have an impact on seeding, even ever so slightly, heading into the first playoff event in Memphis that starts Thursday.
