Matt Kuchar stops his round in a bizarre way on the 72nd hole, turning the result of the tour event on its head

Matt Kuchar is not finished yet.

But that’s the case with every other golfer.

In a bizarre sequence during the final round of the PGA Tour’s Wyndham Championship, Kuchar decided to abandon his round after his first shot on the 18th hole as darkness fell Sunday at Sedgefield Country Club in Greensboro, N.C. — even though his two playing partners finished in the final group of the event and Kuchar was not in contention for a win or a spot to start next week’s PGA Tour playoffs. The move was legal but upended the outcome of the event, which was won by Aaron Rai.

Kuchar should continue on Monday morning and play for a better finish and money. He is currently tied for 12th place with 10, with several scenarios possible. Should he hole an eagle far left of the 18th fairway — which is unlikely — he would jump to 6th place, which would earn him $276,500, more than the $134,000 he would get for 12th place. Should he make a birdie, he would jump to 7th place, which would earn him $223,833 — and a bogey would drop Kuchar to 21st place, which would earn him $77,025. None of that will get him into the Tour’s postseason, however — the Wyndham is the final tournament of the regular season, and Kuchar cannot earn enough points on Monday to break into the top 70.

As for Kuchar’s explanation, he was not officially interviewed by reporters on the scene. Golf journalist Jason Sobel tweeted Sunday night that Golf Channel’s Todd Lewis spoke with Kuchar, who told Lewis that he decided to stop playing before Rai clinched the win with a birdie on the 18th hole in the group ahead of him — and that he tried to help his playing partner Max Greyserman, who was one stroke behind Rai before the birdie.

All this confused the CBS commentators who were broadcasting the tournament.

“The tournament is over, but it’s not over,” said announcer Jim Nantz. “It’s so weird. Actually, we’ll be down to one player here tomorrow morning, I guess sometime around 8 a.m.”

Below is a rough sequence of events:

— Kuchar teed off the final threesome at about 8:15 p.m. on the 500-yard par-4 18th hole with Rai and his playing partners Cameron Young and Billy Horschel in front of him getting ready for their second shot. Kuchar reportedly couldn’t see the players, but his tee shot sailed left of the trees on the left side of the hole and into the rough.

Kuchar said, “Damn it.”

— After Kuchar’s playing partners Greyserman and Chad Rainey teed off three minutes later, umpire Ken Tackett told the trio that because of darkness they had the choice of continuing to play or returning on Monday, although no signal to stop play was given. On the CBS broadcast, Tour umpire Orlando Pope revealed the conversation with Tackett, and the network later showed footage of Tackett’s conversation with Kuchar.

Kuchar told Tackett as he walked down the 18th hole, “Theoretically, the horn has been blown.”

Tackett replied, “Correct.”

– Kuchar then marked his ball and walked through the hole with Greyserman and Rainey continuing to play.

But Pope’s explanation came as the duo were putting, and the lack of a horn initially confused the commentary team – and understandably so. It seemed, at least, that Kuchar had stopped playing on his own initiative.

Analyst Trevor Immelman said: “So he’ll notice? Has someone blown a horn that I don’t know about?”

Track analyst Dottie Pepper, who accompanied the trio, said: “No, there was no honking.”

Immelman said, “But can he stop if they didn’t honk?”

Nantz said, “I didn’t hear any horn.”

– Then Greyserman and Rainey putted while Kuchar stood behind the green.

At this point in the broadcast, Pope announced the discussion between Tackett and the players and said the following:

“Yeah, it was after sunset. So we talked to them when we got to the tee box. Instead of just honking, we gave them the option to finish the hole, and he decided not to finish. And he could have finished the hole. … But he decided he didn’t want to finish, and we’re going to let that happen. Just come back tomorrow.”

And Kuchar apparently will do it.

CBS’s coverage of the scene ended with this exchange:

Nantz said: “(Kuchar) said theoretically the decision was made, and Ken Tackett told him yes, and he has the power to make that decision. He’s just going to come out here tomorrow, and I don’t think anyone’s going to be here to see it. I don’t think we’re going to give you that coverage tomorrow. But that’s his prerogative. It’s just an interesting decision – he’s not going to make the playoffs.”

Immelman said: “But let’s go back five minutes when he decided to tee off just as the leader was about to hit his second shot in the middle of the fairway. It was a really bizarre sequence of events.”

Nantz said: “Yeah, that’s a good point. It seemed like he was in a hurry to get the ball in on the tee. His two teammates are going to finish him off.”

Immelman said, “Yes, when you hit your tee shot, you have to remember that your intention is to finish.”

Nick Piastowski

Golf.com Publisher

Nick Piastowski is a senior editor at Golf.com and Golf Magazine. In his role, he is responsible for editing, writing and developing stories related to all things golf. And when he’s not writing about how to hit the golf ball farther and straighter, the Milwaukee native is probably playing golf, hitting the ball left, right and short, and drinking a cold beer to wash down his score. You can reach him about any of these topics – his stories, his game or his beers – at [email protected].