How losing to Tiger Woods in 1996 U.S. amateur helped Matt Kuchar's PGA Tour career
10/03/2024 11:00 AM
JACKSON, Miss. — Matt Kuchar peeled off his white golf gloves, tugged at his white baseball cap, then wiped a stream of sweat from his brow.
His walk on the blacktop path between the practice putting green and the 10th hole at the Country Club of Jackson late Tuesday afternoon was both pragmatic and purposeful.
And included a conversation about Tiger Woods, a man to whom Kuchar forever will be linked.
The 46-year-old from Winter Park, Florida, the guy with nine PGA Tour wins to his name, was preparing to try to turn that nine into 10 at the Country Club of Jackson during this week’s Sanderson Farms Championship.
“These events are meant to be kind of a chase for the card, so the guys that didn’t finish in the top 50 are kind of jockeying for those positions,” Kuchar said during that walk. “And then there is a race for (the) top 125 and keeping your card.”
Tiger Woods and Matt Kuchar at the 1998 Masters at Augusta National Golf Club. (Timothy A. Clary/AFP via Getty Images)
Kuchar is part of that pack.
He’s fighting for his next job.
Kuchar is 102nd in the FedEx Cup standings with 429 points.
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“When you get off to a good start it’s nice to check off certain boxes, right?” he said. “Your first box is keeping your job for next year. Hopefully you check that box early, know you’ve made enough points, enough money that you’ll have a job next year.”
Kuchar has been playing golf for a living since November 2000, after he decided to quit his job at a financial services firm.
His path has been nothing if not unique.
He went seven years – 2002 to 2009 – between victories.
He lost his PGA Tour card in 2005 after finishing 159th on the money list. When he failed to earn it back at qualifying school, he played on the Nationwide Tour in 2006 to work his way back up.
Four years later, Kuchar was the PGA Tour’s top money winner with $4.9 million — more than he’d earned the three previous seasons combined — and was the player with the lowest average score.
And he didn’t win a single tournament. His 11 top-10 finishes contributed heavily to his standing.
A roller coaster. Always.
“I want to be in the top 70 to get in all the invitationals,” he said. “I want to be in the top 50 for all the elevated events. Top 30 is a big deal. It makes the Tour Championship and it gets you in Kapalua.
“All these are check marks. It stinks when it takes you a long time to get through the checks.”
Before he began cashing PGA checks, Kuchar was busy playing as an amateur against guys such as Woods, who eliminated Kuchar in a semifinal of the 1996 U.S. Amateur championship. He won the tournament the following year.
He was a two-time All-American at Georgia Tech. He was named the nation’s best collegiate golfer in 1998, the same year he posted the lowest score among amateurs at both the Masters and U.S. Open.
‘We all made so much money because of (Tiger Woods)’
A lot has changed during Kuchar’s golf life.
Purses. Options. Just about everything. Something he discussed recently with Woods when he saw him.
“We were talking about the LIV Tour and the crazy money we’re playing for now,” Kuchar said. “I’ve been a part of a great run coming along in the Tiger Woods generation at its heyday, when purses went up thanks to Tiger.
“We all made so much more money because of him. Now, to still be playing in the LIV Tour era, where they’ve kind of forced the PGA Tour to kind of up the ante everywhere. It’s cool to still be doing it.”
The man who won Olympic bronze in 2016, was a non-playing vice captain on a Ryder Cup team, tied for third place at the 2012 Masters and was second at the 2017 Open Championship, finally stepped into the tee box on the 10th hole at the Country Club of Jackson.
His journey just complete. His journey just beginning. His journey trying to survive another day.
Kuchar caught a golf ball from his caddie, whose eyes by now were glued to a pair of binoculars, and placed it on a tee.
“Looks about 219,” his caddie said, pointing toward the 223-yard, par-3 hole.
Kuchar slipped those white golf gloves back on his hands, adjusted his tee and — WHACK! — made the ball disappear.
