Matt Kuchar

Early life

Kuchar was born in Winter Park, Florida, to Peter, a life insurance salesman and college tennis pro, and Meg Kuchar, with one sibling, Rebecca. He went on to graduate from Seminole High School in Sanford in 1996.

Amateur career

Kuchar attended Georgia Tech in Atlanta, where he was a two-time first-team All-American on the Yellow Jackets' golf team. After narrowly losing in the semi-finals of the 1996 U.S. Amateur championship to Tiger Woods, Kuchar won the title in 1997. He received the Haskins Award in 1998 as the nation's top collegiate golfer. One of Kuchar's teammates at Georgia Tech was future PGA Tour professional Bryce Molder. He earned his bachelor's degree in management.

In addition, he had some success at major championships in 1998. He was the low amateur at both The Masters and U.S. Open.

Professional career

Early career

Kuchar turned professional in November 2000, after working briefly for a financial services firm. He missed the sign-up deadline for the 2000 qualifying school. In 2001 he was given sponsors' exemptions to some PGA Tour tournaments, and earned enough money to be fully exempt for the 2002 season.

Kuchar's first win on the PGA Tour came at the Honda Classic in 2002. A tough year in 2005 saw him win under $403,000, 159th on the money list, which caused a loss of his tour card. He failed to regain it at qualifying school and played on the Nationwide Tour in 2006. Kuchar won its Henrico County Open and finished tenth on the Nationwide Tour money list to earn back his PGA Tour card for 2007. He retained his card for the next two seasons by finishing 115th on the money list in 2007 and 70th in 2008.

2009

Seven years after his first PGA Tour win, Kuchar won for a second time during the Fall Series in 2009 at the Turning Stone Resort Championship. He prevailed in a playoff over Vaughn Taylor that concluded on Monday due to darkness on Sunday evening.

2010

Kuchar made the Ryder Cup team in 2010, taking the eighth and last merit position on the 12-man U.S. squad on August 15. At the time, Kuchar led the PGA Tour in top-10 finishes for the year, but had not won a tournament in 2010. The winless streak ended two weeks later at The Barclays on August 29, which was played at the Ridgewood Country Club in Paramus, New Jersey; Kuchar defeated Martin Laird on the first hole of a sudden-death playoff. Kuchar won the Vardon Trophy and Byron Nelson Award in 2010 for lowest scoring average and the PGA Tour's Arnold Palmer Award for leading the money list.

2011

Kuchar started off 2011 well with three consecutive top-10 finishes in the first three weeks of the season. He finished T6 at the opening PGA Tour event, the Hyundai Tournament of Champions on Maui. The following week at the Sony Open in Hawaii, he played his way to a T5 finish and then at the Bob Hope Classic achieved a T7 finish.

In February, Kuchar reached the semi-finals of the WGC-Accenture Match Play Championship, where he suffered a 6&5 defeat by eventual champion Luke Donald. In the 3rd place playoff match, he defeated fellow American Bubba Watson, 2&1. Previously during the week Kuchar had beaten Anders Hansen on the 22nd hole in round one, Bo Van Pelt in round two, Rickie Fowler in round three and Yang Yong-eun at the quarter-final stage.

Kuchar finished tied for second at the Memorial Tournament at Muirfield Village in June 2011 behind Steve Stricker. This was his eighth top-10 finish of the season and took him to his highest ranking to date of world number six. Kuchar finished second at The Barclays, two strokes behind the winner, Dustin Johnson. The tournament was shortened to 54 holes due to Hurricane Irene. This finish moved him to second in the FedEx Cup standings. Kuchar and Gary Woodland combined to win the Omega Mission Hills World Cup in November.

2012

Kuchar had his best performance in a major championship at The Masters when he finished in a tie for third. Kuchar was tied for the lead on the back nine on Sunday, but bogeyed the par three 16th and finished two strokes out of the playoff between Bubba Watson and Louis Oosthuizen.

Kuchar won the biggest tournament of his career in May when he won The Players Championship at TPC Sawgrass in Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida. He shot a final round of 70 (−2) to win by two strokes over runners-up Rickie Fowler, Martin Laird, Ben Curtis, and Zach Johnson. He entered the final round in the last group, one stroke behind Kevin Na. After bogeying the first hole, he played a near-perfect round, except for a three-putt bogey on the 17th, to hold off the challengers. The win elevated Kuchar to a career high of number five in the world rankings.

2013

He won the WGC-Accenture Match Play Championship in February, defeating Hunter Mahan 2&1 in the final. During the final, Kuchar built up an early lead and was 4 up at the turn. Mahan mounted a comeback on the back nine, winning four of the next seven holes to trail by just one with two to play. Mahan's wild drive on the par-4 17th put him in trouble, and after Kuchar knocked his approach close, Mahan failed to chip in for par and conceded the hole, which ended the match and gave Kuchar his first World Golf Championship title. Throughout the week, Kuchar was never more than one down in any of his matches and only trailed three times on his way to the win. He defeated Hiroyuki Fujita, Sergio García, Nicolas Colsaerts, Robert Garrigus and Jason Day en route to the final. Kuchar moved back into the world's top 10 after this victory. His second win in 2013 came at the Memorial Tournament in early June.

Late in the year Kuchar played in two events in Australia. He finished runner-up to Adam Scott at the Australian Masters and finished fourth in the 2013 World Cup of Golf.

2014

In the final round of the Valero Texas Open in March, Kuchar held a share of the lead with nine holes to play but bogeyed the 10th and 11th holes and finished T-4. The next week, he had a four-stroke lead going into the final round at the Shell Houston Open but lost a playoff to Matt Jones' 42-yard chip-in on the first extra hole. Kuchar was again in contention the following week at the Masters Tournament, where he was tied for the lead on Sunday before four-putting the fourth hole and finishing T-5.

A week later, Kuchar won for the seventh time on the PGA Tour with a one stroke victory at the RBC Heritage. He shot a final-round 64, which included a chip-in birdie from a greenside bunker on the 18th hole to come from four shots behind and claim victory.

2015

At the Sony Open in Hawaii in January, Kuchar opened with 65–63 to lead after two rounds. He stalled on the weekend, however, to finish tied for third. In the final round Kuchar failed to make a birdie, snapping his streak of 255 rounds on the PGA Tour with at least one birdie. The following week Kuchar tied for second, one stroke behind the winner, at the Humana Challenge.

In April, Kuchar contended at the RBC Heritage and finished in fifth place. His best performance in the season's majors came in August at the PGA Championship at Whistling Straits in Wisconsin where he finished tied for seventh. Kuchar played in only two official events outside of the PGA Tour in 2015 but did very well in both. He finished one stroke back to fellow American Rickie Fowler at the Scottish Open and won the Fiji International, an official event on the PGA Tour of Australasia. Kuchar had seven top-tens for the season but did not win a PGA Tour tournament for the first time in four years. He finished well down the money list after finishing in the top 10 in earnings in four of the preceding five seasons.

2016

Kuchar had 9 top-10s heading into the 2016 Summer Olympics, and continued his good run with a bronze medal after a final round 63.

2017

In the 2017 season, Kuchar competed in 26 events on the PGA Tour, making the cut in 22, including nine top-10 finishes. He finished tied for fourth at the Masters, his fourth top-10 finish in that event. At the Open Championship, Kuchar shared the first-round lead with Brooks Koepka and Jordan Spieth and finished rounds two and three in solo second behind Spieth. After Spieth's near meltdown on the 13th hole of the final round, Kuchar held a one-stroke lead with five holes to play. However, Spieth played the last five holes in five-under-par to claim the championship by three strokes over Kuchar, who finished three strokes ahead of third-place finisher Li Haotong. Kuchar finished the year 14th in the FedEx Cup standings and represented the United States in the President's Cup, posting a 2–1 record in the United States' win.

2018

In the 2017–18 PGA Tour season, Kuchar had another winless campaign. He played in 24 events. He had four top-10 finishes and made 20 cuts. He won $1,720,097 for the year and finished 76th in the season long FedEx Cup.

U.S. Ryder Cup captain Jim Furyk named Kuchar as a non-playing vice-captain for the U.S. team in the 2018 Ryder Cup. The U.S. team lost to the European team 17 1/2 to 10 1/2 at Le Golf National outside of Paris, France.

On November 11, 2018, Kuchar won the Mayakoba Golf Classic in Cancun, Mexico. This event was part of the 2018–19 PGA Tour season. Kuchar took home a winner's check of $1.296 million and paid his caddie, David Giral Ortiz, the amount they agreed to for a top ten finish ($4,000) and an additional $1,000 on top of that to equal $5,000, which is a 0.38 percent tip of the $1.296 million, causing a social media controversy. Kuchar offered an additional $15,000 payment to Ortiz, which would have amounted to a total of $20,000 or 1.54 percent of the winner's check. This amount is below the average payout (10 percent) for a full-time caddie whose player wins. Because Kuchar's regular caddie was not available, Ortiz was hired and agreed to the terms presented. Ortiz has stated to Golf.com that he never expected the full 10 percent payout and that "Matt is a good person and a great player. He treated me very well. I am only disappointed by how it all finished." When asked about giving his caddie such a low tip, Kuchar defended his decision by stating, "For a guy who makes 200 a day, a 5000 dollar week is a really big week". On February 15, 2019, Kuchar apologized and agreed to pay Ortiz the requested $50,000 and also donate an unspecified amount to local Cancun charities.

At the end of the 2018–19 PGA Tour regular season, Rory McIlroy jokingly roasted Matt Kuchar over the caddie pay controversy. At the initial award ceremony of the Wyndham Rewards Top 10, which awarded a $10 million bonus pool to the top 10 players in the final regular season FedEx Cup standings, after Kuchar playfully joked about McIlroy's narrow 2-point margin for an extra $300,000, McIlroy highlighted that "And we all know what money means to him."

2019

On January 13, 2019, Kuchar won the Sony Open in Hawaii, his second win in three starts. On March 31, 2019, Kuchar reached the championship round of the WGC-Dell Technologies Match Play for the second time in his career, having previously done so in 2013 when he went on to win the title. He lost to Kevin Kisner, 3 & 2, in the final. In December 2019, Kuchar played on the U.S. team at the 2019 Presidents Cup at Royal Melbourne Golf Club in Australia. The U.S. team won 16–14. Kuchar went 0–1–3, but battled back from 3 down against Louis Oosthuizen to halve the match in Sunday singles. Kuchar made the Cup-clinching putt on 17.

2020

On January 19, 2020, Kuchar won the Singapore Open on the Japan Golf Tour. The tournament was co-sanctioned by the Asian Tour.

2025

After retaining full PGA Tour status for eighteen years, Kuchar ended the 2025 season 118th in the FedEx Cup standings, which earns him conditional status for 2026. Kuchar also had the option of using one of two career earnings exemptions (top 25 and top 50 in all-time earnings), which he opted not to use for the year. He said that the earnings exemption would likely get him three or four more starts and none of the signature events.

Personal life

Kuchar is married to Sybi Parker, who was a tennis player at Georgia Tech, and they live on St. Simons Island in Georgia. Their two sons are Cameron Cole and Carson Wright. Kuchar is a Christian.

Amateur wins

• 1997 Terra Cotta Invitational, U.S. Amateur

Professional wins (19)

PGA Tour wins (9)

PGA Tour playoff record (2–1)

Japan Golf Tour wins (1)

1Co-sanctioned by the Asian Tour

PGA Tour of Australasia wins (1)

1Co-sanctioned by the OneAsia Tour

Nationwide Tour wins (1)

Nationwide Tour playoff record (1–0)

Other wins (7)

Results in major championships

Results not in chronological order in 2020.

LA = low amateur

CUT = missed the half-way cut

"T" = tied

NT = no tournament due to COVID-19 pandemic

Summary

• Most consecutive cuts made – 14 (2013 Masters – 2016 Open Championship)
• Longest streak of top-10s – 2 (2017 Open Championship – 2017 PGA)

The Players Championship

Wins (1)

Results timeline

CUT = missed the halfway cut

WD = withdrew

"T" indicates a tie for a place

C = Canceled after the first round due to the COVID-19 pandemic

World Golf Championships

Wins (1)

Results timeline

Results not in chronological order before 2015.

1Cancelled due to COVID-19 pandemic

QF, R16, R32, R64 = Round in which player lost in match play

NT = No tournament

"T" = Tied

Note that the HSBC Champions did not become a WGC event until 2009.

Note that the Championship and Invitational were discontinued from 2022. The Champions was discontinued from 2023.

PGA Tour career summary

** As of April 17, 2022*

U.S. national team appearances

Amateur

• Eisenhower Trophy: 1998
• Palmer Cup: 1998 (tie), 1999 (winners)
• Walker Cup: 1999

Professional

• Ryder Cup: 2010, 2012, 2014, 2016 (winners)
• Presidents Cup: 2011 (winners), 2013 (winners), 2015 (winners), 2017 (winners), 2019 (winners)
• World Cup: 2011 (winners), 2013, 2018

References

References

1. Dorman, Larry. (May 14, 2012). "Kuchar smiles, and grinds, his way to a signature Playerswin". [[PGA Tour]].
2. Kendall, Mark. (February 24, 2013). "Matt Kuchar beat Hunter Mahan 2&1 to win WGC Match Play Championship". Sky Sports.
3. (July 23, 2017). "Spieth wins The Open - watch highlights". BBC Sport.
4. Markus, Don. (April 12, 1998). "Kuchar family living dream at Augusta Father, grandfather partake in Matt's success". Baltimore Sun.
5. Shapiro, Leonard. (June 21, 1998). "Unlike Son, Father Kuchar is Criticized". Washington Post.
6. Kuchar, Meg. (May 11, 2013). "My son, the Tour pro: Matt Kuchar". PGA Tour.
7. (August 13, 2010). "Molder chasing former GT teammate Kuchar". Vegas Insider.
8. Elling, Steve. (October 6, 2001). "Kuchar Beats Long Odds". Orlando Sentinel.
9. (October 5, 2009). "Kuchar wins on sixth playoff hole". [[ESPN]].
10. (August 30, 2010). "Matt Kuchar claims first win of year". ESPN.
11. (November 15, 2010). "Career Feats: Furyk named PGA Player of the Year; Kuchar earns first Vardon Trophy". PGA of America.
12. (November 14, 2010). "Kuchar wins multiple Tour season-ending awards". PGA Tour.
13. (June 6, 2011). "Steve Stricker wins Memorial by 1 shot". ESPN.
14. (November 27, 2011). "U.S. team wins golf's World Cup". ESPN.
15. (February 24, 2013). "Matt Kuchar wins as Ian Poulter finishes fourth". BBC Sport.
16. (March 31, 2013). "Bowditch survives to win Texas Open by one stroke". [[Reuters]].
17. (April 6, 2013). "The Masters: Matt Jones earns Augusta debut with dramatic Houston win". [[CNN]].
18. (April 20, 2013). "Kuchar Rallies, Chips in for RBC Heritage Win". [[ABC News (United States).
19. (January 18, 2015). "Walker runs away with victory at Sony Open". PGA Tour.
20. (November 11, 2018). "Kuchar holds on to win Mayakoba Classic". Associated Press.
21. "'They can keep their money': Kuchar's fill-in caddie breaks silence over pay dispute".
22. (February 14, 2019). "Matt Kuchar defends paying caddie $5K: 'Can't make everybody happy'". ESPN.
23. Bonesteel, Matt. (February 15, 2019). "Matt Kuchar apologizes to substitute caddie, agrees to pay full amount requested". Washington Post.
24. "Rory McIlroy roasts Matt Kuchar after beating him for an extra $300,000 Wyndham Rewards bonu".
25. (January 14, 2019). "Another win for Kuchar, this victory with a rainbow". Associated Press.
26. Powers, Christopher. (March 31, 2019). "Kevin Kisner defeats Matt Kuchar 3 and 2 in final match for his third career PGA Tour victory".
27. Dusek, David. (December 15, 2019). "Presidents Cup grades: Captains, Royal Melbourne score high marks".
28. (January 19, 2020). "Golf: Kuchar wins in Singapore despite seventh hole meltdown". The Chronicle Herald.
29. Brown, Oliver. (September 27, 2012). "Ryder Cup 2012: Webb Simpson and his born-again brotherhood come with a swing and a prayer". The Telegraph.
30. "Official Money". PGA Tour.
31. "Career Money Leaders". PGA Tour.