Matt Kuchar

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.

Matthew Gregory Kuchar (born June 21, 1978) is an American professional golfer who plays on the PGA Tour and formerly the Nationwide Tour.

He has won nine times on the PGA Tour.

He went on to graduate from Seminole High School in Sanford in 1996.

Later he 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, and was the low amateur at both The Masters and U.S. Open.

Kuchar briefly enjoyed success in the early 2000s before suffering a slump where he struggled to maintain his playing status on the PGA Tour.

He turned pro in 2000 after earning his bachelor's degree in management.

One of Kuchar's teammates at Georgia Tech was future PGA Tour professional Bryce Molder.

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.

He rejuvenated himself and built a new, one-plane swing from 2008 onward leading to improved results.

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.

Kuchar was the PGA Tour's leading money winner in 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.

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.

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 won The Players Championship in 2012, the flagship event of the PGA Tour, his biggest tournament victory to date.

As a result, he moved to a career high number five in the world rankings and has spent over 40 weeks ranked inside its top-10.

In February 2013, Kuchar won his first World Golf Championship event, defeating Hunter Mahan in the final of the WGC-Accenture Match Play Championship.

At the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, Kuchar won the first Olympic bronze medal awarded for golf since the 1904 Summer Olympics.

Kuchar ended the 2022-23 season as the highest-earning PGA Tour player without a major championship win, with career earnings of over $58 million.

The closest he has come was his second-place finish in the 2017 Open Championship at Royal Birkdale Golf Club.

Kuchar was born in Winter Park, Florida, to Peter, a life insurance salesman and college tennis pro, and Meg Kuchar, with one sibling, Rebecca.