American golfer Matt Kuchar bizarrely refused to complete his final round of the Wyndham Championship until Monday despite being midway through playing the 18th and last hole.
The tournament was won by Englishman Aaron Rai, but Kuchar stole the limelight by deciding to stick around the North Carolina course for an extra day to finish his round.
With light fading due to an earlier suspension of play, Kuchar was chasing the light as they teed off on the 18th in the final group but while the American’s playing partners Max Greyserman and Chad Ramey finished the hole, Kuchar elected to stop and return on Monday morning despite the rest of the field finishing.
The bizarre move is legal under golf’s rules with the 46-year-old no longer in contention for the win or a FedEx play-off qualifying spot after playing 17 holes prior to walking off at one over par.
Kuchar decided to walk away while in a 10-way tie for 12th. Should Kuchar hole out for an eagle he will move up into a share of six which would pay him $276,500 (£216,747), an increase of $58,000 (£45,466) from the $134,000 (£105,042) he is currently in line to earn. A birdie would move him to tied seventh with a pay out of $223,833.
The Florida-based golfer needed a victory to continue his run as the only player to reach the FedEx Cup play-offs every year since their inception in 2007.
Reports in America claim the 46-year-old was frustrated that a marshall had not alerted him to not tee off on the 18th hole with the group ahead still in the fairway. “The tournament is over, but it’s not,” American commentator.
“I was trying to set an example for Max,” Kuchar told Golf Channel when asked about his decision. “We were so far past when we should’ve stopped playing. We saw what Max did on hole 16 (four-putting for a double bogey) – they should’ve blown the horn 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.”
Jim Nantz said. “It’s so strange. Actually we’ll be one player out here tomorrow morning, I suspect somewhere around 8 o’clock.”
