Matt Kuchar facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Matt Kuchar
Kuchar at the 2017 Valero Texas Open
Personal information
Full name	Matthew Gregory Kuchar
Nickname	Kuch
Born	(1978-06-21) June 21, 1978 (age 46) Winter Park, Florida, U.S.
Height	6 ft 4 in (1.93 m)
Weight	195 lb (88 kg; 13.9 st)
Residence	St. Simons, Georgia, U.S.
Spouse	Sybi Parker ​ (m. 2003)​
Children	2
Career
College	Georgia Tech
Turned professional	2000
Current tour(s)	PGA Tour
Professional wins	18
Number of wins by tour
PGA Tour	9
European Tour	1
Japan Golf Tour	1
Asian Tour	1
PGA Tour of Australasia	1
Web.com Tour	1
Other	6
Best results in Major Championships
The Masters Tournament	T3: 2012
U.S. Open	T6: 2010
The Open Championship	2nd: 2017
PGA Championship	T7: 2015
Achievements and awards
Haskins Award	1998
PGA Tour money list winner	2010
Byron Nelson Award	2010
Vardon Trophy	2010

Matthew Gregory Kuchar (born June 21, 1978) is an American professional golfer. He is known as 'Kuch' and plays on the PGA Tour. He has won nine tournaments on this tour.

Matt had early success but then struggled to stay on the PGA Tour. He worked hard to improve his golf swing from 2008. This helped him play much better. In 2010, he earned the most money on the PGA Tour.

In 2012, Kuchar won The Players Championship. This was his biggest win at the time. After this win, he reached his highest ranking of number five in the world rankings. He stayed in the top 10 for over 40 weeks. In 2013, Kuchar won his first World Golf Championship event. He beat Hunter Mahan in the final match.

At the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, Kuchar won a bronze medal for golf. This was the first Olympic golf medal since 1904. By the end of 2023, Kuchar had earned over $58 million. He is the highest-earning PGA Tour player without winning a major championship. His best major finish was second place at the 2017 Open Championship.

Early Life and School

Matt Kuchar was born on June 21, 1978, in Winter Park, Florida. His father, Peter, was a life insurance salesman and a college tennis player. His mother is Meg Kuchar. Matt has one sibling, Rebecca. He graduated from Seminole High School in Sanford in 1996.

College Golf Career

Kuchar went to Georgia Tech in Atlanta. He was a top player on the Yellow Jackets' golf team. He was named an All-American twice. In 1996, he almost won the U.S. Amateur championship, losing to Tiger Woods. But in 1997, he won the title. In 1998, he received the Haskins Award as the best college golfer in the country. One of his teammates at Georgia Tech was Bryce Molder, who also became a professional golfer. Matt earned a bachelor's degree in management.

In 1998, he also did well in major championships. He was the best amateur player at both The Masters and the U.S. Open.

Becoming a Professional Golfer

Kuchar became a professional golfer in November 2000. Before that, he worked briefly for a financial company. He missed the sign-up deadline for the 2000 qualifying school. But in 2001, he got special invitations to some PGA Tour tournaments. He earned enough money to play full-time in the 2002 season.

First PGA Tour Wins

Kuchar's first win on the PGA Tour was at the Honda Classic in 2002. In 2005, he had a tough year and lost his tour card. He then played on the Nationwide Tour in 2006. Kuchar won the Henrico County Open on that tour. This helped him earn his PGA Tour card back for 2007. He kept his card for the next two seasons.

Seven years after his first win, Kuchar won again in 2009. He won the Turning Stone Resort Championship in a playoff against Vaughn Taylor.

Leading the Tour in 2010

In 2010, Kuchar joined the Ryder Cup team. He was the eighth player to qualify for the U.S. team. At that time, he had many top-10 finishes but no wins that year. His winning streak ended two weeks later at The Barclays. Kuchar won in a playoff against Martin Laird. In 2010, Kuchar won the Vardon Trophy and Byron Nelson Award for having the lowest scoring average. He also won the Arnold Palmer Award for earning the most money on the PGA Tour.

Playing Well in 2011

Kuchar started 2011 with three top-10 finishes in a row. He finished T6 at the Hyundai Tournament of Champions. The next week, he finished T5 at the Sony Open in Hawaii. Then he got a T7 finish at the Bob Hope Classic.

In February, Kuchar reached the semi-finals of the 2011 WGC-Accenture Match Play Championship. He lost to Luke Donald but won the third-place match against Bubba Watson. Kuchar also finished second at the Memorial Tournament in June 2011. This moved him to his highest world ranking of number six. He also finished second at The Barclays. Kuchar and Gary Woodland teamed up to win the 2011 Omega Mission Hills World Cup in November.

Major Success in 2012

Kuchar had his best performance in a major championship at The Masters. He finished tied for third place. He was tied for the lead on the final day but made a mistake on the 16th hole. He finished two strokes behind the playoff.

In May, Kuchar won the biggest tournament of his career. He won The Players Championship at TPC Sawgrass. He shot a final round of 70 to win by two strokes. This win made him the world number five golfer.

More Wins in 2013

In February 2013, Kuchar won the 2013 WGC-Accenture Match Play Championship. He beat Hunter Mahan in the final. Kuchar was ahead for most of the match. This was his first World Golf Championship title. He moved back into the world's top 10 after this win. His second win in 2013 was at the Memorial Tournament in June.

Later that year, Kuchar played in Australia. He finished second at the Australian Masters and fourth in the 2013 World Cup of Golf.

Winning the RBC Heritage in 2014

In March 2014, Kuchar was close to winning the Valero Texas Open, finishing T-4. The next week, he lost a playoff at the Shell Houston Open. He was also in contention at the 2014 Masters Tournament, finishing T-5.

A week later, Kuchar won his seventh PGA Tour event. He won the RBC Heritage by one stroke. He shot a great final round, including a chip-in birdie on the last hole to win.

2015 and 2016 Seasons

Kuchar at the 2015 PGA Championship

In January 2015, Kuchar led the Sony Open in Hawaii after two rounds. He finished tied for third. The next week, he tied for second at the Humana Challenge. He also finished fifth at the RBC Heritage. His best major finish was tied for seventh at the 2015 PGA Championship. Kuchar also won the Fiji International in 2015. He had seven top-10 finishes but no PGA Tour wins that year.

In 2016, Kuchar had nine top-10 finishes. He then won a bronze medal at the 2016 Summer Olympics.

2017 and 2018 Seasons

In 2017, Kuchar played in 26 PGA Tour events. He made the cut in 22 of them and had nine top-10 finishes. He finished tied for fourth at The Masters. At the 2017 Open Championship, Kuchar finished second. He was leading with five holes to play but Jordan Spieth played very well to win. Kuchar finished the year 14th in the FedEx Cup standings. He also played for the United States in the President's Cup, helping his team win.

In 2018, Kuchar did not win any tournaments. He played in 24 events, had four top-10 finishes, and made 20 cuts. He earned over $1.7 million that year. Jim Furyk, the U.S. Ryder Cup captain, chose Kuchar as a non-playing vice-captain for the 2018 Ryder Cup. The U.S. team lost to Europe.

2019 and 2020 Seasons

On November 11, 2018, Kuchar won the Mayakoba Golf Classic in Mexico. This was part of the 2018–19 PGA Tour season. There was a discussion about how much he paid his caddie for this win. Kuchar later apologized and paid his caddie more. He also donated money to local charities.

On January 13, 2019, Kuchar won the Sony Open in Hawaii. This was his second win in three tournaments. On March 31, 2019, Kuchar reached the final of the 2019 WGC-Dell Technologies Match Play. He lost to Kevin Kisner. In December 2019, Kuchar played for the U.S. team at the 2019 Presidents Cup in Australia. The U.S. team won. Kuchar helped secure the win by making a key putt on the 17th hole.

On January 19, 2020, Kuchar won the Singapore Open on the Japan Golf Tour. This tournament was also part of the Asian Tour.

Personal Life

Matt Kuchar is married to Sybi Parker. She was a tennis player at Georgia Tech, where they met. They live on St. Simons Island in Georgia. They have two sons named Cameron Cole and Carson Wright. Kuchar is a Christian.

Amateur Wins

• 1997 Terra Cotta Invitational, U.S. Amateur

Professional Wins (18)

PGA Tour Wins (9)

No.	Date	Tournament	Winning score	To par	Margin of victory	Runner(s)-up
1	Mar 10, 2002	The Honda Classic	68-69-66-66=269	−19	2 strokes	Brad Faxon, Joey Sindelar
2	Oct 5, 2009	Turning Stone Resort Championship	67-68-67-69=271	−17	Playoff	Vaughn Taylor
3	Aug 29, 2010	The Barclays	68-69-69-66=272	−12	Playoff	Martin Laird
4	May 13, 2012	The Players Championship	68-68-69-70=275	−13	2 strokes	Ben Curtis, Rickie Fowler, Zach Johnson, Martin Laird
5	Feb 24, 2013	WGC-Accenture Match Play Championship	2 and 1			Hunter Mahan
6	Jun 2, 2013	Memorial Tournament	68-70-70-68=276	−12	2 strokes	Kevin Chappell
7	Apr 20, 2014	RBC Heritage	66-73-70-64=273	−11	1 stroke	Luke Donald
8	Nov 11, 2018	Mayakoba Golf Classic	64-64-65-69=262	−22	1 stroke	Danny Lee
9	Jan 13, 2019	Sony Open in Hawaii	63-63-66-66=258	−22	4 strokes	Andrew Putnam

PGA Tour playoff record (2–1)

No.	Year	Tournament	Opponent	Result
1	2009	Turning Stone Resort Championship	Vaughn Taylor	Won with par on sixth extra hole
2	2010	The Barclays	Martin Laird	Won with birdie on first extra hole
3	2014	Shell Houston Open	Matt Jones	Lost to birdie on first extra hole

Japan Golf Tour Wins (1)

No.	Date	Tournament	Winning score	To par	Margin of victory	Runner-up
1	Jan 19, 2020	SMBC Singapore Open1	66-68-62-70=266	−18	3 strokes	Justin Rose

¹Co-sanctioned by the Asian Tour

PGA Tour of Australasia Wins (1)

No.	Date	Tournament	Winning score	To par	Margin of victory	Runner-up
1	Oct 18, 2015	Fiji International1	74-72-69-69=284	−4	4 strokes	Aron Price

¹Co-sanctioned by the OneAsia Tour

Nationwide Tour Wins (1)

No.	Date	Tournament	Winning score	To par	Margin of victory	Runner-up
1	May 21, 2006	Henrico County Open	71-67-69-72=279	−9	Playoff	Paul Claxton

Nationwide Tour playoff record (1–0)

No.	Year	Tournament	Opponent	Result
1	2006	Henrico County Open	Paul Claxton	Won with birdie on third extra hole

Other Wins (6)

No.	Date	Tournament	Winning score	To par	Margin of victory	Runners-up
1	Jun 21, 2011	CVS Caremark Charity Classic (with Zach Johnson)	58-60=118	−24	2 strokes	Davis Love III and Morgan Pressel
2	Nov 27, 2011	Omega Mission Hills World Cup (with Gary Woodland)	64-70-63-67=264	−24	2 strokes	England − Ian Poulter and Justin Rose,  Germany − Alex Čejka and Martin Kaymer
3	Dec 15, 2013	Franklin Templeton Shootout (with Harris English)	64-60-58=182	−34	7 strokes	Retief Goosen and Freddie Jacobson
4	Oct 25, 2015	Bridgestone America's Golf Cup (with Justin Hueber)	67-60-63-60=250	−34	4 strokes	Rafael Campos and Edward Figueroa
5	Dec 10, 2016	Franklin Templeton Shootout (2) (with Harris English)	57-66-65=188	−28	1 stroke	Jerry Kelly and Steve Stricker
6	Dec 13, 2020	QBE Shootout (3) (with Harris English)	58-61-60=179	−37	9 strokes	Rory Sabbatini and Kevin Tway

Results in Major Championships

Results not in chronological order in 2020.

     Top 10      Did not play 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)

Year	Championship	54 holes	Winning score	Margin	Runners-up
2012	The Players Championship	1 shot deficit	−13 (68-68-69-70=275)	2 strokes	Ben Curtis, Rickie Fowler, Zach Johnson, Martin Laird

Results Timeline

     Win      Top 10      Did not play 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)

Year	Championship	54 holes	Winning score	Margin	Runner-up
2013	WGC-Accenture Match Play Championship	n/a	2 and 1		Hunter Mahan

Results Timeline

Results not in chronological order before 2015.

¹Cancelled due to COVID-19 pandemic
     Win      Top 10      Did not play 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 Teams

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

Professional Teams

• 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

Images for kids

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  Kuchar at the 2017 Valero Texas Open

• 

  Kuchar at the 2015 PGA Championship

See also

In Spanish: Matt Kuchar para niños

• 2006 Nationwide Tour graduates