Kevin Kisner just won the WGC-Dell Technologies Match Play tournament on the PGA Tour at Austin Country Club in Austin, Texas, by defeating Matt Kuchar 3&2 in the 18-hole finals. It took five days and seven grueling matches for Kisner to get the victory. It was his third win on the PGA Tour. Last year in this tournament, he also had made it to the finals and lost to Bubba Watson.
Yesterday, Kuchar was involved in a controversy with his opponent Sergio Garcia. Every good golfer who plays lots of tournaments, thus not just pros, knows that in match play you can “give” your opponent a short putt of one or two feet in length. It is sort of a common courtesy recognized in match play. However, the rules of golf say the player can pick up his ball and therefore not have to make that short putt if the opponent audibly says “that’s good” or words to that effect.
In the Kuchar-Garcia match, Sergio had missed a putt of a few feet in length. His ball was lying a few inches from the hole. If he tapped that putt in the hole, Kuchar and Garcia would have tied the hole. But in Garcia’s frustration due to missing that putt, he carelessly backhanded the ball. This means he reached over with one hand gripping his putter grip and hit the ball with the backside of his putter in an apparent attempt to sink the ball in the hole. Instead, the ball bounced and missed the hole.
By doing that, Sergio acted as though Matt had “given” him that short putt. As the two were walking to the next tee, Matt mentioned to Sergio that he, Matt, had not said anything audibly about giving him the putt. Sergio was surprised. Matt then mentioned the rules of golf. Sergio then suggested that Matt concede a hole to even the matter. That is a pretty crazy suggestion that I have never heard of. I think Matt called for a rules official. It was decided that Sergio lost the hole. Kuchar then went on to win the match.
Sergio Garcia has come under heavy criticism lately due to his display of temper in golf tournaments. This episode with Kuchar didn’t help that matter for the emotional Spaniard.
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