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Win timely for Kuchar
Popular Tech graduate savors Masters return
Posted: Saturday April 06, 2002 8:10 PM
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Matt Kuchar's Honda Classic win got him into the Masters. Michael Holahan / The Augusta Chronicle |
By David Westin
The Augusta Chronicle
Matt Kuchar's first PGA Tour win, achieved last month in the Honda Classic, carried with it the spoils of victory.
A two-year exemption on the PGA Tour. A spot in the 2003 Mercedes Championship, which is for winners of 2002 events. A $630,000 first-place check.
Kuchar appreciated all that, but he couldn't forget what else used to come with a PGA Tour victory.
Until the 2000 Masters, PGA Tour winners received invitations to the next Masters.
"I said, 'Boy, wouldn't it be great if it was the same rules as two years ago,"' Kuchar said. "I thought those were neat rules. I thought this time of year in particular, what a great thing, for a guy to win a tournament and win a bid to the Masters."
Kuchar, 23, pondered that the night he won the Honda Classic, having no idea that the next day he'd find out he had earned a Masters invitation another way.
When Kuchar woke up March 11, he was told he'd leapfrogged 99 spots on the Official World Ranking, to 50th. As it happens, the top 50 players on the list, as of four weeks before the Masters, earn invitations. That four-week cutoff date fell on the week of the Honda Classic.
"That was thrilling," he said of hearing the news.
Now, the PGA Tour rookie returns to Augusta National Golf Club, the site of some of his most pleasant memories.
They started at the 1998 Masters when he stayed in the Crow's Nest, the dormitory-like room at the top of the Augusta National clubhouse that is reserved for amateurs.
Inspired by his surroundings, Kuchar, the 1997 U.S. Amateur champion, went out and tied for 21st place, the best finish by an amateur in the Masters in 20 years.
"What a great experience," Kuchar said of staying in the Crow's Nest. "It's a shame I won't be able to stay there again. There is so much history up there that you feel like a part of Augusta National and the tradition."
It was a thrill every morning, Kuchar said, when he'd climb down a ladder from the Crow's Nest to the main clubhouse.
"It made you feel like you were something special," Kuchar said.
Kuchar's high finish in 1998 earned him an invitation back to the 1999 Masters, where he made the cut, tying for 50th, despite fighting a flu bug all week.
"It's one of those magical places in the world," Kuchar said, comparing Augusta National to a New Hampshire resort he and his family visit each summer.
At that resort, which he won't name for fear of its discovery by the masses, Kuchar said he can go back in time and act any age he wants.
"I think the Masters is a similar thing and I'll always be that 19-year-old kid kind of just happy to be there, just kind of living the dream," Kuchar said. "Not really expecting anything, dreaming about winning."
Kuchar plans to take care of his health leading into the Masters. He doesn't want a repeat of what happened when he suffered through the flu in his last Masters appearance.
"It was a real shame that year to be sick," Kuchar said. "I think that's the one week a year where you'd like to have good health. You can be sick the rest of the year."
After the 1999 Masters, Kuchar was offered lucrative endorsement deals if he'd skip his senior year at Georgia Tech and turn pro. Going against the standard thinking of the time, he stayed in school.
Kuchar graduated in May of 2000 with a degree in management, then went into the business world, working at an investment firm. It lasted two months, until he played in the Texas Open on a sponsor's exemption. Kuchar missed the cut, but was hooked on pro golf.
"I wanted nothing more than to be out there the very next week to see how good I could be, to chase that dream," Kuchar said. "I needed to go full time, to try to be on the PGA Tour. I wanted to see if I could be around week-in and week-out with the best players in the world."
In 2000 and 2001, he played various pro tours, from lowly ones in Canada, Mexico and Australia to the higher levels of the Buy.com Tour and the PGA Tour. He played well enough in 11 PGA Tour events, making nearly $600,000, to earn a tour card for this season.
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