Last Chance for Kuchar: An Analysis of His Final Match Play vs. Tiger’s Record

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Matt Kuchar has a chance to break one of Tiger Woods’ records and his only opportunity to do it is at the Dell Technologies Match Play taking place in Austin, Texas. He’s lucky to even be chosen as part of the 64 players from the Austin Country Club competing there.

Matt Kuchar must win three matches to set a record for the tournament that started in 1999. If he wins those three matches, he will be guaranteed a spot in the Final Four, which is the very last round of this tournament. He has already been successful in this competition four times, winning it once and losing two semifinal rounds and one final round. So far he has won 34 out of his 45 matches – but Tiger Woods is still ahead of him with 36 wins!

Kuchar said he was really happy to be at the World Golf Championships which he had wanted to attend for a long time. He explained that he had asked around and worked hard so it could happen, and now he is excited that it has. This event started in 1999 and is different from other golf championships.

In 2019, the WGC (World Golf Championships) moved to Memphis, Tennessee. Two years later it was changed into a FedEx Cup playoff event.

The WGC used to stay in the U.S. and Europe but then it went to Doral and replaced a regular PGA Tour event, before heading to Mexico City since there was no sponsor for the Donald Trump-owned course. Then due to the Covid-19 pandemic, it came to a stop.

Since the pandemic started, the HSBC Champions in Shanghai hasn’t been possible to play and won’t happen anytime soon. Because of this, PGA Tour Commissioner Jay Monahan decided that there should be lots of other events to make up for it. Furthermore, fans won’t get to enjoy the Dell Match Play tournament after this year which is also a big disappointment. Austin City will no longer be able to see golfers compete at the highest level too.

The golf tournament’s field ended with 64 people and had to go as low as No. 77 in the world ranking list to fill it, which showed just how divided the sport can be right now. Eleven players would not have been able to attend this Texas tournament if there wasn’t the challenge from a company called LIV Golf. Matt Kuchar joked about being grateful for LIV since he got to compete for multiplying the prize money to $20 million!

Mathew Kuchar could break Tiger Woods’ record if he wins all his three group matches, however it won’t be easy as he is facing opponents who have recently been successful in tournaments. Mathew Kuchar isn’t sure why he excels in this match play format, though there is a saying which emphasizes the importance of having good form when playing. He said: “Good form is the key to success”.

Scottie Scheffler is a professional golfer who has achieved great success. He won two tournaments this year, most recently at The Players Championship. Last year, he also made it to the championship match of the Match Play event and was only defeated by Billy Horschel. Then, Scheffler went on to win the Match Play against Kisner. Only one person – Tiger Woods – has been able to win consecutive years in the Match Play event.

“Match play is a little bit different,” Scheffler said. “The golfers that do their best to win their matches and the tournament will come out on top no matter how strange it seems. The format might be weird, but at least it’s something new.”

Scheffler won last year in 5th place, and only 3 of the top players have won the Match Play tournament in the past 23 years: Rory McIlroy (2015), Dustin Johnson (2017) and Tiger Woods (2003, 2004 & 2008). This year, Scheffler is going up against two first-time players – Tom Kim and Davis Riley.

Jon Rahm also competed in 2017 and he made it to Championship level; however, he’s been suffering from a bad stomach virus which prevented him from completing The Players Championship.

The Spaniard would love to see this competition come back to the PGA Tour. He thinks it’s different than other sports because it’s played one-on-one with another person, which means you can be more competitive and aggressive. Plus, there are a lot more chances for birdies!