Golfer Matt Kuchar plays his final hole at the Wyndham Championship - a day late

Matt Kuchar during the final round of the Wyndham Championship at Sedgefield Country Club. Photo / Getty Images

Tiger Woods once said that “golf is a lonely sport”. Matt Kuchar knows the feeling after a bizarre ending to the Wyndham Championship.

Kuchar was the only player who opted not to finish Sunday’s final round at Sedgefield Country Club in Greensboro, North Carolina, due to darkness.

The PGA Tour veteran, who had led after the second round, returned to the course on Monday at 8am local time to play his 72nd hole, prompting an adverse reaction on social media.

He parred the 508-yard, par-4 18th to finish in a 10-way tie for 12th place at 11 under, seven strokes behind winner Aaron Rai of England.

Kuchar’s final tee shot on Sunday night had sailed to the left, leaving him 212 yards to the flag. Wanting more time to assess his options but running out of daylight, he made the unusual decision to finish on Monday.

After receiving line-of-sight relief due to the scoreboard near the green, Kuchar dropped in the adjacent fairway and came up short of the green. His third shot struck the flagstick, leaving him a tap-in par.

Asked if he was aware of the unfavourable reaction to his decision to return on Monday, Kuchar said: “Thankfully I avoid that stuff. I did get a call from my agent, said ‘hey, you’re causing quite a stir’, so that was the little I heard. I’m grateful to not be a part of the social media thing.”

“It stinks,” Kuchar said after finally finishing his tournament.

“Nobody wants to be that guy that’s showing up today, one person, one hole. Not even one hole, half a hole to putt. So apologies to the tournament, to everybody that had to come out. I know it stinks, I know the ramifications, I know it stinks. Certainly I apologise to force everybody to come out here.”

The joint-12th finish came with a US$204,000 ($338,790) cheque. Kuchar, 46, also moved up 10 spots to No.103 in the FedEx Cup playoffs, a big boost to his chances of finishing the season in the Top 125 and maintaining his tour card for 2025.

Meanwhile, Olympic champion and world No.1 Scottie Scheffler has pocketed US$12 million for finishing top of the Comcast Business Tour Top 10 list that highlights season-long performance.

Scheffler won six tournaments during the PGA Tour’s 2024 season, including four Signature Events and a second career major championship at the Masters.

“It’s been an incredible year for me both on and off the course, so to finish up the regular season by earning the top spot in the Comcast Business Tour Top 10 is an honour,” Scheffler said.