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 Oh, that 50,000-megawatt smile Kuchar enjoying time of his life -- for 2nd time in 2 months
Posted: Friday June 19, 1998 09:53 PM
By Jim Litke, Associated Press SAN FRANCISCO (AP) -- Mothers began applauding and daughters bit their lips, stifling goofy grins of their own. A moment later, the owner of the goofiest grin of all ambled onto the 18th green. As the roar grew, Matt Kuchar shrugged as though surprised to learn the ovation was for him, then flashed one more of those I-can't-believe-my-good-fortune grins. He can believe it now. Kuchar was supposed to be a one-hit wonder at Augusta, the "Cinderella boy" from "Caddyshack" come to life, a contender heading into the last round, a college sophomore who smiled the way Tom Cruise did at 19. He was a fresh face, all right, but one almost nobody expected to resurface at a major championship for at least a few years. And yet here he was Friday, lighting up The Olympic Club with that 50,000-megawatt smile, a few strokes off the lead of the U.S. Open. "The kid," said the father, shouldering his son's golf bag, "sure has a flair for the dramatic." This is what Peter Kuchar means: At No. 14, Kuchar is 2 under par in a tournament where almost nobody is posting red numbers. He hits the fairway with his drive, then spends a good portion of the next few minutes debating with himself, though it is not exactly the soliloquy scene from Hamlet. "It's between the 7-iron and the 6. I hit the full 7," Matt said. Kuchar blushes at the memory. "Wrong club." The result is double bogey. At this point, some of his elders would have lost it. He could have, too. "It looked like the wheels were coming off when I missed the green at 15," Kuchar recalled. So he merely chipped in from 30 feet. The expression on his face recounting the feat reminds everyone how much fun it was to be 19 and have nerves made of titanium. "All of a sudden," Kuchar finished his retelling, "the momentum came back." At the Masters, he finished at even par, tied for 21st place. Because he is an amateur, Kuchar turned down $40,000 in prize money, shook a few of the green jackets' hands, went back to school down the road at Georgia Tech and finished fifth in the ACC tournament the next week. He swore he never gave the question of turning pro a second thought. Here, if he gets through the weekend and has to walk away from another big piece of change, he concedes he will think about it. "I don't know if money can persuade me to leave or not. I am not sure what will happen. ... I guess we'll see how well I handle the final two days," Kuchar said. "I have to see how well I stack up against these guys." At Augusta, Kuchar's story was uncomplicated, almost too good to be true. He was the reigning U.S. Amateur champ, equal parts of Arnold Palmer's charisma and Fred Couples' sex appeal. His dad toted his bag, something his grandfather once dreamed of doing. The only thing missing was the soundtrack. Now things are a little more complicated. "When will he turn pro?" Peter Kuchar repeated. "That's the million-dollar question." Or, if the kid plays as well from this point forward as he has to get here, a question of several million dollars. "I think he ought to stay in school," said Justin Leonard, one of his playing partners Friday. "Once you leave, you never go back. Nobody should kid themselves." Leonard may have another, more sinister reason for wishing the kid would go back to school. During Thursday's opening round, as well as at the Masters in April, he was paired with Kuchar and his father-caddie and the distractions nearly drove him nuts. On Friday, not long after Matt holed out his chip at No. 15 and his father threw both arms into the air and insisted on a long and celebratory high-five, Leonard four-putted the same green. He has nothing against either Kuchar, but "these guys" -- as Kuchar still refers to them -- are out on tour to earn a living. There is precious little time for sentimentality. That much is clear when someone asks Leonard whether the rejoicing at the 15th disrupted his game. "Next question," he said curtly, then turned back a moment later. "It does me no good to answer that question." The third member of the group, defending champion Ernie Els, is more diplomatic. "His father gets quite excited. Matt is very, very calm and his dad is the other side of the coin. "Matt," he said, "probably takes after his mother's side of the family."
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