Amongst the most surprising names golf fans will not see at Augusta National this week is 20-year PGA Tour veteran Matt Kuchar, who will miss the Masters Tournament for the first time since 2009. Kuchar has a storied past on his quest for a Green Jacket, including playing twice as an amateur in 1998-99 and only ever missing the cut one time.
Matt Kuchar’s Masters Success
Matt Kuchar failing to qualify for the 2022 Masters Tournament is even more shocking to most than fan favorite Rickie Fowler failing to qualify for the second consecutive season.
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Kuchar has never been a particularly dominant PGA Tour pro, but he has a career anyone could be envious of. With nine wins and over $50 million in career earnings (the most by any golfer to never win a major), the 43-year-old has carved himself out a nice little fanbase and has become one of the most consistent and familiar faces on the PGA Tour. He also put together a 10-year run in the Masters that could rival almost anyone in history.
From 2010 through 2020, Kuchar never missed a cut in the Masters. While this is impressive in itself, it does not highlight just how much success Kuchar really had at Augusta National. In that 10 year span, Kuchar finished outside the top-28 just twice. More impressive is his string of top-10 finishes, with four between 2012-17. Three of those four finishes were inside the top-5.
Matt Kuchar Misses Masters Cut in 2021 – Fails to Qualify in 2022
After all that success, how is it that Matt Kuchar does not have a spot in the 2022 Masters Tournament? Quite simply, he has not been playing good golf since missing the cut in 2021. He has fallen all the way to number 148 in the newest World Golf Rankings, which is actually up an incredible 98 spots from where he was last week thanks to a 16th place finish at the Valspar Championship in March, and a second-place finish at the Valero Texas Open just three days ago.
His detriment has been missed cuts. While he has seemed to round back into form in recent weeks, Kuchar followed up his 2021 Masters performance by missing the cut in 10 of his next 20 tournaments. You simply cannot miss the cut at a 50% clip and expect to be competing with the best in the world on golf’s grandest stage.
Kuchar’s presence at the Masters will certainly be missed around the clubhouse and on the course. Don’t expect this to become normal though. Smart money would say we will see Kuchar making his way up Magnolia Lane in 2023.
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