The answers don’t quite add up. But in the minds of Matt Kuchar and Sergio Garcia, the incident has been settled.
The incident, of course, referring to the dust-up over the weekend at the WGC-Dell Technologies Match Play between Kuchar and Garcia. After missing a putt on the seventh hole in his quarterfinals tilt with Kuchar, Garcia quick-raked a one-inch putt that lipped out. Kuchar had failed to articulate the putt was good, meaning Garcia lost the hole. On the next tee box, Garcia suggested Kuchar could concede a hole to even things out, an ask that both players confirmed after the round. Cameras then caught a tense back and forth between Kuchar and Garcia at the 10th hole. Kuchar would win the match, 2 Up.
While the scene continues to be a matter of debate, on Monday the players released a joint video from Austin Golf Club that was posted on Garcia’s Twitter and Instagram accounts.
“What’s gone on with the aftermath is just incorrect, wrong and shouldn’t happen,” Kuchar said. “I want to tell you, Sergio handled the thing extremely well. When he missed the putt, we came off seven and he said, ‘You know what, I missed it. It’s your hole.’ I told him how bad I felt, didn’t feel right at all [and I] never want to win on a technicality.”
Somewhat surprisingly, Kuchar also said that Garcia didn’t ask for Kuchar to concede the hole, contradicting the comments made over the weekend.
As for Garcia, he repeated that the error was his fault, although also explained his side of the story.
“I know I made a mistake on 7 and, you know, didn’t give [Kuchar] time to say ‘that’s good,’ even though, obviously, we all know in our minds that it was good because it was a short putt,” Garcia said. “But at the end of the day, I made a mistake and he unfortunately didn’t know how to make up for what happened. But it’s all good. We’re all good.”
Kuchar finished by stating, “No shade needs to be thrown in that direction at all.” Added Garcia: “He played better than me and beat me, and it’s as simple as that.”
Neither player addressed the conversation that was had at the 10th hole, although Kuchar on Saturday said the two were merely “clearing the air.”
Kuchar, who lost in the Match Play finals to Kevin Kisner, is in this week’s Valero Texas Open field, while Garcia is taking the week off. Both will be at the Masters, starting next week.
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