Kuchar rebounds from difficult loss at The Open

OAKVILLE, Ont. – Matt Kuchar was the victim of Jordan Spieth doing Jordan Spieth-type things Sunday at The Open Championship, losing to the 23-year-old by three shots after bogeying the 72nd hole of the championship. But you wouldn’t know it to see him early this week at the RBC Canadian Open. Kuchar, ever affable, has been smiling that classic Kuchar smile, signing every autograph thrust upon him, and acknowledging the early-week cheers of ‘Kuuuuuch.’  And, of course, he’s been putting in some prep work for this year’s Canadian Open, a tournament he’s been feasting on the last few years, notching four straight top-10 finishes. However, he admitted Wednesday this week has a new set of challenges. “It is one of the great things about the game of golf… it’s pretty easy to leave the past the past when Thursday gets here. It’s a whole new week and no one cares what you did last week. It’s a fresh start,â€� he said. There was a buzz the first few days of the RBC Canadian Open week at Glen Abbey about the performance of Spieth, not so much the crumbling of Kuchar. “Matt Kuchar didn’t lose the tournament, Jordan won it,â€� said Jack Nicklaus, who was on site Tuesday as part of the Canadian Golf Hall of Fame induction ceremony for this year. Nicklaus said he and Kuchar saw each other earlier in the week and they chatted about his result. Certainly Nicklaus knows what it’s like to fall just short at majors (despite his 18 victories, he also was runner-up or tied for second 19 times), and he said he and Kuchar chatted about his result. “He just ran into a buzzsaw the last few holes. That’s what it amounted to,â€� said Nicklaus. Kuchar holds no hard feelings to Spieth for how things shook out Sunday, and he accepted he just got beat by one of the best players in the world. “I did all I could last week and I had one guy out play me,â€� said Kuchar. “To win a major championship… it’s really exciting. To be so close and not win the event is a little bittersweet but I’m definitely going to take as many positives as possible. Our goal when we start playing as a little kid is to etch our names into those trophies, but playing against the best in the world, you realize it’s a challenging task.â€� And if you ask any other TOUR pro about what happened Sunday, they’d said that Spieth just has something not a lot of TOUR pros have. “Jordan has something special, man,â€� said Graham DeLaet. “Everybody knows it but nobody knows what it is, and he’s got it. He’s got that ‘it’ factor that special athletes in every sport, generationally, have.â€� Ian Poulter, who is playing his first RBC Canadian Open, said he saw Kuchar Tuesday and congratulated him on a great finish. But, he said second place at the Open Championship is a bit of a bittersweet feeling. “Remarkable from Jordan. Obviously you feel a bit sorry for Matt,â€� said Poulter. “Matt would have thought at that time, had he finished 2-under for the last five, perhaps he could have been holding the (Claret) Jug, but as it turned out, Jordan did his thing.â€� It’s a new week though, and Kuchar has refocused himself on the task at hand, especially considering Glen Abbey is playing – after record rainfall in the Greater Toronto Area in 2017 – much different than in year’s past. He’s looking for his first win on TOUR since 2014, but is feeling good returning to a place he’s had success before. “I’ve enjoyed coming to Glen Abbey, I enjoy the course and I feel like I can manage my way around it pretty well,â€� he said. “It’s great to carry any momentum you can, but when you peg the tee into the ground Thursday, it doesn’t matter what you did last week. Everyone starts at even par and you need to make the most out of this week that you can.â€� 

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