It's taken years, but Kuchar's game ready for world stage

text size

AKRON, Ohio -- Matt Kuchar had the best of intentions.

RELATED

Round 3 Wrap-up
The Live Report
Round 4 Tee Times
Round 3 Notebook
Tiger still struggling
Leaderboard

He and his wife and two children had arrived in Akron on Tuesday night. He got up the next morning and played with the toddlers, Cameron and Carson, then leisurely made his way out to Firestone Country Club for an afternoon practice round.

Talk about the best-laid plans. The skies became dark and threatening, and even though it never rained, the threat of lightning prompted tournament officials to clear the course for about 90 minutes. So Kuchar -- who is playing his first World Golf Championships-Bridgestone Invitational on Firestone South -- only got to play nine holes.

Even so, Kuchar has proved to be an extremely quick study. And Saturday's 66, his third straight round under par on a course he first saw on Wednesday, has left the enormously consistent 32-year-old with a chance to make his eighth top-10 finish of the season the third victory of his PGA TOUR career.

"Firestone is quickly becoming one of my favorites," Kuchar said with a grin. "It was easy to know where you were supposed to go in the practice round; even just walking the back nine, Iknew where to go. There was no tricks out there. I knew you just had to drive it accurately, and from there it was pretty self explanatory."

Kuchar will enter the final round at 8 under, trailing Ryan Palmer and Sean O'Hair by a single stroke. He was extremely steady on Saturday, repeatedly placing his drives in the short grass on this lush, tree-line layout and giving himself chances on the green.

"I drove it beautifully today," said Kuchar, who hit all but one fairway on Saturday. "... It was just a solid round. ... It was fairways and greens and I'd like to have another one of those tomorrow. "

The one time Kuchar found the rough, just barely, on the right side of the first fairway, he hit his approach to 9 feet and made birdie. That was the first of five Kuchar made in the third round against one "silly" three-putt bogey from 25 feet at the fifth hole.

Even though the Georgia Tech alum is making his debut at Firestone, his presence on the leaderboard is hardly a surprise. He may not have the wins to show for his season like Ernie Els, Justin Rose and Jim Furyk, but the stats certainly are on Kuchar's side.

He's first in the PGA TOUR's All-Around ranking, which combines a player's standing in 10 statistical categories. He's top-10 in three of those, including fifth in scoring, ninth in birdie average and 10th in greens in regulation. The only stat in which Kuchar lags behind his peers is driving distance where he averages 285.7 yards and stands 105th.

Kuchar, who ranks eighth in the FedExCup race, attributes his consistency to the work he's done with his instructor, Chris O'Connell. The two began their collaboration in 2006 after he lost his card and went back to the Nationwide Tour.

"Every year has gotten better, and I think as a professional, you look at your year before and you hope to get better, you hope to improve," Kuchar said. "And for me, there was no one glaring weakness. I just knew everything needed to kind of dial in. Everything needed to get a little bit better."

The improvement just over the last year when he was 35th All-Around has been dramatic, even though Kuchar has yet to win like he did a year ago at the Turning Stone Resort Championship. The tournament ironically has moved from a fall date to opposite the Bridgestone Invitational so he could not defend his title this week.

The seven top-10s Kuchar has had in 2010 are a testament to the work he's done with O'Connell, who is based in Plano, Texas. His best finish is a tie for second at the Bob Hope Classic but he's also had a pair of thirds and top-10s in four of his last six starts.

Kuchar has heard the saying that a golfer makes 80 percent of his money in 20 percent of the tournaments many times. That's not the kind of pro the Georgia Tech grad, who has earned a career-high $2.5 million already this year, wanted to be, though.

"I think as a golfer you look at guys like Tiger Woods or Steve Stricker and you kind of want to be those guys, the guys that you see up on the leaderboard every week," Kuchar said.

"... I never wanted to be the guy that played well three times a year and just kind of was hanging around the cut line the rest of the time. I wanted to be the guy that had a chance just about every week. It's been a great year this year and hope to continue. I hope to continue to improve for next year."

Kuchar, who first burst into the game's consciousness as a Yellow Jacket sophomore when he tied for 21st at the Masters and 14th at the U.S. Open in 1998, has crept into the Ryder Cup picture over the last five weeks, too. He's currently ranked seventh with the top eight qualifying but he's trying desperately not to think about it.

"I kind of fall under the John Wooden mantra of you take care of the details and let the big things take care of themselves," Kuchar said. "I've never been a guy that says, that's it, this is my goal to make the Ryder Cup team. I never felt like that was going to help me make the Ryder Cup team. I felt like I take care of the details and good things will happen.

"That's the way I look at golf, too. Tomorrow I'm not going to go out there and say, well, I really need to have a good round or I need to shoot 4 under. I never thought that could help. Golf -- you say it over and over again -- take it one shot at a time, take care of the simple things and add up the scores and see what place you finish."