Matt Kuchar had a nice close to his Thursday round at the Tour Championship. But shooting 3 under on his final five holes was simple, compared to trying to come up with the exact hole numbers on which he excelled.
“A couple of birdies coming in on some of the tough holes, so I was pleased to be 1-under today,” he said.
“I ended up birdieing what is it?” he said, pausing as he snapped his fingers, trying to flip the course in his head, just as tournament folks have flipped it for this year’s event. “Uh, on 14 and 15. Those were good birdies today.”
It is one of the big chores this week for players (and media) to refer to holes by the proper number now that the nines have been reversed. For example, last year’s No. 5 is this year’s No. 14. Hence the confusion. Especially for someone who has been to seven straight Tour Championships at East Lake like Kuchar.
How long did he think it would be before he’d be able to rattle off his shots by hole around here without having to pause? “It will be a couple years I’m sure,” he said. “It’s pretty engrained, the old ones.”
Kuchar’s 1 under placed him three off the lead after the first round. And feeling not too displeased with himself. The highlight of his day was the 25-foot birdie putt he canned on the peninsula green at the par 3 15th.
The strangest part of his day? “Walking off the par 3 ninth (the former No. 18) and having more golf to play,” he said. To his credit, Kuchar didn’t reflexively head to the scorer’s tent. He instead chose to tidy up his round.
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