Matt Kuchar was dialed in during the first round of the Masters on Thursday.
Each of the six birdie putts he made were from 10 feet or less, helping him to a 4-under 68. He trails leaders Rory McIlroy and Alvaro Quiros by three strokes.
"I felt solid all day," he said. "I didn't feel like I was doing a whole lot of grinding. It felt I had like a lot of good opportunities."
He had bogeys at No. 9 and No. 16. On the par-3 16th, he said he was between clubs and went with the longer iron. He just didn't get through the shot, resulting in it landing in the second cut to the right of the hole and leaving what he described as "a chip that was impossible." But he didn't let No. 16 beat him twice, parring out the last two holes.
The good round is a carry over from the results he has enjoyed for the past year. Last season, he was the PGA Tour's top money winner and took home the Vardon Trophy for having the lowest scoring average. This season, he has six top-10s in eight starts and has pocketed almost $1.8 million ... and this is the first major. Yeah, he's dialed in.
Now, he just needs to win a major. His best finish at the Masters came in 1998 when he was a sophomore at Georgia Tech. Perhaps the only thing more popular than the course's azaleas that year was the 19-year-old Kuchar's big, wide smile and "aw, shucks" approach to his even-par, 21st-place result, which was the best among the amateurs.
He declined to turn pro, instead choosing to return to college. He turned pro two years later and captured the 2002 Honda Classic for his first win on the PGA Tour.
Then his game started to struggle. He lost his PGA Tour card and dropped to the Nationwide Tour in 2006, where he decided to change his swing. He finished 10th and regained his PGA Tour card. He has steadily improved since, winning The Barclays and carding his best finishes as a pro last year in the Masters (t-25th), U.S. Open (t-6th), British Open (t-27th) and PGA Championship (t-10th) on his way to $4.9 million in winnings.
"I've been consistent. That's the way my golf game's gone," he said. "I feel like I don't have to go to the range to find it. I feel like I know where it is. It's a great feeling."
The birdie putts confirm his feelings: He hit from 5 feet on No. 2, 9 feet on No. 4, 10 feet on No. 7, 6 feet on No. 8 and 10 feet on No. 14, and he two-putted from 30 feet on No. 15.
"It seemed like all my birdie putts came from uphill," he said. The tour's fourth-best putter, he needed only 29 putts to finish the round.
After the round, standing outside the scoring tent, the smile and politeness returned as he gave high-fives to the caddies passing from the ninth green to the 10th tee, as well as compliments to Fred Couples on his green hat. From there, Kuchar was going to take the rest of Thursday off after what he described as a full day of preparation Wednesday. He will tee off at 1:26 p.m. Friday, hoping for that dialed-in feeling.
"I'm really pleased with where I finished," he said.
