AUGUSTA -- In a lot of ways Matt Kuchar is still viewed as that effervescent kid with the toothy grin who burst on the world scene as an amateur at the 1998 Masters.
In reality, Kuchar is all grown up, in golf as well as life.
The Georgia Tech grad, one of four in the field this week, turns 32 in June and lives in Ponte Vedra, Fla., with his wife and two children.
After years of paying dues on the Nationwide Tour and playing PGA events on sponsor's exemptions, he's now a regular tour pro who has played in 86 tournaments the last four seasons.
Entering the 74th Masters this week, his fourth trip to Augusta National's hallowed grounds, Kuchar is playing his best golf. He's sixth on the PGA Tour's money list, sixth in the FedEx Cup points standings and ranked 34th in the world. He leads the tour in average birdies, 4.41 per round.
"I feel real good about the way I've prepared," said Kuchar, who already has earned $1,574,523 in nine events this year. "Things feel like they're coming into form for this week. You do your best to try to be peaking this week but it's a hard deal."
Fellow Tech alum Stewart Cink, who played a practice round with Kuchar on Tuesday, has been impressed with his good friend's transformation from journeyman pro to tour regular.
"I think it was good for him to struggle a little bit," said Cink, the defending British Open champion. "He went through a period of time four or five years ago where he wasn't playing the way he wanted to and it caused him to dig in a little bit more and make some necessary changes. And, now he's finishing high every week it seems like."
Of course, Kuchar is drawing attention this week because he and K.J. Choi have been grouped together in the first round with Tiger Woods, not because of his elevated play.
It's not the first time Kuchar has shared these fairways with the world's greatest golfer. In a stroke of Masters symetry, Kuchar will be paired with Woods for the first time since his breakout 1998 Masters performance. Kuchar was then a 19-year-old sophomore at Georgia Tech and the reigning U.S. Amateur champion; Woods the Masters defending champion and a budding golf superstar. Kuchar more than held his own, shooting an even-par 72 to Wood's 1-under.
In fact, as Woods pointed out after that round, the young Kuchar could have led the tournament if not for a double-bogey on 15 and bogey on 16.
"I was playing some darn good golf," Kuchar said.
He finished 21st at even-par 288 and claimed the Sterling Silver Cup as low amateur.
He hasn't done as well since, finishing 50th in 1999 and missing the cut in 2002.
Kuchar won't predict how he'll do this week.
"You could be playing great like Anthony Kim is right now but this week you never know what's in store for you," Kuchar said. "It's a funny game. I feel like I've done a good job trying to get ready, trying to get prepared for this week, but we won't know [until] the week's out."
As for playing with Woods, and the last time that happened was in Boston's 2007 Deutsche Bank Championship, Kuchar said his preparation doesn't fluctuate.
"I don't do anything differently," he said. "It's the Masters Tournament. I've got to prepare the best I can to play good golf for this week. I don't see it being a huge difference. More people, but there's going to be a lot of people around this course regardless. If I was playing with K.J. Choi and Steve Stricker there were going to be a lot of people out on the golf course. So I don't see it being a whole lot different."
No matter what happens, Kuchar said he feels at home at Augusta National. He joins Cink, David Duval and Larry Mize in representing Georgia Tech.
"It's kind of a homecoming for us Tech people; there's a lot of Georgia Tech well-wishers out here," Kuchar said. "We're certainly excited to represent the school as best as we can."
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