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Kuchar/Sergio - WGC Match Play Drama - Your Take?

Leftyuk said:
https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/golf/47772103

Kuch was a dick , as he made a point of telling the referee that he had not conceded the putt. Why did he do that if he was not looking to gain the hole. Once Kuch told the referee that he had not conceded the putt, there was only one way the ref could react.

We expect little from Garcia except petulant poor behaviour. But Kuch has always been different , so I am disappointed that he behaved so poorly. Nothing Garcia does surprises me, after the spitting in the cup.
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So you're saying Kuchar should have lied to the rules official?

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Sergio acted like a child. However, this is a much larger story than it needs to be.
 
Leftyuk said:
https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/golf/47772103

Kuch was a dick , as he made a point of telling the referee that he had not conceded the putt. Why did he do that if he was not looking to gain the hole. Once Kuch told the referee that he had not conceded the putt, there was only one way the ref could react.

We expect little from Garcia except petulant poor behaviour. But Kuch has always been different , so I am disappointed that he behaved so poorly. Nothing Garcia does surprises me, after the spitting in the cup.
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There's a lot of money riding on where you finish. Would you feel like jeopardizing it?
 
Leftyuk said:
https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/golf/47772103

Kuch was a dick , as he made a point of telling the referee that he had not conceded the putt. Why did he do that if he was not looking to gain the hole. Once Kuch told the referee that he had not conceded the putt, there was only one way the ref could react.

We expect little from Garcia except petulant poor behaviour. But Kuch has always been different , so I am disappointed that he behaved so poorly. Nothing Garcia does surprises me, after the spitting in the cup.
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I really couldn’t disagree more. Kuch told the truth. This is 100% on Garcia and his inability to control his emotions


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I'd be happy if I never had to watch Sergio golf again.
 
Nice of Kuch to stand up for Sergio and perform damage control, but man, that was awkward. Sergio was flat out wrong and didn't handle his emotions well. It happens and I hope he learns from it.
 
Leftyuk said:
https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/golf/47772103

Kuch was a dick , as he made a point of telling the referee that he had not conceded the putt. Why did he do that if he was not looking to gain the hole. Once Kuch told the referee that he had not conceded the putt, there was only one way the ref could react.

We expect little from Garcia except petulant poor behaviour. But Kuch has always been different , so I am disappointed that he behaved so poorly. Nothing Garcia does surprises me, after the spitting in the cup.
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Kuch was being honest. What else was he supposed to do? If he knew about the rules and bent the truth in order to support Garcia he'd be in breach of Rule 1.3
 
With the current mood of the rules officials out there, I don't blame Kuch at all for calling the rules official over and telling him the truth. Imagine if they found a way to penalize Kuchar if he just let this go and never called an official as if he had conceded the putt. It wouldn't have been the strangest ruling of the season.
 
I'm with Kuch. Although, I'm already seeing this being spun in the media as this is Kuch's fault. I guess that is the new narrative now.
 
Why did Kuch say anything. He went to the official, not the other way round. Kuch did not need to lie ,he just needed to walk to the next tee.
 
Leftyuk said:
Why did Kuch say anything. He went to the official, not the other way round. Kuch did not need to lie ,he just needed to walk to the next tee.
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Because once Sergio struck a ball that was not conceded by Kuchar, Kuchar himself assumes a level of responsibility to enforce the rules. Let's not act like the whole thing wasn't on TV.
 
Sergio was just trying to improve the pace of play... I don't know what all of the fuss is about?
 
Paladin said:
Because once Sergio struck a ball that was not conceded by Kuchar, Kuchar himself assumes a level of responsibility to enforce the rules. Let's not act like the whole thing wasn't on TV.
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I could only imagine the collusion stories if he'd just gone with it haha
 
Leftyuk said:
https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/golf/47772103

Kuch was a dick , as he made a point of telling the referee that he had not conceded the putt. Why did he do that if he was not looking to gain the hole. Once Kuch told the referee that he had not conceded the putt, there was only one way the ref could react.

We expect little from Garcia except petulant poor behaviour. But Kuch has always been different , so I am disappointed that he behaved so poorly. Nothing Garcia does surprises me, after the spitting in the cup.
Click to expand...

Wait so the guy telling the truth is a Dick? Sergio was 100% at fault if he had waited 10 seconds the putt would have been conceded.
 
Agree with most, not sure how anyone can blame Kuch for this. To me it's really a non-story that became a story. I wonder if it was two other players involved how much media attention it would have gotten?
 
Leftyuk said:
Why did Kuch say anything. He went to the official, not the other way round. Kuch did not need to lie ,he just needed to walk to the next tee.
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I can't see how pretending that it didn't happen is better than lying. Both wrong.
 
I wanted to see an old-fashioned throwdown on the next tee box.

Sergio fronts Kuchar, Kuch tries to be cool, Sergio presses the issue, Kuch's super-fit wife comes out of the gallery and gives Sergio a flying clothesline, then drop an elbow on him as he writhes on the ground.

She then walks back into the gallery without saying a word.

Muted clapping follows.
 
Sergio made a mistake and it cost him the hole.
Kuchar handled it perfectly, Segio....not so much.
 
Sergio is a big baby and I see no problem with the putt not being conceded and him loosing the hole.

However what I find funny is that almost everyone now says Kuchar has zero blame, and would actually have been cheating if he didn't say anything. Because in Solheim cup in 2015 there was a very similar situation where it was almost 100% agreement on this forum the other way. Only real difference was that it was an American and European having opposite roles, where the American did not bother to check if the putt was conceded or not before picking it up.

That time Lee picked up a short putt without bothering to look at the opponents at all. Sure they started walking to the next hole, but she did not know this. And the lie about "I thought someone said it was given" was a big lie that even her team mate said did not happen. But of course when a woman cries some crocodile tears everyone listens.

Petterson said at once to the rules official that they had not given the putt, same as Kuchar did. If Kuchar would have been cheating if he did not say this to the rules official then where is the difference? If he had just started walking it would have been same situation that everyone said should be the ethical way of handling the situation in 2015.
 
What about Kuchar vs Sergio in the next "MATCH"
 
Sergio is moron. Play by the rules or get penalized. He’s professional. He should know better. Kuchar did nothing wrong. He doesn’t owe anything to Sergio or any opponents any favors nor expect any.



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I think they are both pretty toxic at this point. All around handled poorly, whatever though.
 
Couple different angles going on here.

First, by the rules Sergio obviously had no case and lost the hole. He's the one who poked at the ball before having confirmation that it was conceded and he's the one who didn't hit it in the hole. No real debate here.

Second, regardless of anything else, Sergio is also pushing 40 years old and is well aware of his long running issues with public behavior so his performance afterwards was just another black mark for him. If he had any issue with Kuchar for any reason he should have bottled it up and focused on the match then if he needed to take something up with him he should have done so privately behind closed doors later on. There's just no way around this part of it either.

Lastly, and I'm just playing devil's advocate here because I obviously wasn't there on course with them all day and I don't know either of them personally...but there are about a million different scenarios in a match play situation that can occur which are black and white as far as the rules go but are very gray in terms of the unwritten rules of etiquette and sportsmanship. We've all played with people who love gotcha moments on the course...they'll give the same non-verbal cues when they're giving a putt all day and then all of the sudden do something different like start walking away without actually saying good or whatever and then A-HA! You just raked up that putt and I didn't raise my hand yet! Some people think that stuff is all part of the game, I personally think it's cheesy but whatever, make the putt. Again, I don't know what happened or if Kuchar did anything remotely like that and even if he did...see points number one and two. I can't help but wonder though if instead of Sergio it had been Tiger or Phil or Dustin or golden boy Spieth...what would Kuchar have done then? My guess is he would have walked to the next hole and we'd never have heard a word about it. But that's all part of knowing your opponent I guess...there are some guys, like Tiger and Phil, who you know if you pull that on them they would most likely quietly move on to the next hole and then flip gears, kick your ass the rest of the way in, and then never let you hear the end of it in the locker room until you retire. Then there are other guys like Sergio who just lose their water and melt down. Smart move by Kuchar I guess, but I don't think he deserves any praise for it either.
 
I’m a fan of Garcia (it’s getting tougher in all honesty) and I’m lukewarm on Kuchar.

However I really don’t see what Kuchar has possibly done wrong. Sergio knows the rules, along with the intricacies of Matchplay. He’s played enough of these events, played enough Ryder Cup matches. He knows that a putt isn’t good until it’s given, or you hole it.

100% Sergio’s fault.

As for the contrived ‘meeting’ on the course...........pathetic. Just a PR exercise for their sponsors.
 
Leftyuk said:
Why did Kuch say anything. He went to the official, not the other way round. Kuch did not need to lie ,he just needed to walk to the next tee.
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Because Kuchar hadn’t conceded. And the whole world was watching.....and knew there was no concession.
 
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