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Not for the first time in 2019, Sergio Garcia and Matt Kuchar have found themselves making headlines for all the wrong reasons. 

Squaring off against one another in this evening’s WGC-Dell Technologies Match Play quarter-final, the duo were on the par-3 seventh, with Kuchar one-up, when it all kicked off.

After Kuch could do no better than bogey, Garcia had a putt for par to win the hole and square the match.

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However, his effort missed by a couple of inches on the left side and, with Kuchar out of shot and having presumably left the scene, Garcia used the back of his putter to tap the ball in.

Just one problem: he missed. 

No big deal, right? Wrong. According to the PGA Tour, a rules official intervened to say that, because Kuchar did not have the chance to concede the putt before Sergio went to tap in, the stroke stood and, consequently, Garcia lost the hole. Two-down.

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In the same tweet, the tour explained that Kuchar had “told the official he wanted to give Garcia the putt, but that cannot be done retroactively.”

If only that was the end of the matter.

On the next hole, Garcia failed to convert another putt and swiped his putter through the air in frustration. 

He could later be heard – on the tenth, it seems – telling Kuchar that he should have conceded the eighth to make up for the drama at the seventh. “I would have given you the putt on the next hole,” Sergio is heard to say. 

Stay tuned – this one isn’t over yet!

Sergio/Kuchar contoversy – your thoughts?

Should Matt Kuchar have given Sergio’s putt on the next hole after the gimme that never was on the seventh? Or do you think the episode played out entirely as it should have? Leave your thoughts in our Comments section below.


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Michael McEwan is the Deputy Editor of bunkered and has been part of the team since 2004. In that time, he has interviewed almost every major figure within the sport, from Jack Nicklaus, to Rory McIlroy, to Donald Trump. The host of the multi award-winning bunkered Podcast and a member of Balfron Golfing Society, Michael is the author of three books and is the 2023 PPA Scotland 'Writer of the Year' and 'Columnist of the Year'. Dislikes white belts, yellow balls and iron headcovers. Likes being drawn out of the media ballot to play Augusta National.

Deputy Editor

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