Kuchar contends for first Masters title but comes up short

Two days in a row, Matt Kuchar found himself leading or with a share of the lead in the Masters Tournament.

Both days, the par-3 16th proved to be his undoing.

The St. Simons Island, Ga., resident bogeyed the hole for the second-straight day to drop out of a brief tie for the lead with Louis Oosthuizen and Bubba Watson at 9-under par. On Saturday, Kuchar three-putted No. 16. On Sunday, he barely missed the green to the right, hit a chip that didn’t quite come down the shelf as much as he would have liked, then missed an 8-foot par attempt that caught a piece of the hole and lipped out.

Kuchar could take pride, however, that he contended in the Masters deep into the weekend, and a closing 69 put him in a tie for third at 8-under 280 with Lee Westwood, Phil Mickelson and Peter Hanson in his best major championship finish.

Kuchar finished two shots out of the Louis Oosthuizen-Bubba Watson playoff.

“It was a good run,” Kuchar said. “This is my first real experience with being in the hunt on the back nine of Augusta. It’s awesome. I don’t know that there’s much else like it. It was a lot of fun and great to have a chance.”

Kuchar began the day at 5-under and four shots behind Hanson. He played the first eight holes at 2-under but doubled the par-4 ninth after driving into the pine straw and three-putting from 7 feet, and was down by four shots again.

Kuchar made his move on the second nine, however, with back-to-back birdies at Nos. 12 and 13. He then got off a shot that his father, Peter, called “a career-definer” when he went for the green of the par-5 15th hole in two shots, with the ball clearing the water and coming to rest only two feet away. He made the eagle putt to tie for the lead.

Kuchar, who laid up at No. 15 the day before, used a 3-wood from 268 yards out in a daring shot worthy of Phil Mickelson.

“I had a perfect number (for my 3-wood),” Kuchar said. “It was going to be a full 3-wood, hold it up against the wind and it came off just as I would have wanted it to. I hit it, I knew it was good. I just had to hope a little bit and it turned out two feet. Just awesome.”

His bogey at No. 16 came next, however. Kuchar had birdie looks on the closing two holes, 30 feet at No. 17 and 18 feet at No. 18, and missed both.

“It was a tough shot for me,” he said of the tee shot at No. 16, which required a draw. “It’s not my natural shot. I hit a solid shot … it just leaked a little bit. It was not that far off.”

Kuchar used to have trouble in majors, missing the cut 12 times in his first 13 major starts as a professional. He made the cut in a major for the eighth time in his past nine starts this week, though.

His learning curve at Augusta has been pretty good from the start, since making two cuts in a row in 1998 and 1999 as an amateur. He missed his first cut as a pro in 2002, but has reached the weekend in his last three Masters starts. Kuchar’s previous best finish was as an amateur in 1998, tying for 21st.