Matt Kuchar hit an ace during the third round of last week’s WGC-HSBC Champions in Shanghai, but because of some fine print, the seven-time PGA Tour winner didn’t collect the keys to the brand new Cadillac car that was sitting on the tee behind him.
This was posted before anyone teed off for Round 3.
Matt Kuchar aced the 17th hole on Saturday. pic.twitter.com/haNqGcBL2j
— Matt Cochran (@PGATOURCochran) October 29, 2016
The hole needed to be 200-yards or longer to fulfill the insurance requirements, but due to poor conditions on the back tee, the hole was shortened to only 193 yards. According to the Associated Press’ Doug Ferguson, Kuchar and his caddie, John Wood, were aware of the distinction and even joked about it before Kuchar teed off.
John Wood, his caddie, nudged Kuchar and jokingly told him, “Don’t worry about a hole-in-one today. We don’t get the car.”
“And then he makes it,” Wood said.
The ace was still good for a “1” on the scorecard, but Kuchar headed back home without a new set of wheels. That was until Cadillac stepped in. GolfDigest.com had the details.
“I was teased by this beautiful car sitting there that’s not to be mine,” Kuchar said after the round.
But when Cadillac learned what happened, the company intervened.
“Certainly this is no longer the saddest hole-in-one of my life,” Kuchar said. “My 9-year-old son recently asked me if I’d ever made a hole-in-one to win a car and I’ll be happy to now tell him that I have.”
Kuchar picked a 2017 Cadillac Escalade.
Not a bad ending to an already good story.
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