Memorial Win Gives Kuchar a Major Boost for Merion

Though Kuchar has yet to claim one of golf's four blue riband events, he has triumphed at every other level in the game and likes his chances heading into Thursday's opening round at Merion Golf Club. "There are a few times a year you really hope to be playing excellent golf, this is one of them," the American world number four told reporters at a sun-drenched Merion on Wednesday. "It's nice to be coming off the win.

"That's a fantastic test of golf at Memorial and it tests everything there, driver through wedge. It was great to perform well, have that extra confidence coming in this week. "If you're not clicking on all cylinders, a U.S. Open golf course is going to really show that and beat you up. I'm looking forward to playing this week and hoping the good performance continues."

Kuchar clinched the Jack Nicklaus-hosted Memorial Tournament in Dublin, Ohio by two shots to become the PGA Tour's second multiple winner this season after Tiger Woods. Perhaps more significantly, it continued his steady upward path of success as he bids to land his first major title. "I feel like in my golfing career I've made steps in the right direction," said the 34-year-old Kuchar, a six-times champion on the PGA Tour.

"I've won regular Tour events, won big Tour events, won the Players Championship, won a Barclays FedExCup event. I won a World Golf Championship. I feel like I've kind of stepped up in the ranks of winning against the best players in the world. Kuchar won his first World Golf Championships title, widely regarded as just one rung down from the majors, at the Accenture Match Play Championship in February. That followed on from his triumph at last year's Players Championship, the unofficial "fifth major".

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Ever humble, he does not embrace suggestions that he can now be bracketed among the best players in the modern game still waiting for a maiden grand slam title. "There's a lot of us in that boat, and I don't know that I'm quite in that talk yet," Kuchar smiled. "I know that a lot of people have been yelling out that they have got me in their pools and they're picking me this week, but we hear a lot of that talk every week.

"However, I feel like I'm on good form. I feel like I'm playing some good golf. I'm looking to continue to play good golf. I'm looking forward to competing and trying to put my name on this trophy." Kuchar, whose tie for eighth at the Masters in April also gave him a major jolt of confidence, played a practice round at Merion on Tuesday afternoon and was surprised to see how well the course had drained after more than six inches of rain here since Friday.

"I was amazed how dry the course seemed to be," he said. "Really still got some run in the fairways. Greens were receptive, but still had nice speed on them for the amount of slope they have got. "The rough is thick and nasty. If you're playing from the rough, you have no chance of scoring here." Kuchar is scheduled to tee off in Thursday's opening round in the company of English world number five Justin Rose and sixth-ranked American Brandt Snedeker.

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Kuchar Could Smile His Way to Open Title

Matt Kuchar never expected to be the next Tiger Woods, mostly because even then he knew it wasn't possible. Winning the U.S. Amateur a year after Woods recorded his third straight amateur title got him into the 1998 Open, but it would be a long time before the two were in the same conversation again.

"I was never thinking because I won the amateur the year after Tiger that I was the next Tiger Woods," Kuchar said. "That was never something that I thought about or thought I was going to follow the same path as Tiger. I knew I had a different path that was for me."

That path was rocky at times, but Kuchar never lost faith in his talent. He rebuilt his swing, found his way back on the PGA Tour after a brief hiccup, and started contending in tournaments.

Now he's in another conversation this week at Merion Golf Club. He's joined a select few as perhaps the best player who hasn't won a major championship.

"I don't know that I'm quite in that talk yet," Kuchar said Wednesday. "I know that a lot of people have been yelling out that they have got me in their pools and they're picking me this week. But we hear a lot of that talk every week."

Perhaps Kuchar should start listening more. Coming off a win two weeks ago at Memorial — where his young son got a high five from host Jack Nicklaus when Kuchar won — he's high on a lot of lists as a possible winner at this Open.

That he's not shying away from the talk says something about how confident he is about his game.

"I feel like I'm playing some good golf," Kuchar said. "I'm looking to continue to play good golf. Certainly a major championship, a U.S. Open, is one I'm geared up for. I'm looking forward to competing and trying to put my name on this trophy."

Kuchar was still an amateur when he played his first U.S. Open at Olympic Club in San Francisco in 1998. His father — who drew some criticism for his exuberance — was carrying his bag and on Sunday it was both Father's Day and the golfer's 20th birthday

Fans sang Happy Birthday to him and yelled "Happy Father's Day" to his father as they walked to tees, but the real highlight was a 14th place finish. It paid no money but showed Kuchar that he could compete with players a level above him.

Three years later he was a regular on the PGA Tour, making $500,000 in his rookie year. The next year he won the Honda Classic, giving him a two-year exemption on tour and marking him as one of the rising stars of the game.

Then it all started to fall apart. Kuchar began missing cuts with regularity, finally ending up in golf's minor leagues — what was then the Nationwide Tour — while he retooled his game and tried to find a swing that worked as well as the swings of players who were on the big circuit.

"I think that out here there was a definite learning curve on the PGA Tour of just being comfortable standing on the range, hitting balls next to Ernie Els or Tiger Woods or Phil Mickelson and not just being in awe," 'Kuchar said. "And trying to say, 'Well, I can't hit it like that, what do I need to do to hit it like that?' "

He was a tennis player who took up golf when his mother upgraded their membership at a country club as a Christmas present. Playing better was never an issue since he quickly became one of the top — and finally THE top — amateur in the country.

Coming back on tour in 2007 he played well enough to keep his card, though barely. The next year he won $1.5 million, and the next year cracked the top 25.

Kuchar has already won twice this year, at the Match Play Championship and the Memorial, his sixth career win. He's moved to No. 4 in the world golf rankings, and hasn't missed a cut all year while averaging 69.84 strokes a round.

He's a ball striker who rarely makes mistakes, and a putter who excels on fast greens, a combination that has oddsmakers and fans lining the fairways at Merion thinking he has a good shot to win his first major this week.

"I think (the) great thing about the game of golf is there's no clear-cut favorites," Kuchar said.

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