What did Matt Kuchar do? Golfer faces backlash for Wyndham Championship controversy

Matt Kuchar began Sunday's play at the Wyndham Championship in pole position, needing a win to secure a spot in the FedEx Cup Playoffs. The fourth day of the tournament was to involve the end of the second round and the completion of the third and fourth rounds as well.

However, Kuchar's third and fourth rounds were poor and he didn't achieve qualification for the Playoffs.

In a unique situation, Kuchar's final round didn't end until Monday morning. The tournament was not officially over because Kuchar elected not to finish his 18th hole. While his counterparts were on the course finishing up, he opted not to because of darkness.

Matt Kuchar returned Monday morning, making par and cementing a T12 finish. Every other golfer finished on Sunday despite the poor light, but he decided not to after watching his lead disappear on Sunday.

This prompted reactions from many fans who were watching on:

"Any idea how many people had to return this morning after Kuchar's 'I'm taking my ball and I'm going home' hissy fit?" one said.

"This is the most Matt Kuchar thing of all time," another said.

"Kuchar the biggest piece of s**t walking the planet currently for doing this," a third fan said.

"Where is the 10 shot penalty for the 18 hour round?" yet another said.

Several more blasted the golfer:

"He just replaced all his achievements with this one bonehead move. This one will go down in history, not just in golf lore, but in bizarre behavior lore. The kind of stuff you see in Ripley's museum."

Golf journalist Daniel Rapoport said:

"If nothing else Matt Kuchar seems to have just no clue how the Internet will react to certain decisions."

Most of the responses to his early morning finish indicated that fans were unhappy with Kuchar's decision to take the night and return to par his 18th hole the next morning.

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How Matt Kuchar's decision affected the golf world

Matt Kuchar was essentially the only player in the Wyndham Championship field on Sunday that needed a certain placement to make it into the playoffs.

The golfer needed a win, but by the time his controversial 18th hole came around, he was well back of the lead and could not win.

Whether or not that influenced Kuchar's choice to leave and come back to finish the next morning remains to be seen, but the delay didn't impact anyone who needed to know their placement for the playoffs. Everyone was already in.

It did, however, impact the payouts. The final tally for everyone can't be calculated until all golfers have finished play since ties impact the money each person makes. Therefore, Kuchar's long delay forced the PGA Tour to wait to be able to make the payments to everyone. Had he moved up or down the leaderboard, things would have changed for many.