Matt Kuchar and Sergio Garcia say they’re all good. In an video clip posted as a video to Instagram Monday, the two Tour veterans met up at Austin Country Club to discuss the fallout from their strange rules kerfuffle during Saturday’s match.
On the seventh hole of their quarterfinal match, Garcia angrily swiped away a short putt before Kuchar had conceded the putt. When Kuchar brought up to the rules official that the putt had not been given, Garcia was penalized with a loss of hole. Kuchar went on to win 2 up.
While neither party necessarily apologized in the clip, they made it clear that no ill will exists between the two.
“We have just been going over what’s gone on between our match and the aftermath and what’s gone on in the aftermath is just incorrect, wrong, shouldn’t happen,” Kuchar said, adding later: “I wanted everybody to know Sergio handled it, understood it was a loss of hole and said ‘I get it,’ and handled it extremely well.”
Garcia added that he had made a mistake and accepted the consequences. “But at the end of the day, I think that I made a mistake, he unfortunately didn’t know how to make up for what happened, but it’s all good, we’re all good…”
You can read the entire transcript of the statement below.
KUCHAR: “Hey everybody, Sergio Garcia, Matt Kuchar. We’re day after, Monday after the World Golf Championship-Match Play,”
GARCIA: “Beautiful day.”
KUCHAR: “We have just been going over what’s gone on between our match and the aftermath and what’s gone on in the aftermath is just incorrect, wrong, shouldn’t happen. I wanted to tell you that Sergio handled the thing extremely well. When he missed the putt, we came off 7 and he said I know it, I missed it, it’s your hole. I told him how bad I felt, didn’t feel right at all, never wanna win on a technicality. Tee off 8, I said, ‘Man, I really don’t like how this has played out.’ Sergio offered a suggestion but never said to give me a hole, he gave me an option or two of how to play it out…but I wanted everybody to know Sergio handled it, understood it was a loss of hole and said ‘I get it,’ and handled it extremely well.”
GARCIA: “Obviously I know I made a mistake on 7 and, y’know, didn’t give him time to say that’s good, even though obviously we all in our minds thought it was good because it was a short putt. But at the end of the day, I think that I made a mistake, he unfortunately didn’t know how to make up for what happened, but it’s all good, we’re all good, and…
KUCHAR: “No shade needs to be thrown in that direction at all. He came up straightaway, said ‘I know I messed that one up,’ and we continued our battle from there.”
GARCIA: “It was a great match after all, he played better than me and beat me, and it’s as simple as that.”
