Kuchar, 19, Holds On to Win First Title

LEMONT, Ill. —  For Matt Kuchar, winning the U.S. Amateur on Sunday was a mental struggle.

Kuchar, 19, from Lake Mary, Fla., and a sophomore at Georgia Tech, was playing in the U.S. Amateur for the first time. He beat Joel Kribel of Pleasanton, Calif., 2 and 1 in the 36-hole match-play final, but not before seeing a 7-up lead trimmed to 2-up.

“I went from such extreme highs to lows out there,” Kuchar said. “The emotions were just rushing.

“Oh, God, I started thinking about it. I kept telling myself that pars would be real good, except I kept hoping that Joel would keep making pars and a couple of mistakes. But Joel played great.”

Kuchar was 2-down to Kribel, 20, early in the morning 18 on Cog Hill Golf and Country Club’s Dubsdread course. But he made three birdies in a row on the toughest stretch of holes on the course to take a 3-up lead after 14 holes, and held that advantage at the turn.

“It’s one of those things where I just got out of a little bit of rhythm,” said Kribel, a junior at Stanford. “I missed some short ones, lost some confidence, and it’s really tough to putt when you don’t have any confidence.”

The Atlantic Coast Conference freshman of the year last season, Kuchar built an insurmountable lead early in the afternoon 18, parring every hole on the front side and winning four of five in one stretch.

He was 7-up after 26 holes, then withstood Kribel’s late rally to capture the Havemeyer Trophy, a title that went to Tiger Woods the last three years.

“I kept counting down holes,” Kuchar said. “I was making pars, but Joel just played phenomenal. I couldn’t ask for a better finish.”

Kribel unraveled as the morning went along, shooting the equivalent of a four-over-par 76 on the 7,195-yard course, but was just one-over for 17 holes in the afternoon. It took him until the 27th hole to make a birdie.

“Seven down with 10 [holes] to go is about as far-reaching as you could go to make a comeback,” Kribel said. “I could sense I was making him nervous, but I dug myself too deep of a hole.”

“I was happy with the way I played the last 10 holes. At least I didn’t lose 8 and 7.”