Is Matt Kuchar playing in Masters 2023? Status and qualifications explored

2016 Olympic bronze medalist Matt Kuchar will be banging his head after a tied third-place finish at the 2023 Valero Texas Open. The 2023 Masters would be his second year in a row that he missed out on being at the Augusta Masters after a 12-long year uninterrupted invitation.

Unfortunately for Kuchar, the eligibility criteria seems to be far from being achieved. After his disappointing 2023 Valero Texas Open, the doors for the 2023 Augusta Masters are closed.

The major drawback at this point in his career is that he is neither ranked in the Top 50 in OWGR (he is currently ranked 66th) nor has he finished in the top four in any major tournament on the PGA Tour.

Kuchar at the 2023 Valero Texas Open

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Selection criteria for the 2023 Augusta Masters

The officials of the 87th Masters Tournament announced 19 eligibility criteria for getting an invite to the competition.

1. Previous Masters winners
2. US Open winner
3. The Open Championship winner
4. PGA Championship winner
5. The Players Championship winner
6. The top two finishers in the US Amateur
7. Winner British Amateur
8. Asia Pacific Amateur winner
9. Latin America Amateur winner
10. US Mid-Amateur winner
11. Olympic Golf Medalist
12. Top-12 Masters finishers
13. Top 4 US Open finishers
14. Top 4 Open Championship finishers
15. Top 4 PGA Championship finishers
16. PGA Tour event winners
17. PGA Tour qualifying players
18. Top 50 in World Rankings on January 1
19. Top 50 in World Rankings (one week prior to 2023 Masters)

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Who is Matt Kuchar?

Born on June 21, 1978, in Winter Park, Florida, Matt Kuchar is an American professional who is currently ranked No. 6 and plays on the PGA Tour. Kuchar is most notably known for winning the Olympic bronze medal in 2016, which also happens to be the first bronze in golf since the 1904 Olympics.

He started his professional career in 2000. However, his first win on the PGA Tour came in 2002, when he won the Honda Classic. But he soon hit rock bottom and lost his tour card in 2005.

Matt Kuchar played the next two years on the Nationwide Tour and finally regained his PGA tour card in 2007. After seven long years, he secured his second win on the tour by coming out victorious at the 2009 Turning Stone Resort Championship.

Kuchar at the 2012 Masters

Matt Kuchar had his best performance of any major tournament after finishing for a tied three at the 2012 Masters. In 2012, he also won The Players Championship by a margin of two strokes.

In 2013, he won the WGC-Accenture Match Play Championship, beating Hunter Mahan. Later in 2014, he managed to get his seventh win on the PGA tour with a victorious campaign at the RBC Heritage. In 2017 came his second-best performance at the Masters, when he tied for fourth in the rankings.

Matt Kuchar faced four winless years on the PGA Tour. But his win drought came to an end after he won the 2018 Mayakoba Golf Classic. The following year, he secured his ninth PGA Tour win at the Sony Open in Hawaii.

Interestingly, with total earnings of more than $50 million, Kuchar finished the 2018-19 season as the highest-paid PGA Tour player without a major tournament victory.