Peter Kuchar, the father of nine-time PGA Tour winner Matt Kuchar, died last Tuesday while vacationing in the Caribbean. He was 73.
The elder Kuchar may be best remembered in golf circles for his exuberance while caddying for Matt in his amateur days. Peter was on the bag for his son’s victory in the 1997 U.S. Amateur at Cog Hill Golf & Country Club outside Chicago and later looped for his son at the 1998 Masters and U.S. Open, the latter at the Olympic Club in San Francisco. Buoyed by his father’s cheers, which rubbed some pros and observers the wrong way, Kuchar was the low amateur in both championships, finishing T21 at Augusta and T14 at Olympic.
Peter, who was once a nationally ranked tennis player in doubles, had teamed with Matt in the PNC Championship parent-child tournament and in December had caddied for his grandson, Cameron, in the event. Matt withdrew from the WM Phoenix Open after receiving word of his father’s death.
“He is the person that introduced me to the game of golf, a tie that will always remain between us,” Kuchar said in a statement to Golf Channel. “Those memories, and so many more, will be with me and our family forever. He will be missed more than words can express.” READ MORE
The 2025 PGA National Club Championship will be conducted at both PGA West and Indian Wells Golf Resort in Southern California. The championship features amateur club champions from facilities with a PGA of America golf professional. Winners of any 2025 club championship nationwide that are submitted by their PGA professional will be eligible to receive an invitation to compete.
The National Club Championship comprises six divisions, each competing in a three-day, 54-hole stroke-play competition. The women’s divisions will compete Dec. 6-8, with the men’s divisions competing Dec. 13-15. READ MORE
Boyne Golf in northern Michigan is adding a new par-3 short course, Doon Brae, and a Himalayan-style putting course, the Back Yaird, both designed by architect Ray Hearn and scheduled to open this summer. The new short course will be Boyne Golf’s 11th course across three resorts. READ MORE
The USGA named Rodney Lingle the recipient of its 2025 Green Section Award, which honors distinguished service to golf through an individual’s work with turfgrass. Lingle served as golf course superintendent at Memphis (Tennessee) Country Club for 37 years, during which time he invented products, advanced the science and art of quality putting surfaces and influenced the entire golf course maintenance industry with his curious mind and innovative tactics. Lingle will receive the award at the USGA annual meeting on March 1 in Pinehurst, North Carolina. READ MORE
Tap-Ins
Charles River Country Club in Newton Centre, Massachusetts, will host the 2031 U.S. Senior Women’s Amateur, the USGA announced. READ MORE
The PGA professional team of Vince Drahman (Fortville, Indiana) and Timothy Wiseman (Louisville, Kentucky) birdied the last three holes to win the PGA Four-Ball Stableford Team Championship at PGA Golf Club in Port St. Lucie, Florida last Tuesday. READ MORE
The National Golf Course Owners Association released its 2025 Annual Business Pulse Report, which concludes that overall economic uncertainty has eclipsed labor issues as facility owners’ top concern and that more impetuous consumers in part are sustaining golf’s participation growth amidst a still tenuous economy. READ MORE
The GCSAA Foundation, the philanthropic arm of the Golf Course Superintendents Association of America, has received another $50,000 grant from the Toro Company Foundation for continued support of the Rounds 4 Research program in 2025. Rounds 4 Research is designed to address a critical shortage in turfgrass research funding by auctioning donated rounds of golf online. READ MORE
Compiled by Mike Cullity