Placing full trust in the flattest backswing the game has ever seen, Matt Kuchar dotted his way around Muirfield Village with accurate drives and precise iron shots en route to victory in Jack Nicklaus' prestigious Memorial Tournament.
Kuchar, who missed just one fairway in a closing final-round 68 and ranked top of the greens in regulation charts on 75%, has now won six times on the PGA Tour and bumps up five places to a career-high World No.4.
He also joins Tiger Woods as the only other multiple champion on the PGA Tour this season.
But while things are now ticking along nicely for the giant 6-foot-4 American, Kuchar knows his latest win could not have happened without the work of his swing coach Chris O’Connell.
The Dallas-based guru picked up Kuchar when he lost his playing privileges on the PGA Tour in 2006 and began working on a durable, yet unusual one-plane motion. Four years later, Kuchar had become a top-ten machine en route to topping the 2010 money list.
“Chris is always trying to get me to get the handle as low and as tight as I can to my body,” said Kuchar. “We work almost solely on my through swing. We never touch my backswing.”
From these series of snaps we can see just how much on the inside Kuchar takes the club back. His hands are positioned very much behind him as he showcases his patented flat backswing.
Kuchar then makes a full shoulder turn, while keeping the clubface closed at the top, before having to unflatten the swing by firing steeply down into the ball.
Let’s take a closer look…
