In the United States, the clocks rolled back early Sunday morning, returning to standard time for the late fall and winter. You’ll be forgiven, though, if you felt like it was the calendar that turned back after looking at the leaderboard entering the final round of the World Wide Technology Championship.
Tied at 19 under at the El Cardonal course at Diamante Resort in Los Cabos were Matt Kuchar (age 45) and Camillo Villegas (age 41). The first of Kuchar’s nine PGA Tour wins came in 2002 and the last 2019. Similarly, Villagas was a first-time winner in 2008 and claimed the last of his four tour titles in 2014.
The fact that the two share the lead is a bit confusing as well. Kuchar was seven shots ahead of Villegas, and six up on the field with just four holes remaining in Saturday’s third round before finishing with a quadruple-bogey 8 on the 15th hole and a bogey 4 on 16th hole. Kuchar still shot a five-under 67 (he made nine birdies), but instead of a runaway, he’ll have a fight on his hands on Sunday.
“I’m pretty good at letting that stuff roll off my back, and I’m going to do my best to let that one roll off my back and play some good golf tomorrow,” Kuchar said.
Kuchar already has his full card for 2024, but is hoping to move up into the Nos. 51-60 category in the FedEx Cup points list (he’s 66th) in order to lock in starts in two of the early “signature” events on the PGA Tour schedule next year.
Villegas, meanwhile, is trying to gain back full status on tour, having played under the past champions category since 2018.
Mind you, it’s hardly just a two-player showdown on tap for Sunday. South Africa’s Erik von Rooyen is one shot back at 18 under, seeking his first PGA Tour title. MacKenzie Hughes, Justin Suh and Will Gordon are two off the lead with a total of nine golfers within four shots of Kuchar and Villegas.
While money isn’t necessarily on the minds of the tour veterans, there’s a nice payday that awaits. The winner earns $1.476 million for his first-place prize money payout.
The overall purse in Mexico is $8.2 million. Here’s the prize money payout for each golfer who made the cut. Come back shortly after the end of the tournament and we’ll update this with individual player names and paydays.
This article was originally published on golfdigest.com
