Matt Kuchar surpasses LIV Golf's Cameron Smith in stats, demonstrates his remarkable putting prowess
Matt Kuchar is one of the best putters in world golf, with records that place him at the forefront of this important area of the game. This past weekend, Kuchar surpassed Cameron Smith with a record that solidifies him in the most selected group of putting leaders.
At the World Wide Technology Championship, which concluded last Sunday, November 5, Matt Kuchar compiled a 212-hole streak of avoiding the 3-putter. That equates to nearly 12 rounds of putting twice or less on every single hole.
Kuchar's 3-putter avoidance streak began in the first round of the FedEx St. Jude Championship last August. He needed three putts to complete the fourth hole. Since hole five, he has needed only two putts (and counting).
At that pace, Matt Kuchar finished the FedEx St. Jude Championship, where he finished T61, the Fortinet Championship (T7) and the World Wide Technology Championship (T2). He still has a chance to extend his record in upcoming PGA Tour events.
The previous record was held by Cameron Smith (205 holes). The Australian achieved it by playing three of the four Majors in 2023. The streak began on the 12th hole of the first round of the PGA Championship and extended to The Open Championship.
It is worth noting that the only tournaments played by Cameron Smith in the PGA Tour season were the four majors.
Nicolai Hojgaard (164), Jordan Smith (162) and Brandon Wu (160) also have impressive streaks of consecutive holes avoiding three putts. 21 players have streaks of more than 100 holes, but only Kuchar and Smith have gone over 200.
A look into Matt Kuchar and Cameron Smith's putting stats
Matt Kuchar's record of 212 consecutive holes without making a three-putt speaks well of his skills. The American is a solid putter on the PGA Tour but remains average among the best.
In the 2022-2023 season, Kuchar is ranked 39th in 3-putt avoidance with more than 97%. He also ranks 60th in Stroke Gained: Putting (0.203) and 62nd in Putting Average (1.746).
In contrast, Cameron Smith just finished first in LIV Golf's Putting Average with 1.51. In his final full season on the PGA Tour, his stats were no less impressive.
In the 2021-2022 season, Cameron Smith finished first in putting average with 1.679, first in 3-putt avoidance with over 98%, third in putts per round with 28.08 and eighth in Stroke Gained: putting with 0.563.
Smith was unbeatable from 3 feet this season. The Australian made every one of his 509 putts from that distance. The other side of the coin was putts from 20 to 25 feet. At that distance, Smith faced 69 attempts and made only seven (141st on the circuit).