The Loop
Watch a PGA Tour rookie take down table tennis legend Matt Kuchar
Matt Kuchar's reputation precedes him. He's the King of Swing. The Sultan of Swat. The most feared man in the team room.
Of course, we're talking about Kuchar's ping-pong skills.
Sorry, make that table tennis. That's what serious players like Kuchar call it. And yet one PGA Tour rookie, Zecheng "Marty" Dou, didn't look intimidated in the least when the two matched up on the eve of the WGC-HSBC Champions in Shanghai.
Perhaps, Dou, who became the first Chinese-born golfer to earn his PGA Tour card in July, just isn't fazed by anything. Or perhaps, at 20, he's too young to know he was supposed to be quaking in the presence of such ping-pong greatness. Either way, he did this:
A few observations:
1. Why did they only play to 11 instead of 21? Playing to 11 is too much of a crapshoot. (I Googled it and apparently this was a big rules change in 2001. Still, I don't like it.)
2. Zecheng Dou has a nasty topspin forehand.
3. Matt Kuchar loses with grace. Obviously.
If Kuchar was bothered by the defeat, he certainly didn't show it on the course during his opening 67 at the WGC-HSBC Champions (Dou shot 71). Even so, his 2017-18 season is off to an odd start, to say the least.
Kuchar had to withdraw from the Bridgestone Open in Japan last week to avoid a typhoon, he had to pull out of the Turkish Airlines Open next week due to a visa issue, and now, he's been knocked off his ping-pong pedestal by someone who's not even legally old enough to enjoy a celebratory beer in the USA. Rough.
Better start working on that backhand return, Matt. The Ryder Cup is only 11 months away.