Ben Martin never led his opening day match against Matt Kuchar until the 17th hole. And he went up on Kuchar in the best way possible, by draining a 243-yard tee shot at Harding Park's penultimate hole. That's not some little bunny par-3 -- 243 yards!
Ben Martin had no idea he sunk this incredible ace that won his WGC match
This is one way to win your first ever WGC Match Play contest as a heavy underdog.
Kuchar was the prohibitive favorite. He was the No. 1 seed in the pool, has more than eight times the career earnings than Martin, and seven PGA Tour wins, including this Match Play event. Martin was 2-down at one point, and could never quite get past the all-square hump against Kuchar. A hole-in-one, however, will do that and the ace was the late game difference in the match. Both failed to make putts on the 18th, Kuchar’s coming from inside seven feet that would have pushed it to a 19th hole.
And in that sudden 15-minute stretch, the guy who didn’t lead all afternoon had his first WGC win. Not a bad way for Martin to make his WGC Match Play debut.
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