Matt Kuchar has made a very lucrative living in golf. He ranks 13th on the PGA Tour’s all-time money list with more than $43 million, having posted a remarkable 97 top-10 finishes in 420 starts.

The 1997 U.S. Amateur champion and 2016 Olympic bronze medalist has won seven times on the PGA Tour, including the 2012 Players Championship, a FedExCup playoff event and the 2013 WGC Match Play. Last year, he finished second at the British Open after Jordan Spieth’s memorable final-stretch rally. He’s currently ranked No. 27 in the world.

Beyond all that, Kuchar is one of the most fan-friendly players on tour. Followers yell “Kooch” just about everywhere he goes at PGA Tour events, and you seldom see him without a smile.

On Saturday, the 40-year-old held a kids clinic in Denver at Green Valley Ranch Golf Club, one conducted by The First Tee of Green Valley Ranch and presented by CoBank. It’s the latest in a series of such events hosted by The First Tee of GVR in recent years. Previously doing to honors were Hale Irwin, Ryan Palmer and Paula Creamer in 2016, and David Duval, Lexi Thompson and Mark O’Meara in 2017.

Kuchar’s appearance will be one of two in Colorado in 2018 hosted by The First Tee of GVR and sponsored by CoBank. Annika Sorenstam — who won the first of her 72 LPGA Tour titles at the 50th U.S. Women’s Open, held at The Broadmoor in 1995 — will return to the Colorado Springs resort to participate in the “CoBank PEAK Performers” event on Aug. 23.

Coloradogolf.org chatted with Kuchar on Saturday. Here’s the Q&A: (Photos courtesy of Brandon Roll)

Q: You just turned 40 years old a week or so ago. When you reach one of those milestone dates, do you take stock of your career or where you’re at?

Kuchar: I didn’t do any sort of that reflecting. I guess it becomes a reality … I can’t believe I’m 40. I think I’m more like a 26-year-old. That realization that ‘Holy cow I’m 40 now’ … I don’t know how many people feel this way — that you’d like to stop birthdays altogether, stop keeping count. Who would care? Whatever it is you feel like you are, kind of pretend that is your age. But we do a good job of keeping count.

I guess I still have the mindset of a young kid and I still think, ‘Goll, 40 is old.’ Yet here I am in this 40-year-old body. I don’t feel 40 but I’ve put in the years. That’s about the only stock I’ve taken of my life thus far.

Q: So you’re not one to look back on what you’ve done or set goals for what you’re hoping to do the next 10 years or so?

Kuchar: I’m really not. I probably should do a better job of reflecting, particularly on the good. But I’m a little bit scared to get complacent. Golf is such a hard thing, and setting goals — either long term or short term — seems hard to me. It’s such an evolving game. You plan on hitting the fairway. If you don’t hit the fairway, you’ve got to adapt. OK, now I’ve missed the fairway. How do I now figure out the best way to get the ball in the hole in the least amount of shots? It’s a constant reorganizing and resetting of goals and ideas. So I just kind of let it flow a little more and adapt with each instance. I live my life a bit that way.

Q: You came very close to winning the British Open last year. Is getting that first win in a major one of the big things you’d like to check off your list?

Kuchar: For sure. In the past, my career has followed these steppingstones. You’ve got to go to elementary school before you go to middle school. You graduate middle school, you go to high school. You graduate high school to get to college. You’ve got to take these steps in life. I always felt there is a bit of the same progression in the game of golf. You try to keep your (PGA Tour) card the first couple of years, then try to sneak out a win here or there, then you try to move into the top 50 in the world … keep improving each year, graduating up as a better golfer and winning bigger and better events. I feel like I’ve done that. And a major championship is kind of the next step for me. My next tournament is the Scottish Open. I’d love to win the Scottish Open. If I was playing next week at The Greenbrier, I’d love to check that one off. But a major championship is highest on my list.

Q: Have you spent much time in Colorado?

Kuchar: I have. It’s an amazing, wonderful state. I’ve been to The Broadmoor a couple of times — haven’t played the golf course, but been to the resort just as a guest. It’s an amazing resort and we had a wonderful time. The owner of The Broadmoor (Phil Anschutz) actually owns the resort in my hometown, the Sea Island Resort (in Georgia). He must feel pretty proud to be the guy who owns two of the best resorts in the country.

Q: You’re doing a kids clinic today at Green Valley Ranch. Do you do many sorts of things like this?

Kuchar: The PGA Tour does such a good job of giving back to the local communities. The First Tee has been a huge recipient. We tend to do some on-site stuff (during PGA Tour weeks). It’s a little more rare for me to be off site doing an event like this one. From what I’ve seen of The First Tee, to see the idea grow and become a reality and to see so many kids go through The First Tee and learn the game of golf and all the great lessons that come from it (is gratifying). Golf teaches so many amazing skills, lessons — life lessons that are applicable. You see sportsmanship, playing by the rules, you see all sorts of great things come from golf. To see The First Tee grow like it has has really been rewarding.

Q: When you were a kid, did you have any events like this that kind of sparked your interest in the game or took you to another level?

Kuchar: There are always mentors, people at the club, who have an effect on a kid. I had multiple at the club I grew up at. I’d get in the shootouts on Saturday morning and play with some of the adults. You quickly learn the proper etiquette. You saw the people that behaved really well and those that didn’t. It was pretty easy to figure out who you wanted to be like. I was lucky in that the club I grew up at had a couple of touring pros that played out of there. Chris DiMarco was one. He was a guy that took me under his wing. Chris had a game about every day that he was home, and he’d let me get into his game and let me play for $5 or something. I quickly learned more of the intricacies of really high-quality golf and the way a guy like that has to conduct himself as opposed to the regular member. Chris was kind of held to a higher standard because everybody was watching him.

The game of golf, you’re around so many different people. You learn a lot through doing — through doing and through observing. That’s kind of the way I was brought into the game.

Q: More than most, you seem to have a special relationship with the fans — with them yelling “Kooch” and you’ve always got a big smile on your face. Do you take that relationship pretty seriously — that connection with the fans?

Kuchar: I’ve been so fortunate — with the fans, the media, you name it. It’s been that way because I honestly love doing what I do and I think it shows. People enjoy and appreciate seeing somebody that loves doing what they do. I remember being that kid going out and watching the Tour events. When somebody looked over and just acknowledged you, that was the coolest thing. On the other side of the ropes, you want to return that favor. As I said, I still feel like that young kid and have that excitement still for the game and for what I do. I think there’s that mutual respect on each side of the ropes. I know what those fans are like. I was one — and I still am one. I’m inside (the ropes) now, but love the fact that they come watch, and that they hollar out my name when I walk up to a fairway or green. It’s been really a fun ride for me.
 

When some of the kids from The First Tee of Green Valley Ranch were asking David Duval about the core values the organization teaches, the 2001 British Open champion couldn’t help but chuckle when “perseverance” was mentioned.

If any elite-level golfer knows about perseverance, it’s Duval, a Colorado resident since late 2003. After all, he was a stellar player in his 20s, winning 13 times on the PGA Tour from 1997-2001, ascending to the No. 1 spot in the world rankings and shooting a final-round 59 to claim victory in the Bob Hope Chrysler Classic in 1999.

But then a long stretch of injuries and poor play led to a dramatic downfall in his game, to the point that he’s recorded just four top-10 finishes — with no wins – in the 221 PGA Tour events he’s entered since the beginning of 2003. But if nothing else, he’s demonstrated remarkable perseverance in the face of adversity over that stretch.

“I’ve struggled in this game as much as anyone,” Duval said while conducting a First Tee GVR Kids Clinic — attended by about 200 people — that was sponsored by CoBank on Tuesday evening (see photos). As he noted, he’s a guy who’s shot 62 at Pebble Beach, as well as a person who’s posted an 85 at the same course.

But you have to hand it to Duval: In recent years, he’s found a vocation within a vocation, and he’s become pretty darn good at it. Since 2015, he’s been an analyst for the Golf Channel, and the more that he’s worked at it, the better he’s gotten. And as a former world No. 1 — and the winner of a major championship — he has some additional credibility that some other prominent golf analysts lack.

“I enjoy” the TV work, Duval said in an interview with coloradogolf.org on Tuesday. “It keeps you connected and around the game. It gives you a little bit of a voice. I think it’s fair to say I definitely prefer (broadcasting) live golf as opposed to wrapup shows. (About 30 percent of Duval’s work this year will be live golf.) But both are cool.

“There’s some type of learning curve to it, obviously, and getting comfortable and figuring out how to be concise and get your points across. I go about it trying to just maybe educate. If I can get you thinking about one thing or tell you one thing you didn’t know before each couple hours of the show, I think I’ve succeeded.”

Perhaps one of the reasons Duval has improved is that golf fans have gotten to know him better. During his years of playing full-time on the PGA Tour, he often came across as quiet and reserved, perhaps a little standoffish. But the role of TV analyst brings more of his personality — and knowledge of the game — to the forefront. In that sense, he’s not disimilar to golf analysts such as Nick Faldo or Curtis Strange — top-level players who could be testy at times while competing but have blossomed in the TV booth or studio.

“How a player chooses to compete — and how they need to compete to succeed … Some are quiet, some can’t shut up,” Duval noted. “I didn’t say much, Lee Trevino couldn’t stop talking. That’s just your makeup and what’s best for you as an individual to compete and succeed. On the other side of the camera, whether you like to talk or not, you have to. You’re in a position where you’re going to learn about a person now more.

“It wasn’t that hard” to transition to putting more of himself out there publicly on TV. “It’s one of those simple things that it is what it is. If you’re going to do it, this is what you have to do.

“Even though I may have been quiet when I was competing 20 times a year, I didn’t lack an opinion. I still had a pretty strong opinion. You just had to ask me for it. Now I just tell it to you without you asking me. That’s the difference.”

Duval tries to walk that fine line between being very critical of PGA Tour players at times — a la Johnny Miller — and losing credibility with viewers by virtually never finding fault with a golfer’s performance.

“I have certainly gotten on things (been critical), but when I do, I try to explain why,” he said. “‘This is why this was bad, this is why this was wrong.’ When I’ve done live golf, the reality is, when a guy hits an 8-iron and misses the green by 15 yards, it’s a friggin awful shot. What else are you going to call it? But I don’t think there’s reason to be mean for mean’s sake. That’s how I go about it. And I also recognize that having done it, how hard the game is.

“I also go about it that 98 percent of the time, the players are trying their best, trying to shoot the best score they can. There’s a few times they phone it in every now and again. If he’s shooting 73, he’s trying to shoot 72. I try to keep that in mind. I’ve shot 62, which is part of the course record at Pebble Beach. I’ve also posted 85 there, making sure I didn’t shoot 86 that day. I try to think of it that way.”

Duval said the approach he’s taken to being a golf analyst on TV is pretty straightforward.

“The best advice I’ve been given — and the thing I’ve been asked to do — is just be myself,” the 45-year-old said. “Give my thoughts, explain why I have those thoughts. That’s what they really want from me, both in studio work and in live golf. The rhythm of those shows are obviously different, but that’s what I’ve really tried to do.”

Duval, who met his future wife Susie while in Colorado for The International, has long lived in Cherry Hills Village with his family and plays a fair amount at Cherry Hills Country Club when he’s at home and the weather is decent. The Denver area is a far cry from his former home of Jacksonville, Fla., but despite occasional grumblings about a snowstorm, he’s taken to it quite nicely.

“We love it here. We feel like it’s home,” he said. “Like a lot of people, I sometimes wish the winter would shorten up a little bit. That snowstorm in May was quite annoying. But I love it. All you have to do is walk outside right now, and it tells you everything you need to know. It’s just spectacular. The people are wonderful. I love the culture of it — the food, the views, the mountains, the air. It’s just wonderful.”

Earlier this month, 2014 ANA Inspiration winner Lexi Thompson committed to conduct an all-girls clinic hosted by CoBank, at The First Tee of GVR on Aug. 12 (CLICK HERE). Then on Tuesday, Colorado resident David Duval, winner of the 2001 British Open, was announced for a CoBank Kids Clinic benefiting The First Tee of GVR that’s scheduled for June 20 at 5 p.m. All kids are welcome for the free one-hour clinic, which will be followed by autographs and photos. Registration for the event will begin on Monday (June 5) at coloradoopen.com.

Duval (pictured) has won 13 times on the PGA Tour — all coming between 1997 and 2001. At one time he was the No. 1-ranked player in the world.

Though he competes very little on Tour these days, Duval has become a well-received TV analyst on the Golf Channel.

The upcoming clinics at GVR come a year after The First Tee at the northeast Denver course hosted three in 2016, featuring Hale Irwin, Paula Creamer and Ryan Palmer.