It’s been a tough year for Matt Kuchar, with his father passing unexpectedly in February. He’s played just 14 tournaments so far this season and is trying to chip away on the FedExCup Fall standings to re-earn full PGA TOUR status for 2026.

Through 54 holes at the Sanderson Farms Championship, Kuchar is tied for second place and trending towards his best result of the season. And despite some mental gymnastics through the balance of the last eight months, Kuchar said his golf has been steady.

Now he’s hoping for the ultimate reward.

Kuchar shot a 7-under 65 Saturday in Mississippi and is just four back of the lead held by Garrick Higgo heading into Sunday’s finale.

“Super pleased all week," said Kuchar, who hit 10 of 14 fairways on Saturday. "The game's been good. I feel good standing over the driver, which is important out here. It's a very gettable course, but you'd better put it in the fairway to try to get it. Today a lot of fairways, a lot of kind of short bit irons with a lot of opportunities. It was just a good, solid, steady round of golf.”

Kuchar opened with back-to-back birdies before making a bogey on the par-3 seventh. He added back-to-back birdies, again, on Nos. 8 and 9 before adding four more circles on his scorecard on the back nine.

Kuchar made an ace on the first day, on the par-4 third. Even at 47, he said things like that are still exciting – even though there wasn’t much excitement outside the ropes.

“I told some people I made a hole-in-one years ago at the John Deere (Classic). I got one clap. The ball flew straight in the hole. Nobody knew exactly what happened. One clap was all I got. Here I got no claps. I didn't know the ball went in,” Kuchar said with a big smile. “I was hoping it didn't go over the back of the green. As the anticipation grew, to like peer inside the hole and then see the ball at the bottom of the hole is still a great feeling. It was a cool moment. Hole-in-ones are very cool.”

Kuchar has credited two people with some recent comfort and success with his game – his coach, Chris O’Connell, and his son Cameron. Kuchar finished T13 in his last TOUR start at the Procore Championship and “it feels like it keeps getting better and better.”

“Right now is as comfy as I've felt kind of all year,” Kuchar said.

Meanwhile, Cameron Kuchar has been playing golf at an awfully high level recently as well – so much so, that he’s beaten his father twice.

“I'm not sure if I'm happy or upset or proud or not. I don't know quite how to take it yet. I'm doing my best to maintain a level that makes it hard for him to beat me. I know my day is coming soon where it's going to flip flop and go the other way. I really do look forward to the days beating him,” Kuchar said.

“I love that he's turned into kind of a training partner. It's been good for both of us.”

Kuchar admitted Saturday there have been plenty of “tough bits” with his father passing away and, he continued, he wouldn’t really know how to define the year-that-was. Kuchar hasn’t played nearly as many events as he normally does and although he’s been steady, he’s been inconsistent.

“Just not quite piecing things together where you have a week where you hit it well but don't convert on the putting opportunities, and other weeks you putt well and don't hit it great. I've had a bunch of 40th place finishes, which don't really move you very far up the board on the FedExCup points list,” Kuchar said. “Been nice lately to put together some rounds, some tournaments with some good hitting and good putting weeks.”

With Kuchar within shouting distance of the lead with 18 holes left at the Sanderson Farms Championship, he’s hoping that he will, for the first time this season, have everything click at the same time.