The Punter's De-brief: Rai off the mark after odds-on Greyserman implodes twice

• Long odd-on Greyserman makes rookie mistake

• Grumpy Kuchar's streak ends

• Read my FedEx St Jude Championship preview here

In the aftermath of Storm Debby, Greensboro was hit with torrential rain on Thursday and with more than five inches falling in a single day, no play was possible at the Wyndham Championship.

The organisers did an incredible job to get the course fit for play on Friday, but they were always playing catch up and when play was suspended by darkness on Saturday night, as many as 22 players still hadn't finished round two.

Getting round two finished and rounds three and four played in one day was always going to be tough but apart from the mardy second round leader, Matt Kuchar, who elected not to finish up on the 18^th, the tournament did get done. And we were treated to a fabulous finish...

#WATCH -- Matt Kuchar pulls the plug on 18. He cannot make the FedEx Cup playoffs (103rd). He'll be back tomorrow to finish out

"I don't expect we'll be bringing you that coverage tomorrow." -Jim Nantz

pic.twitter.com/MfmAp3obLP

-- NUCLR GOLF (@NUCLRGOLF) August 12, 2024

Pre-event 90.089/1 chance, Max Greyserman, who had fired a four-under-par 66 in round three, led by three with a round to go and having been trading at 2/13.00 after 54 holes, he maintained the advantage, thanks largely to an eagle three at the par five fifth and a birdie at six, despite a fantastic start to round four by pre-event 42.041/1 chance, Aaron Rai, who birdied four holes in-a-row from the second.

Greyserman maintained his three-stroke advantage until Rai added another birdie at the par three 12^th to close the gap to two, but it looked like a done deal when the 29-year-old Greyserman holed out for eagle at the par four 13^th with a lob wedge.

Leader goes long odds-on

Rai's priced spiked all the way out to 29.028/1 and Greyserman was matched at just 1.061/18 but it wasn't long before the complexion of the tournament was changed on its head once more.

After a lengthy enough wait on the par four 14^th tee, Greyserman hit a poor drive right of the fairway and his error was compounded somewhat unfortunately when the ball pinged off the cart path and out of bounds.

He hit his second tee-shot (his third shot on the hole) left of the fairway, from where he made a ludicrous error that proved to be costly.

Instead of laying up form the rough sensibly, he fired his fourth shot into one of the fairway cross bunkers, about 70 yards shy of the green and after a hack out, a chip on to the green and two putts, a snowman went down on the scorecard and he and Rai were tied at the top.

Last year's Open de France winner, Ryo Hisatsune, was just one off the lead with one to play but he bogeyed the 18^th and we were left with a two-man tussle to the line.

To his credit, Greyserman bounced back brilliantly at the par five 15^th, tapping in for birdie after leaving his eagle putt from 35 feet short. It looked like he'd put the disaster at 14 behind him and he was again matched at long odds-on again (1.21/5), but just when he looked like he'd composed himself to win his first PGA Tour title, this happened at the par three 15^th!

3 putts from 3 feet.

Max Greyserman now trails by 1 with 2 holes left. pic.twitter.com/6vlalfPIln

-- PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) August 12, 2024

From seemingly nowhere, he'd blown his chance to win for the second time and with darkness descending Rai put the event to bed with a birdie at the 72^nd hole.

It was cruel on Greyserman, who later described his antics on 14 as his Mickelson 2006 moment.

With the US Open at his mercy, Phil Mickelson had messed up the 72^nd hole at Winged Foot, famously saying afterwards.

"I still am in shock that I did that. I just can't believe that I did that. I am such an idiot."

Greyserman rightly pointed out that Lefty went on to win more majors after that meltdown and I hope he can put it behind him and close one out soon but a finish like that will take some time to recover from.

Grumpy Kuchar's streak ends

Kuchar's defeat ends his streak of appearing in every FedEx Cup Playoff Series, but you'll do very well to find someone with any sympathy for the veteran.

Famous for not paying his local caddie his dues when he won the World Wide Technology back in 2018, not only did he refuse to finish his round in the dark, he also drove on the 18^th hole just as Rai was preparing to hit his approach from the fairway!

He's returned to the course today to finish off but I doubt there were many (if any fans) there to watch him chalk up his par four.

Contrast Kuchar's antics with the fabulous scenes of Horschel congratulating Rai in the scorer's hut and it's quite clear who took defeat the most magnanimously.

Having backed him before the off at 30.029/1 and having seen Horschel come up short after being matched at a low of 4.47/2 as early as Friday, I was disappointed to see him eventually finish tied for seventh but my already lofty opinion of him as gone up another level.

Kuchar, on the other hand, has done irreparable damage to an already badly broken reputation and that's a shame given how talented he is.

The DP World Tour resumes this week with the Czech Masters and I'll be back later with the preview but the main event is most definitely stateside, where the top-70 in the FedEx Cup Standings head for Memphis for the FedEx St Jude Championship, which I've previewed below

Now read my FedEx St Jude Championship here

*You can follow me on Twitter @SteveThePunter