Fall schedule grows chaotic for Kuchar

European Tour planning event using shot clock.

SHANGHAI — The fall schedule didn’t work out the way Matt Kuchar imagined.

Kuchar signed up for three straight tournaments overseas, starting with a working vacation with his family in Japan for the Bridgestone Open, followed by the HSBC Champions and then the Turkish Airlines Open.

He made it through two rounds of the Bridgestone Open before he evacuated ahead of Typhoon Lan. And he withdrew from the Turkish Airlines Open when relations between the U.S. and Turkey reached a point that both countries suspended non-immigrant visa services for travel between the two countries.

“It looked like things were getting to a point where it was better not to go,” Kuchar said. “I did some homework with a U.S. senator friend of mine who checked with the State Department. When the U.S. stops issuing visas, there’s an issue.”

Kuchar played in Turkey five years ago as part of an exhibition that included Tiger Woods and Rory McIlroy. His strongest memory was figuring out to celebrate his son Cameron’s birthday.

“We didn’t know what to do for a 5-year-old in Turkey, so everyone got in bathrobes in our room and turned it into a Turkish bath party,” he said.

In Japan, Kuchar arrived early with his wife and two sons, took the bullet train, went to a sumo match and toured a Ninja training studio. That was great. Then the weather arrived, and they struggled to get in two rounds Friday and Saturday as the typhoon approached.

“It was my first time to the Bridgestone Open. I was excited to be there. They’ve been a great sponsor for me,” Kuchar said. “And I had to evacuate because of a typhoon. I’ve had to evacuate twice in the last two years from Georgia (from hurricanes). It was strange. But I was able to get out safely, arrive here early and the

wife and kids headed home.”

So the HSBC Champions will be his only four-round tournament.

“It wasn’t quite what I was planning for the fall,” he said.

Kuchar will take the next month off and then end his year at the Hero World Challenge in the Bahamas and the Greg Norman’s QBE Shootout in Florida.

American three: By winning the CJ Cup at Nine Bridges in South Korea, Justin Thomas rose to a careerbest No. 3 in the world and gave the Americans the top three spots in the world ranking for the first time in more than seven years.

Tiger Woods, Phil Mickelson and Steve Stricker were at Nos. 1-2-3 from the start of 2010 until the middle of May. Lee Westwood won the BMW PGA Championship to break up the American party, and he eventually got to No. 1.

Now it’s Dustin Johnson, Jordan Spieth and Thomas. One difference is their ages. Woods was 34, Mickelson was 40 and Stricker was 43 during most of that reign. Johnson is the old man of this group at 33, while Spieth and Thomas are 24. How long will this one last? Thomas and Spieth are not playing for another month (Spieth in Australia, Thomas at the Hero World Challenge). Hideki Matsuyama is at the HSBC Champions to defend his title and could take back No. 3 this week. Jon Rahm can’t reach No. 3 this week, though he also is playing in Dubai in three weeks.

Texas trouble: The Houston Open is not the only Texas stop on the PGA Tour looking for a title sponsor. The Fort Worth Star-Telegram reports that Dean & DeLuca is on the verge of pulling out just two years into its six-year commitment as title sponsor at Colonial.

The Star-Telegram obtained a letter the Colonial Country Club president sent to members informing them that Dean & DeLuca has notified the PGA Tour that it may not be able to meet its financial obligations in 2018.

The board is to meet with Dean & DeLuca about possibly renegotiating terms of the contract, but the newspaper said at this point Colonial is prepared to start looking for a new title sponsor.

The tour said in a statement, “It’s important to note that Dean & DeLuca is still the title sponsor of the event.”

On the clock: The European Tour is taking pace of play to a new level next year with the “Shot Clock Masters” in Austria, which will be the first tournament at the professional level to use a shot clock.

The clock will be set at 50 seconds for the first player hitting a shot and 40 seconds for the others in the group. Any player going past the limit will get a one-shot penalty, which will be reflected by a red card by their name on the leaderboard.

Each player will be allowed to call two timeouts during a round, giving them twice the amount of time they are allotted for that shot.

ROB CARR / GETTY IMAGES Georgia Tech alum Matt Kuchar (right) had some interesting adventures while playing in Japan and trying to travel to Turkey for a tournament.