Seminole alumni, Matt Kuchar, competed in golf at the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio, Brazil. He received the first bronze medal awarded for golf at the Olympics since the 1904 summer games.

Kuchar was born in Winter Park to a Ukrainian family. When he was 12 years old, he began playing golf with his father at a country club.

In 1996, he graduated from Seminole and went on to attend Georgia Tech in Atlanta where he played for the Yellow Jackets’ golf team. During his time in Georgia, he competed as an amateur golfer and won U.S. Amateur, an annual golf tournament, in 1997. He turned professional in November 2000 with his first tournament being the 2002 Professional Golfers’ Association Tour.

As a pro, he continued to compete on the PGA Tour and won seven times over a course of 12 years. He won the Players Championship in 2012, which was his biggest victory to date. Four years later, he went on to compete in the Rio Olympics, the first Olympics to feature golf since 1904. He won the first bronze medal awarded for golf in over a century after a final round 63.

As the 2016 Olympics comes to an end, golf season at Seminole starts. Boy’s golf tryouts began on Aug. 11 while girl’s golf tryouts began on Aug. 15. The boys played their first game on the Aug. 24 against University High. The girls’ golf schedule has yet to be released.

“It’s my first time playing golf for Seminole,” said Vishal Dubey. “So I just hope to do my best and try to help the school do well.”

Noles are proud to have an alumni compete and represent the United States in the major international sporting event in Rio.

“It’s cool to hear an alumni went to the Olympics,” said sophomore Joshua Youn. “I heard of Kuchar by watching a lot of golf tournaments.”

Golfers and other Nole athletes look up to Kuchar when aiming to compete in big competitions after he won third in Rio.

“He gives current members of the golf team something to strive for,” said Coach Brian Emrick of the boys’ team, “and [he] shows some of the quality of golfers that have graduated from Seminole.”

Emrick knew of Kuchar before he competed in Rio from Kuchar’s former high school coach and teacher Bill Klein. As the current coach, Emrick is ready to take the boys’ golf team to victory.