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By John Holmes
PGATOUR.com Interactive Producer

DULUTH, Ga. -- Note to fans planning to attend Sunday's final round of the AT&T Classic: Get here early.

Matt Kuchar exploded onto the scene with a stirring win in the 2002 Honda Classic. (WireImage)

Kevin Sutherland teed off among the dew sweepers Thursday and posted a 7-under 65 that stood up all day. On Friday, former Georgia Bulldog Ryuji Imada carded his second straight 67 to claim the halfway lead at 10-under 134 and still had time to sneak out to a matinee. Georgia Tech Yellow Jacket Troy Matteson tied him in the afternoon, but no one went lower.

And on Saturday, while the Southern fried chicken was warming in the media center lunch room and the leaders were just making their day down the first few holes, another former Yellow Jacket, Matt Kuchar, converted a delicate up-and-down birdie from the bunker on No. 18 to cap off a bogey-free 64 -- tying the best round of the week -- to take the third-round lead at 10-under 206.

Within minutes, Imada and Matteson both overcame early bogeys to pull back even with Kuchar, and Camilo Villegas birdied Nos. 5, 6 and 7 in a row to also get to 10 under.

But the big crowd around the final green was still buzzing about Kuchar, who put together by far his finest round ever in the AT&T Classic, not to mention his best round of the year -- despite wearing a Bulldog-red shirt that had some smart-alecks in the crowd questioning his collegiate loyalties.

Memo to Matt:

Please check your closet for some blue and gold.

Sincerely, your alumni association

"Watching Troy's round of 64 yesterday, I just didn't see an 8-under round on this golf course," said Kuchar, whose big smile and rosy cheeks make him look almost as young as he did when he burst on the scene a decade ago as a teenager. "The greens being this firm, it's hard to get a ball close to the pin. I was thinking 4-under would be a nice round of golf. For me to come out and do this today, I'm awfully pleased."

He should be. Kuchar paired eight birdies with 10 pars on a TPC Sugarloaf course that is getting faster and slicker as the gorgeous low-humidity, rain-free week wears on.

But he made several memorable putts, including a 12-footer for birdie on the opening hole, a 10-footer for birdie on the par-5 sixth, another 10-footer for birdie on the par-5 10th, a 15-footer down the hill for birdie on the par-3 11th and a 12-footer for birdie on the par-4 13th.

He also had a few full swings to remember. After a big drive on the par-5 fourth hole, he had 234 yards to the green and pulled a rescue club. The shot dove into the creek left of the green, but his ball bounced out and he was able to get up and down from there.

The other came on the 18th, where he playing partner Garrett Willis put on a clinic in death-defying heroics. Both players hit their drives to about 240 yards, and faced downhill, downwind approaches to a pin cut near the front of the green.

Willis cracked a line drive that hit the steep bank of the pond in front of the green, took a few strenuous hops up onto the putting surface and curled slowly toward the pin. It settled within a few inches of the cup, giving him a tap-in eagle to end his day.

Kuchar considered laying up in front of the pond, but decided to give it a go, too.

"If I laid up, I figured it would be awfully difficult to get a wedge close," Kuchar said. "My wedges aren't backing up; they're jumping forward 20 feet. So I decided that the back bunker would be a good place to be."

Kuchar lofted his approach right over the pin; the ball landed on the back of the green and hopped into the middle of the soft, white sand.

"I thought if it just rolled into the bunker, it would be on the upslope with a lot of green to work with," Kuchar said. "But as it was, it was not easy -- and pretty scary looking down at the water. I knew if my bunker shot came out at all fluffy that it wouldn't have any spot to land and would trickle right into the water."

Kuchar took a breath, then an aggressive swing. The ball came out perfectly, landed softly and settled down about two and half feet from the pin. He tapped in for birdie from there to an immense cheer from the hometown crowd.

When Kuchar arrived as a big-time amateur a decade ago, it seemed that he'd be hearing those cheers on a regular basis. A junior star, he won the 1997 U.S. Amateur as a freshman at Georgia Tech, then as a sophomore he won the 1998 Fred Haskins Award as the nation's top college player, finished 21st at the Masters and flirted with the lead halfway through the U.S. Open before finishing 14th.

Kuchar, now 28, retained his amateur status after college and took a job in finance. But he soon reconsidered, and turned professional in 2000.

The next year, he became one of the rare players to earn his way onto the PGA TOUR via sponsor's exemptions, then promptly won the 2002 Honda Classic.

That proved to be the peak of his career so far, though, and he barely retained his spot on the PGA TOUR for a few years before spending a few seasons on the Nationwide Tour.

He finally returned to the PGA TOUR this year after finishing 10th on the 2006 Nationwide Tour money list, but has yet to find his stride this season, with a tie for sixth at Pebble Beach his only top-10 finish in 12 starts so far in 2007.

"I've played some pretty good golf," Kuchar said, "But I just haven't had the good result that I did at Pebble."

He's philosophical about the struggles he's endured after such a spectacular start to his golf career, and refuses to feel sorry for himself or get down on himself.

"The track I've been on, I don't regret at all," Kuchar said. "It's, I think, been great for me, and I think in the long run it's probably going to make me a better player. I was on the fast track, but golf is a funny game and you learn a lot of lessons the hard way."

Over the past year, he's worked with several instructors in an effort to elevate every facet of his game to try to stick in the big time this time. He also believes that he now has enough experience, in terms of identifying the courses and tournaments he likes and getting comfortable with his game, to successfully navigate his way around the TOUR.

As positive as he's feeling these days, a strong finish, or even a win, in Atlanta on Sunday would go a long way toward validating the changes he's made to his game and the effort he's put into his career. He'd also, of course, move way up the FedExCup points list from his current spot of 101st and greatly improve his position on the money list, where he stands 103rd.

"It would be awesome to win here. Just to get a win would be great," he said. "You just don't get that much success out here. It's hard; it beats you up. But if you stay positive, good things do happen."

For Kuchar, many of those good things happened early. On Sunday, he's hoping they happen late.