Chris Kirk created history on Sunday by making a clutch 5-iron to two feet for a birdie on the 17th hole, nearly a year after he nearly came back to win the Cognizant Classic in The Palm Beaches. This led to an 8-under 65 and a one-shot triumph at The Sentry.
Kirk needed just that to win the opening round of the PGA TOUR, as he did for the third year in a row. The winner at Kapalua posted a Sunday round of eight under par or better.
On the back nine of another remarkably quiet day, Sahith Theegala and Jordan Spieth both closed the gap on him.
Theegala shot 63 after missing a 10-foot birdie opportunity on the par-5 last hole. Spieth missed a 15-foot eagle putt on the 18th and finished with a 65 to take a shot back. On the 16th, his tee ball stuck beneath the lip of a bunker, resulting in an extremely unfortunate bogey.
On the hardest hole on the back nine of The Plantation Course, Kirk tied the game when he shot a 5-iron from 209 yards over the canyon to a right pin. The ball rolled out to just over 2 feet for a tap-in birdie. Because of this, he was able to play the 18th hole conservatively, knowing that a par would be sufficient for his sixth career PGA TOUR victory.
At the first of 8 Signature Events, he finished at 29-under 263 and took home $3.6 million from the $20 million purse.
The 38-year-old Georgian appeared to be at ease and a perfect fit for the islands. His biggest victory to date is still his rehabilitation from depression and alcoholism, which caused him to withdraw for treatment for six months in 2019.
After winning the Cognizant Classic in The Palm Beaches the previous year, he was given the “Courage Award” by the PGA TOUR at the conclusion of the season. There was no better way to begin the year than this one.
He finished just outside of the top 50 in the world at the end of the previous year, so the win guarantees him a berth in the Masters and enables him to schedule a return trip to Kapalua for the beginning of the following year.
This was his first visit to The Sentry in 8 years.
“I’m incredibly grateful for the previous five years. It’s been amazing. Both the competition and the labour are enjoyable to me. It was a while before I had that. It’s an ongoing process that I’m thoroughly enjoying.” Kirk said.
After hitting his first tee shot into the native grass, Akshay Bhatia, who was one stroke behind going into the final round, never really had a chance. He started with a double bogey, was never in the mix, and never found the ball. He also had to go back to the tee.
Spieth, the 2016 Kapalua winner, maintained his lead throughout the day thanks to his 5 consecutive birdies around the turn. With birdies at the 14th and 15th holes, he closed the gap with Kirk and Theegala. And after that, one hit virtually ruined his prospects.
On the 16th hole, he drove into a bunker that splits the fairways; nevertheless, it plugged directly beneath the face, forcing him to cut out diagonally. After an out-of-bounds tee shot on the opening round’s third hole resulted in a double bogey, causing him to miss a 12-foot par putt on his first hole over par and ran out of holes to make up for it.
“I need to be a little more precise off the tee, though, because that full shot (penalty) came at a really crucial moment.” Spieth said.
Spieth was three strokes down after Theegala, who was in the group ahead of him, made a birdie on the 16th. With that birdie, Theegala was ahead by one.
With a mediocre pitch that ended up 18 feet short of the hole for a two-putt par, Kirk made par from just short of the reachable par-4 14th hole. On the 16th, he also squandered a 12-foot birdie opportunity to take the lead.
However, he made the crucial stroke on the 17th, a birdie that comforted him as he played the 18th, which offers a breathtaking view of the Pacific Ocean and the island of Molokai in the distance.
Sungjae Im’s 34 birdies during the week allowed him to enter the PGA TOUR record books. The previous record for a 72-hole competition was 32 , which was most recently achieved by Jon Rahm in the previous year.
