Chris Kirk makes late birdie to take PGA Tour season opener at Kapalua

Chris Kirk finds pure pleasure in golf from the work that is required and the way laborious it’s to succeed, and Sunday at The Sentry was lots troublesome.

A dozen gamers had been lined up behind him, all of them able to ripping off a low one. The circumstances had been so placid the ultimate spherical at Kapalua, Hawaii, produced the bottom scoring common (66.67) because the PGA Tour began maintaining detailed information in 1983.

Harder nonetheless was being tied for the lead, 209 yards away on the seventeenth gap with a gorge between him and the flag and a light-weight wind that felt prefer it was blowing each instructions.

Kirk went from a 7-iron to a 5-iron and hit what he considers the very best shot of his profession to 2 toes for birdie that despatched him to an 8-under 65 and a one-shot victory over Sahith Theegala.

“If you’re about to tug 7 and you find yourself hitting 5, that does not occur ever. That by no means occurs,” he mentioned. “So to have the ability to decide to it like I did and make that good of a swing was an unbelievable feeling.”

Kirk is joyful to be competing once more after stepping away in 2019 for alcoholism and melancholy, and he capped his lengthy journey again final 12 months by successful the Honda Basic. This was one other huge step, beating a world-class area on a day when any miss was pricey.

Theegala stayed with him step for step till his 10-foot birdie putt swirled out and in of the cup, forcing him to accept a 63. Jordan Spieth was tied for the lead when his tee shot on the sixteenth plugged into the sand proper under the lip, successfully a one-shot penalty. He narrowly missed a 15-foot eagle on the ultimate gap and shot 65 to complete third.

Kirk began the ultimate spherical with a one-shot lead and needed to submit 65 to win by one. That was laborious work. And there was a whole lot of pleasure beneath that impassive manner.

‘I am simply loving each minute of it’

There was a time when golf meant nothing to him as he cared solely about salvaging a life that had turn into depending on the drink.

“I like the method of working to be the very best participant that I can once I’m engaged on that, after which engaged on being nearly as good of a father and husband as I can once I’m off the golf course,” he mentioned. “It is a fixed course of and I am simply loving each minute of it.”

It was the third straight 12 months the winner at Kapalua posted a Sunday spherical of 8 beneath or higher, and Kirk required no much less to win the PGA Tour’s season opener. Theegala began two photographs behind, shot 63 and it wasn’t fairly sufficient.

“It is actually laborious to be unhappy or upset about having a pleasant Sunday spherical,” Theegala mentioned. “Parring the final gap leaves somewhat little bit of a bitter style. Truthfully, nothing however positives. I felt like I stayed in it till the very finish.”

Kirk was tied when he hit 5-iron over the gorge to a proper pin on the seventeenth, the ball rolling out to simply over 2 toes for a tap-in birdie on the hardest gap on the again 9 of the Plantation course. That allowed him to play the 18th conservatively, figuring out a par could be sufficient for his sixth profession PGA Tour victory.

He completed at 29-under 263 and earned $3.6 million US from the $20 million purse, the primary of eight signature occasions within the new PGA Tour mannequin of massive purses and elite fields.

Hadwin finishes as prime Canadian

Adam Hadwin of Abbotsford, B.C., was the highest Canadian ending seven photographs again at 22 beneath and in a tie for 14th.

Mackenzie Hughes of Hamilton, Ont., tied for twenty fifth at 20 beneath, whereas Adam Svensson of Surrey, B.C., and Corey Conners of Listowel, Ont., had been two strokes again and completed tied for thirty third. Nick Taylor of Abbotsford completed at 11 beneath, tied for 52nd.

The PGA Tour honored him with its “Braveness Award” — he was solely the sixth recipient — on the finish of final season. There was no higher method to begin the brand new 12 months.

The victory assures him a spot within the Masters — he was simply outdoors the highest 50 on the planet on the finish of final 12 months — and permits him to guide a return journey to Kapalua to start out subsequent 12 months. He was making his first look at The Sentry in eight years.

“I am so grateful for these final 5 years. It has been unbelievable,” Kirk mentioned.

Spieth falls simply quick

Spieth, who gained in 2016 at Kapalua, stayed within the hunt all day together with his 5 straight birdies across the flip. He caught as much as Kirk and Theegala with birdies on the 14th and fifteenth. After which his probabilities all however ended with one swing on the sixteenth.

“It was a full shot [penalty] at a fairly pivotal time,” Spieth mentioned. “However I’ve received to be somewhat tighter off the tee.”

However he delivered the important thing shot on the seventeenth, a birdie that gave him consolation enjoying the 18th and its spectacular view of the Pacific Ocean and the island of Molokai on the horizon.

Sungjae Im managed to get into the PGA Tour document books with 34 birdies for the week. The earlier document for a 72-hole match was 32 set thrice, most lately final 12 months by Jon Rahm. That illustrates what sort of check the Plantation course has turn into.