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Chris Kirk

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For the British activist, see Kris Kirk. For the New Zealand cricketer, see Christopher Kirk. For the American football player, see Christian Kirk.

Chris Kirk
Kirk at TPC Sawgrass in 2021
Personal information
Full nameChristopher Brandon Kirk
NicknameCaptain Kirk[1]
Born (1985-05-08) May 8, 1985 (age 39)
Knoxville, Tennessee, U.S.
Height6 ft 3 in (1.91 m)
Weight175 lb (79 kg; 12.5 st)
Sporting nationality United States
ResidenceAthens, Georgia, U.S.
SpouseTahnee
Career
CollegeGeorgia
Turned professional2007
Current tour(s)PGA Tour
Former tour(s)Nationwide Tour
Professional wins8
Highest ranking16 (May 31, 2015)[2]
Number of wins by tour
PGA Tour5
Korn Ferry Tour3
Best results in major championships
Masters TournamentT20: 2014
PGA ChampionshipT5: 2022
U.S. OpenT28: 2014
The Open ChampionshipT19: 2014
Achievements and awards
Ben Hogan Award2007

Christopher Brandon Kirk (born May 8, 1985) is an American professional golfer who plays on the PGA Tour. He won four tournaments on the PGA Tour between 2011 and 2015 and won again in 2023 after an almost eight year drought. He finished second in the 2014 FedEx Cup Playoffs and reached a career-high of 16 in the world rankings during 2015.

Early years

Born in Knoxville, Tennessee, Kirk was reared in Woodstock, Georgia. He played college golf at the University of Georgia in Athens and was a member of their 2005 NCAA championship team. He represented the United States in the 2006 Eisenhower Trophy, where he had the joint second-lowest individual score, and in the 2007 Walker Cup. He was the Ben Hogan Award winner as a senior in 2007.

Professional career

Nationwide Tour

Kirk turned professional immediately after the 2007 Walker Cup.[3] He played on the Nationwide Tour for three seasons from 2008 through 2010. He was runner-up in the 2008 Knoxville Open, losing in a playoff to Jarrod Lyle.[4] Kirk had a very successful season in 2010. Early in the season he lost to Jim Herman in a playoff for the Moonah Classic and was a runner-up in the BMW Charity Pro-Am.[5] In June he won the Fort Smith Classic, his first Nationwide Tour title,[6] and followed this up with his second win at the Knoxville News Sentinel Open in August.[7] Kirk finished the season second on the Nationwide Tour money list to earn his 2011 PGA Tour card, despite missing the end of the season with a wrist injury.[8]

PGA Tour

As a PGA Tour rookie, Kirk finished joint second to Phil Mickelson at the Shell Houston Open in April 2011. Later that year, Kirk won his first tour event, the Viking Classic, an alternate event played the same weekend as The Open Championship. He finished a stroke ahead of runners-up George McNeill and Tom Pernice Jr., and the victory automatically qualified him for the PGA Championship, where he finished in a tie for 34th place. In his debut season on the PGA Tour, Kirk had four top-10s and finished 42nd in the end of season FedEx Cup standings to retain his card for 2012.

In 2012, Kirk played in 27 events and only missed six cuts, including four top-10 finishes and best of T-4 at the RBC Canadian Open. He had a similarly very solid season in 2013, missing only four cuts, with three top-10 finishes. He finished runner-up at the AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am, after shooting 64-66 on the weekend to finish two shots behind Brandt Snedeker.

Kirk earned his second PGA Tour win at the McGladrey Classic in November 2013, which was part of the new wrap-around season for 2014. He prevailed by one stroke over Briny Baird and Tim Clark. The win qualified Kirk for his first Masters; the Viking Classic, which was Kirk's first victory on tour, was an alternate event and did not include a Masters invitation. 2014, Kirk won the second event of the 2014 FedEx Cup Playoffs at the Deutsche Bank Championship in Boston for his third PGA Tour title, and jumped from 17th in FedEx Cup rankings to first. He finished tied for fourth in The Tour Championship, the first time he had qualified for the event, to end the season second on the FedEx Cup standings behind Billy Horschel, winning three million dollars. Kirk missed out on selection for the 2014 Ryder Cup. He finished 14th in the Ryder Cup points list to miss out on automatic selection. The three captain's picks were announced by Tom Watson immediately after Kirk's win in the Deutsche Bank Championship. The picks did not include Kirk or Billy Horschel, who had finished joint runner-up, leading to some criticism of both the selections and the selection process.[9]

In 2015, Kirk won for the fourth time on the PGA Tour at the Crowne Plaza Invitational at Colonial. He shot 65-66 over the weekend to finish one stroke ahead of runners-up Jason Bohn, Brandt Snedeker and Jordan Spieth. Kirk holed a six-foot (1.8 m) putt for par on the final green to claim the victory. He reached a career-high of 16th in the world rankings after this win.[10] Soon after this win Kirk broke his hand but returned for the FedEx Cup Playoffs.[11] Kirk was in an automatic place for the 2015 Presidents Cup. He lost his two four fourball matches but won in the singles.

Kirk reached the quarter-finals of the 2016 WGC-Dell Match Play before losing to Rory McIlroy. In October 2016 Kirk was a joint runner-up in the Sanderson Farms Championship, an alternate event played opposite the WGC-HSBC Champions tournament. The 2017 season was his worst on the PGA Tour since joining in 2011, finishing 92nd in the FedEx Cup. Despite having only 4 top-10 finishes, 2018 was a better season for Kirk. He only missed the cut in 5 of his 29 starts and finished 66 in the FedEx Cup.

In February 2023, Kirk won The Honda Classic in a playoff over Eric Cole.[12]

Health

On May 7, 2019, Kirk announced that he was to take an "indefinite leave" from golf to deal with his alcohol and depression issues.[10][13] He returned to the PGA Tour in November 2019.[14]

Professional wins (8)

PGA Tour wins (5)

Legend
FedEx Cup playoff events (1)
Other PGA Tour (4)
No. Date Tournament Winning score To par Margin of
victory		 Runner(s)-up
1 Jul 17, 2011 Viking Classic 67-67-64-68=266 −22 1 stroke United States George McNeill, United States Tom Pernice Jr.
2 Nov 10, 2013 McGladrey Classic 66-66-68-66=266 −14 1 stroke United States Briny Baird, South Africa Tim Clark
3 Sep 1, 2014 Deutsche Bank Championship 73-66-64-66=269 −15 2 strokes United States Russell Henley, United States Billy Horschel,
Australia Geoff Ogilvy
4 May 24, 2015 Crowne Plaza Invitational at Colonial 68-69-65-66=268 −12 1 stroke United States Jason Bohn, United States Brandt Snedeker,
United States Jordan Spieth
5 Feb 26, 2023 The Honda Classic 69-62-66-69=266 −14 Playoff United States Eric Cole

PGA Tour playoff record (1–0)

No. Year Tournament Opponent Result
1 2023 The Honda Classic United States Eric Cole Won with birdie on first extra hole

Korn Ferry Tour wins (3)

No. Date Tournament Winning score To par Margin of
victory		 Runner-up
1 Jul 20, 2010 Fort Smith Classic 65-69-66-64=264 −16 1 stroke United States Kyle Thompson
2 Aug 29, 2010 Knoxville News Sentinel Open 68-70-63-67=268 −20 2 strokes United States Travis Bertoni
3 Jun 20, 2020 King & Bear Classic 66-65-64-67=262 −26 1 stroke United States Justin Lower

Korn Ferry Tour playoff record (0–2)

No. Year Tournament Opponent Result
1 2008 Knoxville Open Australia Jarrod Lyle Lost to birdie on first extra hole
2 2010 Moonah Classic United States Jim Herman Lost to birdie on first extra hole

Playoff record

PGA Tour of Australasia playoff record (0–1)

No. Year Tournament Opponent Result
1 2010 Moonah Classic United States Jim Herman Lost to birdie on first extra hole

Results in major championships

Results not in chronological order in 2020.

Tournament 2008 2009
Masters Tournament
U.S. Open T78 CUT
The Open Championship
PGA Championship
Tournament 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018
Masters Tournament T20 T33 CUT
U.S. Open T28 75 CUT
The Open Championship T19 CUT
PGA Championship T34 T57 CUT CUT CUT T31
Tournament 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023
Masters Tournament T23
PGA Championship CUT T5 T29
U.S. Open CUT
The Open Championship NT CUT T42 CUT
  Top 10
  Did not play

CUT = missed the half-way cut
"T" indicates a tie for a place
NT = No tournament due to COVID-19 pandemic

Summary

Tournament Wins 2nd 3rd Top-5 Top-10 Top-25 Events Cuts made
Masters Tournament 0 0 0 0 0 2 4 3
U.S. Open 0 0 0 0 0 0 6 3
The Open Championship 0 0 0 0 0 1 4 2
PGA Championship 0 0 0 1 1 1 10 5
Totals 0 0 0 1 1 4 24 13
  • Most consecutive cuts made – 5 (2011 PGA – 2014 Open)
  • Longest streak of top-10s – 1 (once)

Results in The Players Championship

Tournament 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023
The Players Championship CUT T51 T55 T13 T13 WD T12 T46 T56 C T48 CUT CUT

CUT = missed the halfway cut
WD = withdrew
"T" indicates a tie for a place
C = Canceled after the first round due to the COVID-19 pandemic

Results in World Golf Championships

Results not in chronological before 2015.

Tournament 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023
Championship T40 T56
Match Play R64 T17 QF NT1 T52
Invitational T41 T21
Champions T14 T76 NT1 NT1 NT1

1Cancelled due to COVID-19 pandemic

  Top 10
  Did not play

QF, R16, R32, R64 = Round in which player lost in match play
"T" = Tied
NT = No tournament
Note that the Championship and Invitational were discontinued from 2022. The Champions was discontinued from 2023.

U.S. national team appearances

Amateur

Professional

See also

References

  1. ^ "It's liftoff for captain Kirk in PGA Tour's Classic". Yahoo! Sport. Australian Associated Press. February 25, 2023. Retrieved February 25, 2023.
  2. ^ "Week 22 2015 Ending 31 May 2015" (pdf). OWGR. Retrieved October 3, 2019.
  3. ^ "Kirk turning pro after playing on Walker Cup team". ESPN. September 17, 2019.
  4. ^ "Lyle Prevails in Playoff at Knoxville Open". Golf Channel. June 22, 2008.
  5. ^ "Herman wins Moonah Classic". Sydney Morning Herald. February 7, 2010.
  6. ^ "Kirk wins Nationwide tournament". ESPN. Associated Press. June 20, 2010.
  7. ^ Chemycz, Joe (August 29, 2010). "Chris Kirk wins Knoxville News Sentinel Open". PGA Tour. Archived from the original on June 29, 2011.
  8. ^ "No. 2 Kirk withdraws from Nationwide Championship". PGA Tour. October 28, 2010.
  9. ^ Corrigan, James (September 8, 2014). "Ryder Cup 2014: Tom Watson under pressure after leaving out in-form Billy Horschel and Chris Kirk for Gleneagles". The Telegraph.
  10. ^ a b "Chris Kirk: American golfer to take 'indefinite leave' from the sport". BBC Sport. May 7, 2019. Retrieved May 7, 2019.
  11. ^ Hoggard, Rex (August 26, 2015). "Kirk returns from hand injury after six weeks off". Golf Channel.
  12. ^ "Chris Kirk wins Honda Classic in playoff; 1st title since 2015". ESPN. Associated Press. February 26, 2023.
  13. ^ VanHaaren, Tom (July 3, 2020). "What Chris Kirk did off the golf course means way more to him than what he is doing on it". ESPN.
  14. ^ Kline, Mitchell (February 28, 2023). "PGA golfer Chris Kirk celebrates sobriety". Retrieved March 1, 2023.
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