PGA Tour: Chris Kirk fighting personal, professional battles
By Tim Letcher
Chris Kirk finds himself in contention at this week’s Rocket Mortgage Classic. It’s quite a comeback for a player who has struggled to stay on the PGA Tour.
Chris Kirk finds himself in contention at this week’s stop on the PGA Tour, the Rocket Mortgage Classic. Whether he wins or not remains to be seen, but no matter the outcome this week, Kirk has already proven himself to be a winner.
In April of 2019, Kirk made a huge personal and professional decision. He knew that he had a problem with alcohol and that he needed help. So he decided to take time away from the PGA Tour to deal with the issue.
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Kirk did just that, putting alcohol behind him and returning to golf. But while his personal battle was seemingly defeated, his professional one was not. Kirk missed the FedEx Cup playoffs and was forced to play some events on the Korn Ferry Tour this season.
Rather than feeling sorry for himself, Kirk took full advantage of the opportunity. In fact, just two weeks ago, Kirk won at the King & Bear Classic at World Golf Village in St. Augustine, Florida.
With a newfound confidence, Kirk is now hoping to find his way back to the area where he once was on the PGA Tour. However, the struggle on tour has been real for Kirk this season.
He has made seven starts on the tour this season and has only made two cuts. He tied for 33rd at the Mayakoba Golf Classic in November before missing five straight cuts. He did make the cut at the Charles Schwab Challenge three weeks ago, but he was only able to muster a tie for 60th place.
This week is starting much differently for Kirk
In Thursday’s first round of the Rocket Mortgage Classic, Kirk tied his best score on tour this season with a 5-under par 67.
It was a slow start for Kirk on Thursday. He started on the back nine, and immediately bogeyed the 10th hole. He parred three straight holes and seemed on his way to a ho-hum round.
That all changed on the par-5 14th hole. Kirk rolled in a 30-foot eagle putt to go from 1-over par to 1-under par. And he took off from there.
Kirk birdied the 15th hole, parred 16, then birdied 17th. A par on the 18th hole gave him a 3-under par 33 on his first nine.
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On the front side, Kirk parred the first two holes before getting on another roll. He birdied three, four and five to move to 6-under par. A bogey on six moved him back to 5-under on his round. He finished with three straight pars to finish off his 67.
Kirk faces a tough battle this week as he tries to get his footing back on tour. But it will be nothing compared to the personal battle that he faces each and every day.