Patton Kizzire came to California this week and hugged his first tree at the suggestion of his new sports psychologist. Days later, he hugged his wife, Kari, on the 18th green at Silverado Resort’s North Course as the champion of the Procore Championship, his third career PGA Tour title and first victory since 2018.
“It feels so good,” he said. “I’ve worked really hard and to come out and play like I did and pull away from the field and keep the pedal down and play like I can play, that was so much fun.”
Kizzire closed with a final-round 2-under 70 on Sunday in Napa’s wine country to post a 72-hole total of 20-under 268 and a tournament-record five-stroke victory over David Lipsky.
Kizzire, 38, lost his full-exempt status at the end of last season and broke down and cried when a reporter asked what it meant to him to be a member of the Tour.
“This is what I’ve always wanted to do since I was a kid,” he said in November at the RSM Classic. “They asked me what I wanted to do when I was in second grade and I said I want to be a professional golfer and I’ve never changed my mind, so here I am.”
Kizzire wrote for sponsor invites and pieced together a schedule that included 18 starts during the regular season, but his struggles continued — just two top-10 finishes and both at opposite field events — and entered the week at No. 132 in the season-long standings. After missing the cut in his last two starts and enduring a stretch from late January through March in which he missed six consecutive cuts, Kizzire failed to make the playoffs and had a month off at home in Sea Island, Georgia. He decided that his mental and physical part of his game both could use a boost.
“I think what was wrong, you couldn’t see it in the stats,” he said.
He started working with a new mental coach, a woman based near his home, who took him out of his comfort zone with a different approach to getting in the right frame of mind to make birdies. At first, Kizzire conceded he was skeptical. Among the things she has introduced into his regimen includes hugging trees, walking bare foot and helping pick the range and taking time to look at flowers.
“Not joking. I hugged that tree right there,” he said, pointing to a tree along Silverado Resort’s 16th tee on Friday. He added, “I’ve hugged one tree in my life and that was this morning.”
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Whatever works. Kizzire said he was trying to find “the best version of me,” and he was unflappable. He opened with 66 on Thursday, birdied his first hole after hugging that tree and then made pars on the rest of the front nine. He said he didn’t have his best stuff but remained patient.
“That was it,” Kizzire said. “I could have gotten frustrated or talked about a bad shot or worried about why am I not hitting it like I want to or all those different things, but I chose not to do that.”
He carded six birdies on the back nine to shoot 65 on Friday, tacked on a 67 in the third round and never relinquished the lead. Lipsky, who birdied two of the first four holes and closed in 71, mounted an early charge in his bid to win for the first time on Tour, but Kizzire chipped in for eagle at the par-5 fifth and never looked back.
“When that ball went in, I had a jolt of confidence,” he said. “I felt like I had the tournament again.”
Lipsky, who settled for second, a career-best finish that likely secured his card for next season, called it a small victory. “I was pretty depressed through the middle of the season with my game and I couldn’t be happier right now,” he said. “It means the world to me.”
Even when he made bogeys at Nos. 9 and 11, Kizzire bounced back with birdies at Nos. 12 and 13. This week, he scribbled a note in his yardage book that said, “I am here, I am now.”
“I kept going back to that and that helped me be disciplined and stay present,” he said.
It didn’t hurt that Kizzire had a splendid putting week, leading the field in Strokes Gained: Putting, gaining nearly nine strokes on the greens. “I didn’t feel like I played that well, but I putted great,” he said.
Patrick Fishburn, who shot 71, finished alone in third for the second time in his last four starts. Ben Silverman posted 71 to tie Mackenzie Hughes (72) and Greyson Sigg (72) for fourth; for Silverman and Sigg, they also recorded their best career finishes on Tour.
But this week belonged to Kizzire, who hit the reset button and found the power of positive thinking could be the difference in his career. Six years, 8 months, 1 day and 176 starts later, he held a trophy again.
“It’s just so sweet to go through the ups and downs, that’s life,” he said. “There’s ups and downs, you’ve just got to stay positive and that’s what led me here to right now.”