Tag: 2021 Sony Open

Despite coming up short at Sony Open, Chris Kirk keeps PGA Tour card with last start on major medical

Chris Kirk took a months-long break from the PGA Tour to seek treatment for alcohol abuse and depression. He has secured his card again.

Professional golfers make a challenging game look simple on a daily basis, so it’s just as easy to lose sight of how difficult it is to remain among the game’s elite.

Even four-time winners on the PGA Tour have to grind for membership.

That was Chris Kirk’s situation this week at the Sony Open in Hawaii. The 35-year-old needed to finish in a two-way tie for third place or better this weekend at Waialae Country Club in Honolulu to retain his PGA Tour membership. Playing on the final start of his major medical extension after taking a months-long leave of absence to seek treatment for alcohol abuse and depression, Kirk took a share of the lead into the clubhouse at 20 under on Sunday night at the Sony Open in Hawaii.

Kevin Na would end up making birdie on the final hole for his fifth PGA Tour win, and while there aren’t any trophies or oversized checks for second place, Kirk’s T-2 was almost as good as a win.

Sony Open: Leaderboard | Photos | Winner’s bag | Money

“I never felt like it was a do-or-die type of situation,” Kirk said of his weekend challenge. In fact, he didn’t know where he needed to finish to retain his membership until he received an email from the Tour. “I wasn’t looking. I was just going and playing.”

“I’m so thankful to have the support of my family through these last few years, especially. It’s been incredible.” added Kirk. “You could have called them crazy for supporting me, but my wife Tahnee, my boys Sawyer, Foster and Wilder, I just love them so much and can’t wait to see them.”

Kirk has earned $18,130,139 throughout a PGA Tour career that features wins at the 2011 Viking Classic, 2013 McGladrey Classic, 2014 Deutsche Bank Championship and 2015 Crowne Plaza Invitational at Colonial. In June 2020, Kirk ended a five-year victory drought, winning the King & Bear Classic on the Korn Ferry Tour.

The Athens, Georgia, resident said he was on his way to being an alcoholic from 2013-15 when he was at the peak of his career, noting how alcoholism is a progressive disease.

“After the next few years things kind of got worse,” said Kirk. “Being able to hit a reset button for me and get myself into a great place mentally and physically and just to be able to wake up everyday and just be okay with who I am and what I’m doing, I feel like I’m starting every day doing the best I can and trying to do the best I can for my family. That’s allowing me to potentially get back to the form that I had before and actually using the skillset that I’ve been blessed with.”

While an ultimatum wasn’t quite how Kirk planned his return to full-time membership on Tour, his lack of expectations when he returned to competition freed him up to enjoy a game he loves.

“I wouldn’t exactly have pegged this is the fashion that I did it, but when I came back, I came back with absolutely no expectations,” explained Kirk. “I knew I wanted to play golf again and I knew I wanted to compete. As long as I stuck with that and tried to make sure that I was enjoying what I was doing, that was all that mattered to me.”

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Kevin Na closes Sony Open with clutch birdie for fifth career PGA Tour title

Kevin Na overtook Brendan Steele in the final round of the Sony Open and leaves the 50th state with the title, his fifth career win on Tour.

Brendan Steele had some unfinished business to attend to in the final round of the Sony Open. After losing this event in a playoff a year ago, Steele entered Sunday’s final round with a two-shot lead and looking to close the deal.

Once again, however, Steele leaked too much oil coming into the clubhouse, and once again he failed to pad his PGA Tour win total. Instead, Kevin Na will leave the 50th state with the title, his fifth career win on the PGA Tour.

The final holes at Waialae Country Club in Honolulu turned into a horserace and three other players emerged to challenge Steele. When Steele bogeyed the 14th, he slipped out of the solo lead at 20 under and into a share of the lead at 19 under with Chris Kirk, Na and Webb Simpson.

Na got on a heater on the back nine, running off birdies at Nos. 13, 14 and 15 and making a clutch par putt at No. 17 to keep his chances alive.

“I felt pretty comfortable all day,” Na told Golf Channel after the round.

He called this victory validation for his 18 years on Tour. It took 14 for him to claim his first title. He has now won four times in the last two and a half years.

Coming down the 18th, Na shared the lead with Kirk at 20 under. Kirk was already in the clubhouse, and headed out to the range to warm up for a potential playoff. It was not to be, however.

After Na flew the 18th green with his second shot, he chipped up to a foot and made the putt for birdie and the win.

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Peter Malnati ties career low with 62 at Sony Open in Hawaii to grab early lead

Peter Malnati shot his fourth round of 63 or better this season as he continued his hot start to the 2020-21 campaign at the Sony Open.

Peter Malnati turned the page on the calendar, but he picked up where he left off at his 2021 debut at the Sony Open in Hawaii.

The 33-year-old Knoxville, Tennessee native recorded two top-5 finishes, including a runner-up at the Sanderson Farms Championship in his first seven starts of the 2020-21 season. At one point, Malnati had a string of three straight tournaments where he shot at least one round of 63 or better. He kept up that torrid pace on Thursday at Waialae Country Club in Honolulu. Malnati carded nine birdies en route to tying his career low with an 8-under 62 to grab the early lead.

“I soaked up the time at home,” he said, “that was really nice. I was playing great obviously last fall and kind of just tried to keep the momentum going over the little break and do just enough work to stay sharp and to come out and play well here today.”

Sony Open: Leaderboard | Photos

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When he fired a final-round 63 in Mississippi, Malnati said he’d be hard pressed to find a better round than that one, but he might have to reconsider after his sizzling start in the Aloha State. Malnati got the birdie fest going with a 35-foot birdie at No. 11, his second hole of the day. His short irons did most of the rest as Malnati’s longest of the remaining eight birdies was from 14 feet. It didn’t hurt that he chipped in for birdie at No. 3 from 30 feet off the green, which contributed to Malnati tying a career-low with just 21 putts.

Malnati has worked hard on his long game to improve his consistency, which has held the former Missouri Tiger back since notching his lone Tour victory at the 2015 Sanderson Farms Championship.

“My swing is not Adam Scott-esque,” he conceded. “It has a little bit of, I’ll say – idiosyncrasy is a good word. But when I give myself the time to sync everything up, pretty brilliant.”

He used the word “effortless” to describe Thursday’s brilliance. The only time Malnati was out of position in the opening round was when he hit his tee shot too well at the fifth hole.

“It’s straight downwind, so it’s not like I hit it that far, but 360 to go through the fairway into the creek and I was like, ‘Yeah, it’s a driver,’ ” Malnati recounted. “My caddie was like, ‘You want to think about it?’ I was like, ‘No, it’s driver.’ I hit it in the creek. It’s crazy. The course, it’s so much fun when it’s firm because that’s how this course was meant to play.”

Hot on Malnati’s heels after shooting 64s are Vaughn Taylor and Jim Herman, who missed the Sentry Tournament of Champions last week after testing positive with COVID-19.

“Didn’t know what to expect coming out this week. I had plenty of symptoms,” said Herman, who tested positive on December 28. “It was pretty miserable for about four days. My wife had it and luckily enough the rest of the house didn’t get it. But it wasn’t very pleasant.”

Added Herman: “It felt like a severe flu. Had some lung inflammation that was pressing on my back and caused discomfort for any position you would try to sit and relax.”

Herman said he didn’t touch a club for 11 or 12 days, but it didn’t seem to hinder his game as he recorded an eagle at the par-5 ninth hole in a bogey-free first round. Herman, who received last-place money from last week’s no-cut event, was confident he could’ve done better, but he was looking at the bigger picture.

“To miss a golf tournament, it’s not the end of the world,” he said.

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