Chris Kirk Wins Soggy Crowne Plaza Invitational
- Dan Hauser
- 25 May, 2015
Rain played a major roll in another PGA Tour event in 2015. In what seemed to be a weekly theme during the Florida swing, weather effected the play over the weekend at Colonial.
On both Saturday and Sunday, lift, clean, and place was in effect as golfers went off in threesomes from split tees early in the morning as bad was prevalent in the Dallas area. When the dust, and rain, settled, Chris Kirk came away with the win at the Crowne Plaza Invitational.
Kirk drained a clutch par putt on the 72nd hole to preserve a one shot lead over hometown favorite Jordan Spieth and earn his fourth PGA Tour win.
“My first three wins on Tour have all been little tap-ins on the last hole,” Kirk said. “So to step up and make a putt that I knew was to win is something I’ll never forget.”
Kirk shot all four rounds in the 60’s including Sunday’s 4-under 66 to come from behind and seal the deal over both Spieth, Jason Bohn, and friend Brandt Snedeker.
Kirk thought for sure that his par save on the 18th after he went left off the tee and flew the green with his approach would simply get him into a playoff. A few fortunate events for him kept that from happening. Snedeker missed his birdie putt from 12 feet on 18, while Spieth bogeyed the 16th hole, his only bogey of the day, and missed out on a playoff by one shot.
“Close friends with Brandt, and play a lot of golf with him, and he doesn’t miss very many of those putts,” Kirk said. “Once he didn’t make it, then I was able to change my mindset.”
As for Spieth, he chalked up his bogey on 16 Sunday to simply a “wrong decision”.
On Sunday, the 16th played at 184 yards and Spieth pulled out a 7 iron. He ended up all the way at the back of the green and 48 feet from the hole. He three-putted for bogey, ending his streak of 183 holes without a three-putt.
“I just took the wrong club,” Spieth said. “You’ve got to hit 8-iron there below the hole. Tried to hit a 7 and kind of punch it in there, maybe get it a little too close to the hole. 99 percent of the time, I make the right decision and stay below the hole. We made the wrong decision today and it cost us.”
While at Georgia, Kirk won the Hogan award his senior year, given out by Colonial to the nations top college golfer. Eight years later, he has now won something else at Colonial, a plaid jacket and a check for $1.7 million.
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About Dan Hauser
As an avid golfer and sports enthusiast, Dan has had a passion for sports starting at a very young age. Dan’s other passion has always been writing. Since the time he could write, he has always enjoyed sharing information with people and telling stories through writing. In middle school he combined his two loves by joining the school newspaper in the sports department.
