KAPALUA, Maui » Chris Kirk went out by himself Monday due to Kevin Stadler‘s early departure with a wrist injury and tied the tournament record with an 11-under 62. And he needed only 2 hours and 48 minutes to do it.
He began his final round in next-to-last place, thanks in part to a pair of triple bogeys he encountered over the weekend. Had he remained in that position at the conclusion of the Hyundai Tournament of Champions, he would have pocketed $55,000.
Instead, he finished in a tie for 14th at 13-under 279 and doubled his earnings to $110,000 along the way. Not a bad payday all things considered. Kirk carded four birdies on the front and seven on the back, including five over the final six holes. His closing round was bogey free and tied the 62s Graeme McDowell managed in 2011 and K.J. Choi turned in in 2003.
And oh yeah, Jason Day equaled that 62 about an hour later.
"Haven’t got to practice a whole lot, but something kind of clicked for me on the back nine, hit a lot of wedges close," Kirk said of his 30 over the closing holes. "I drove it way better today. I mean I drove it really right where I was looking all day, which was nice.
"I kind of remembered a little bit of something, a key of mine that had me driving the ball so well around the Masters and U.S. Open last year. It was a thought of just really trying to stay in my posture as long as I can and that helps the club really just track down the line going through and makes the ball fly really straight."
Kirk will play at the Sony Open in Hawaii later this week, where he’s had a modicum of success, including a runner-up finish last year to defending champion Jimmy Walker. He has a bit of a wrist injury, but it didn’t hinder him all that much.
"I was playing in the yard with my 2-year-old and kind of slipped and just landed on it funny," Kirk said. "It wasn’t hurt bad at all. It happened on Sunday right before I went down to the Hero (Tiger Woods‘ event), so if I had just rested for probably 10 days, it would have been fine, but I went straight down and played that tournament and aggravated it a little bit more. It’s a mild sprain. No big deal."
Kirk knew he was close to the tournament record coming in.
"But I wasn’t really too worried about it, to be honest with you."
Johnson can’t repeat
Defending champion Zach Johnson knew the 73 he shot in the third round would come back to haunt him. The 2009 Sony Open winner began the day six shots back, and even with a stellar 6-under 67 on Monday, still finished four strokes off the winning pace.
His four-day total of 17-under 275 left him alone in seventh. The last repeat winner at Kapaulua was Geoff Ogilvy in 2009-10. Since the event moved to Maui in 1999, Stuart Appleby is the only other player to win back-to-back, with his three consecutive victories in 2004, 2005 and 2006.
Ogilvy returned to Kapalua for the first time since he won in 2010, picking up a tie for 27th this week.
Inside the numbers
Even with the shift to Kona winds, the fourth-round scoring average was the second-best for the tournament at 69.485, a shade higher than the opening round of 69.471. For the week, the total was 69.925.
The most difficult hole for the second straight day was No. 1 at 4.273 with one birdie by Brian Harmon, 25 pars, five bogeys, one double bogey and one triple. The easiest hole was the par-5 18th with a scoring average of 4.333 with 23 birdies, nine pars and one bogey.
