Chris Kirk insists that fixed reminders about his battles with alcoholism and psychological well being points take nothing away from his resurgence again to PGA Tour success.
Kirk made a successful begin to the 2024 marketing campaign with victory at The Sentry, the primary of the PGA Tour’s signature occasions, the place he birdied two of his 4 final holes to say a one-shot win over Sahith Theegala in Hawaii.
The 38-year-old’s victory is his sixth PGA Tour title and second as many seasons, having beforehand needed to step away from the game for almost seven months in 2019 to deal with his off-course struggles.
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Highlights from the ultimate spherical of The Sentry in Hawaii, the primary signature occasion of the PGA Tour season
“I hope it [the recovery journey] stays with me ceaselessly,” Kirk instructed reporters after his victory. “It is an enormous a part of my life nonetheless now. Undoubtedly the most effective factor that I’ve ever carried out in my life is to get sober.
“I do not really feel prefer it’s taking away from something that I am engaging in. It is 100 per cent the rationale why I will do what I do.
“I’ve stated that so much, however there can be – my PGA Tour profession would have been over some time in the past, had I not gotten sober. So, yeah, I am superb with that staying with me for till the day I die.”
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Chris Kirk is now a six-time winner on the PGA Tour and again contained in the world’s prime 25
The autumn and rise of Kirk
Kirk reached as excessive as world No 16 after successful the Colonial Match in 2015, his fourth PGA Tour victory, then struggled for kind within the following years earlier than asserting his “indefinite depart” from the game in Might 2019 to begin “a brand new and higher chapter” in his life.
He dropped out of the world’s prime 500 till a win on the Korn Ferry Tour in 2020 on the King & Bear Traditional began his rise again up the rankings, with a runner-up end on the Sony Open the next January – the final begin on his main medical extension – then seeing him regain his PGA Tour card.
The American certified for the FedExCup Playoffs that season and the next yr, earlier than ending his eight-year winless run on the PGA Tour by beating Eric Cole in a play-off on the 2023 Honda Traditional.
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Highlights from the ultimate spherical of the 2023 Honda Traditional at PGA Nationwide, the place Chris Kirk claimed play-off victory
Kirk’s win places him because the early chief within the FedExCup standings and earns him $3.6m (£2.8m), plus ensures an invitation to The Masters and can see him characteristic in all the majors once more this yr.
“I had it [enjoyment for golf] for a very long time after which misplaced it,” Kirk defined. “I misplaced the enjoyment of most issues in life for some time there, however yeah, it is actually again.
“I believe I simply love how laborious that is. Like, it is so laborious to be nice at this and I like the method that it takes. I like the work that it takes to attempt to be the most effective model of myself.
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“I positively have fallen again in love with that course of and typically you get rewarded for it, like as we speak [Sunday] and typically you do not. That is simply a part of the deal. I believe to achieve success and to essentially get pleasure from your life as a PGA Tour participant you have to love the work.”
Kirk was recognised final yr with the PGA Tour Braveness Award, an accolade given to an individual who has overcome extraordinary adversity to make a major and significant contribution to the sport of golf, with the brand new world No 25 pleased with how he has tackled his sickness.
“It actually has been useful and helpful to me to be open and public about it,” Kirk added. “I reside a good quantity of my life type of within the public view, considerably in any case,
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Chris Kirk was simply exterior the world’s prime 50 till his one-shot victory at The Sentry
“The largest factor for me was waking up each morning and taking a look at myself within the mirror and realizing that I’ve received nothing to cover, and I might be pleased with who I’m. So, I did not really feel like that was actually going to be fairly as doable if I used to be not open about it.
“It was extra of simply the liberty of not mendacity to myself and mendacity to different folks, that is what it was. There may be some sense of accountability there, for positive, however, yeah, it is positively extra about simply feeling free for the primary time in a very long time.”
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