FORT SMITH — Chris Kirk’s first professional victory will be a memorable one. It’s almost certainly sending him to the PGA Tour.
Kirk shot a 6-under-par 64 Sunday to finish at 16 under and won the Nationwide Tour’s Fort Smith Classic by one stroke at Hardscrabble Country Club.
With the victory, Kirk earns $94,500 and moves up to No. 1 on the Nationwide Tour’s money list with $262,382, a number that should easily allow him to finish in the top 25 on the season-ending list. That would guarantee him a spot on next year’s PGA Tour.
“This is sort of a lot of goals in one day for me,” Kirk said. “Getting my first win on the Nationwide Tour feels incredible. Totally securing my Tour card for next year is obviously one of my biggest goals. And going to No. 1 on the money list.”
Kirk, who won seven times as a collegian at Georgia, also has two second-place finishes amonghis four top 10s this year on the Nationwide Tour.
“At times, it was a little bit difficult to keep those thoughts out of my head, I guess. But being able to accomplish all three of those with one round of golf is pretty gratifying,” Kirk said.
The bunched-up field at the top of the leaderboard after Saturday’s third round stayed that way through most of Sunday’s final round. Kirk played the back nine at 3 under, allowing him to finish one stroke ahead of Kyle Thompson and four strokes ahead of Garrett Osborn, Michael Putnam, Zack Miller and Josh Broadaway, who was the third-round leader.
Thompson had to rally during a Monday qualifier just to get in the tournament, but he won’t have to worry about that the rest of the year. He earns $56,700 for finishing second and should be able to get in as many tournaments as he needs to the remainder of the year. He moved from 150th to 35th on the money list.
“The last two years have really been a struggle for me,” Thompson said. “To finally go out and show my potential is really rewarding. I’ve worked my butt off. And I won’t have to Monday [qualify] anymore this year.”
Kirk didn’t lead most of the tournament, but he was among the leaders each day. He was tied for third after Thursday, tied for fifth after Friday and tied for second after Saturday.
“It was one of those days, being in the last group and being only one shot off the lead. In great shape in great contention. But with relatively benign conditions, not a whole lot of wind, you still know in your head you’ve got to be really aggressive and shoot a really low round to win,” Kirk said. “Thankfully, I was able to keep that mindset.”
Osborn posted the first low round of the day, shooting 64 to become the clubhouse leader at 12 under. He was bested a few groups later when Thompson birdied five of the final eight holes to shoot 63 and post 15 under. Thompson gave a double fist-pump on the 18th green when his final birdie rolled in.
But Kirk and others were still lurking in the 13-under to 15-under range. And seconds after Thompson’s putt, Kirk made a birdie on 15 to move back into the lead at 16 under.
“It was 187, which was a perfect yardage for me,” Kirk said. “I hit a 6-iron to about 15 feet and was able to roll that one right in the middle.”
Broadaway appeared to be the last player on the course with a chance to beat Kirk. But he dropped back to 12 under after a bogey on the 14th hole.
Kirk hit his drive on the 18th hole into the first cut of rough on the right side. From 160 yards, he hit his second shot into the middle of the green. He then two-putted to secure the one-stroke victory.
“My ball-striking absolutely got better every day, and I putted well every day. The first day, I didn’t hit it that great but got a lot out of it, made a lot of putts. Today, everything was pretty good,” Kirk said.
Former Arkansas Razorbacks Tag Ridings and Brenden Pappas were the top finishers among players with Arkansas ties. Both finished at 10 under, tied for 13th.
Dardanelle’s John Daly(Razorbacks) finished tied for 22nd at 8 under. Arkadelphia’s Ken Duke (Henderson State) finished tied for 31st at 6 under. And Little Rock’s Ron Whittaker and Farmington’s Scott Gardiner finished tied for 39th at 4 under.
“Personally, I think it was a great week,” Daly said.
Ridings remains seventh on the yearly money list with $159,832.
Broadaway began the day with a one-stroke lead over Kirk, David McKenzie and Nathan J. Smith. When he teed off at 12:10 p.m., there were already seven players within one stroke of his lead.
Kirk was the first player to get to both 13 under and 14 under Sunday. But he bogeyed the eighth hole after he hit the wrong club. At the same time, Michael Putnum eagled the 11th hole to tie Kirk for the lead at 13 under.
“If anybody says that doubt doesn’t creep into their head on every single hole, they’re lying to you,” Kirk said. “To handle those thoughts and let them come and go is sort of the mental process that I have.”
Kirk, who lost a two-stroke lead in the final round of a tournament earlier this year in Australia, birdied the 13th hole to retake the outright lead at 15 under. The only time he didn’t hold that lead the remainder of the day came after Thompson’s birdie on 18.
But Kirk birdied the 15th hole minutes later to retake the outright lead. And he was able to hold on for the victory.
Sports, Pages 13 on 06/21/2010