Known as a heartedly self-motivated player on the LPGA Tour, Cristie Kerr used a little bit of extra personal motivation this week to claim her 17th career LPGA Tour victory at the Kia Classic. It looked as if nothing would get in Kerr’s way en-route to a final-round 65. Her four-round total of 20-under par 268 broke the event’s scoring record by four shots.
“It does, and you know what, my caddie Greg’s father passed away last week, and he wasn’t with me in Phoenix,” said Kerr. “I played for the both of us this week, and I said I was going to do it, and I did it and it made it that much more special for us as our first win together and for my son being there, my family, and probably ‑‑ I mean this right here.”
Kerr started Sunday’s round three shots off the lead and a hot putter in the middle of the round helped kick start the charge. She carded five birdies in a span of six holes from Nos. 5-10. But a bogey on the par 4 12th dropped her back into a three-way tie with Lydia Ko and Mirim Lee at 17-under par.
“You know, starting to the fifth hole, you know, the first couple ‑‑ first couple holes I just made really great pars and just hung in there, actually the first three holes I did that, and you know, I said to Gregor, my caddie on 5, come on, you know, here we begin,” said Kerr. “I made a lot of birdies on the front after that, even, you know, even not birdieing the 8th hole, I still did great on the front and just gutted out a terrific birdie on 10.”
Kerr bogeyed her first hole of the day on No. 12 but ignited a fire which started a birdie barrage of four-consecutive birdies on Nos. 13-16 and extended her lead to three shots with two holes to play.
But second-year Tour member Mirim Lee hit the shot of the day, bombing her tee shot on the par 4 16th hole to three feet. She sank the putt for eagle and cut the lead to one shot.
But Lee would double bogey No. 17 from a poor tee shot that landed in the right woods and dropped two shots back. Kerr walked to the 18th tee with a three-shot lead, a good enough cushion to let her bogey the final hole and finish two shots clear.
“I feel obviously very confident. I am so happy that my caddie and I got a win early on the board together,” said Kerr. “You know, his father passing away last week, I mean it just shows you life is really short and you have to seize the moment when you can, and I really just felt extra motivation to play for us and also reflecting back to what I’m grateful for and have in my life. I just tried to play as many shots without interference as possible this week, and I did great.”
Kerr made 43 starts in between her last two victories, her last coming at the 2013 Kingsmill Championship. She becomes the first American winner of the 2015 season and first to win the event in its six-year history. Kerr said the win had a little bit of destiny attached to it now that she and her caddie got their first win coming off an emotional week.
“Just felt like it was meant to be, our first win together, even our first Top 10 together really,” said Kerr.
“I mean we just fell in stride and the team that we are is pretty amazing in such a short period of time.”
Leaderboard
| Player | R1 | R2 | R3 | R4 | ToPar |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cristie Kerr | 67 | 68 | 68 | 65 | -20 |
| Mirim Lee | 65 | 69 | 66 | 70 | -18 |
| Lydia Ko | 67 | 70 | 67 | 67 | -17 |
| Alison Lee | 69 | 66 | 66 | 71 | -16 |
| Inbee Park | 68 | 70 | 68 | 67 | -15 |
The Streak Continues
Rolex Rankings No. 1 Lydia Ko continued her streak of sub-par rounds to 28 with a 5-under 67 on Sunday. Earlier this week, she said she likes to take the tough rounds as lessons learned. She said that today made her realize she needs to feel more comfortable over her putts when her ball striking lags.
“Today, I just said ‑‑ like even at the Coates, I wasn’t hitting the ball very well,” said Ko. “I was just holing a lot of good putts, and that was kind of what was going on today. Obviously I stuck a couple close, and that was good. I think some parts of I just gotta be confident in my game still because I know that I’m playing good enough, that I can trust my putter even though my ball striking is a little off or vice versa.”
Ko has been playing consistently terrific golf and will be bringing a ton of momentum into the year’s first major next week at the ANA Inspiration. The 17-year old has another shot at history and could become the youngest major champion with a win in the desert.
“I mean I’ve been watching Golf Channel, and they’ve been saying the spotlight is kind of on me, you know, who’s going to win, but you know, it’s going to be definitely a tough week,” said Ko. “I know that all the girls are trying to bring their A games together, and that’s what I gotta do. So I’m just going to try and have fun. Hopefully I’ll hit some really good shots, make some good putts and give myself a good run for it.”
Key Numbers To Know
1 – Cristie Kerr was the first American to win the Kia Classic
6 – Players from six different countries have now won the Kia Classic
9 – Consecutive weeks at the top of the Rolex Rankings for Lydia Ko after a third place finish
11 – Projected Rolex Ranking for Cristie Kerr after her win at the Kia Classic
17 – Career LPGA wins for Cristie Kerr
-20 - Tournament record score for Cristie Kerr at the Kia Classic this week at the Aviara Golf Club
28 – Consecutive rounds under par for Lydia Ko after the final round at the Kia Classic
64 – Ilhee Lee tied the Aviara Golf Club course record, originally set by Dori Carter in the second round of the 2014 Kia Classic and also done in the second round by Morgan Pressel and the third round by Se Ri Pak.
Quotable
“I play with Morgan (Pressel). I learn from her. Tell her I try to copy her today.“
– Ilhee Lee when asked why so many players are tying the course record this week. She played with Morgan Pressel during the second round at the Kia Classic, when Morgan also tied the course record.
Show Me the Eagles
16 total eagles were made this weekend at the Kia Classic and players raised $16,000 for the Wounded Warrior Project as part of the season-long Wounded Warrior Project® Weekends.
The 16 eagles today pushes the season-total to $52,000.
Wounded Warrior Project® Weekends is a season-long charity program that will be tied into the Race to the CME Globe. Each Saturday and Sunday at LPGA tournaments, CME Group will donate $1,000 to Wounded Warrior Project® for each eagle that is recorded. This amount will increase to $5,000 for each eagle during the weekend of the CME Group Tour Championship and a formal check will be presented to the Wounded Warrior Project® during the trophy ceremony at the CME Group Tour Championship. To get involved and learn more, visit woundedwarriorproject.org.
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