Chris Kirk. Pic PGA Tour
Sahith Theegala missed a 10 foot putt on the 18th and finished second in the Sentry, the opening event of the 2024 PGA TOUR season. The Indian-American was on fire and shot 10-under 63 and finished at 28-under, but Chris Kirk, the overnight leader playing in the final group, carded 8-under 65 to finish at 29-under, that included a superb second shot to set up a birdie on the 17th to go one ahead. He parred the 18th and won the title at Kapalua, Maui.
Theegala and Jordan Spieth each caught up Kirk on the back nine but Kirk held on at the Par-73 Plantation Course in Maui.
Akshay Bhatia, the other Indian-American in the field, who was second after 54 holes, had a double bogey start after two bogey-free days and finished with 2-under 71 and dropped to Tied-14th place in a high-scoring but tight event. Bhatia, one shot behind at the start, drove his opening tee shot into the native grass and never contended thereafter.
Theegala missed a 10-foot birdie chance at the par-5 closing hole and shot 63, while Spieth, whose tee shot on the 16th plugged under the lip of a bunker for a bogey, missed a 15-foot eagle putt on the 18th and shot 65 to finish third at 27-under as Korean Byeong-Hun-An (66) was fourth at 26-under.
Theegala said, “It was a great day. Got off to a really nice start. I just saw my replay on 2 (hole) because we were wondering how the ball got there. It looked like it lipped out off the top edge. Great start. Had a bonus putt on 3 and never really looked back from there. You knew that guys were going to go low, you knew there was going to be a ton of looks (for birdies), it was just so calm. So, it was a little bit of just staying patient on the putts. Missed a few short putts on 6 and 7 that really could have gotten the round off to a superfast start.”
He added, “I knew there was going to be a ton more looks. Obviously 18 hurts a little bit, but, I think Chris (Kirk) hit an incredible shot on 17 there, and then if we were tied or if I was at 29, I think he would probably pull off a birdie there as well (on 18). Yeah, I really wish I could have had that second shot on 18 back. It’s not how it works.”
He added, “The second shot was the bummer, for sure. Definitely thinking back on it, it’s really hard to be sad or upset about having a nice Sunday round, but it’s just — parring the last hole leaves a little bit of a sour taste. I was so much calmer than I have been previously. It’s going to take me a day or two to get over it.”
At 17th, Kirk was tied when he hit 5-iron from 209 yards over the gorge to a right pin. He landed just over 2 feet for a calm birdie on the toughest hole of the back nine. He played the 18th without risks for a par and won his sixth career PGA TOUR victory. He finished at 29-under 263 and earned $3.6 million from the $20 million purse, the first of eight Signature Events.
Kirk, 38, from Georgia has been on a great recovery from alcoholism and depression, which led to him step away from golf for six months in 2019. He won the Cognizant Classic last year, and was honoured with the “Courage Award” for 2023.
The victory assures him a spot in the Masters — he was just outside the top 50 in the world at the end of last year — and allows him to book a return trip to Kapalua to start next year.
Spieth, winner in 2016, had five straight birdies around the turn and caught up to Kirk and Theegala with birdies at the 14th and 15th. Then the bogey on 16th set him back.
Theegala had a great final day. After four birdies in a row from second to sixth, he added one on ninth to turn in 5-under. Another birdie followed on 11th and four more came in a row from 13th to the 16th. That birdie on the 16th gave him a one-shot lead. Then he parred 17th and missed a 10-footer for the 11th birdie of the day and finished one behind.
Sungjae Im got into the PGA TOUR record books with 34 birdies, beating Jon Rahm’s mark of 32 set last year.
While he was delighted with his record, Im was still somewhat disappointed with his third round of 73 on Saturday which knocked him out of contention in his search for a third PGA TOUR title.
This is the second birdie record on TOUR which Im now proudly holds as in 2021, he snared 498 birdies to set a new record for most birdies during a season, breaking the previous mark of 493 by Steve Flesch in 2000.
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