Chris Kirk takes step back, then sees success in his game

Former Georgia golfer Chris Kirk and former Braves pitcher Pascual Perez have more in common than picking up multimillion-dollar bonuses in Atlanta.

Both had missed starts that involved driving laps around Atlanta’s perimeter beltway.

Kirk, who pocketed $3 million after the Tour Championship for finishing as runner-up in the 2014 FedEx Cup series, once handled his frustration at failing to qualify to play for the Bulldogs by driving around aimlessly.

“He came in as an AJGA first-team All-American, and seemed like clockwork the last round of qualifying on the back nine he would collapse and end up losing,” Georgia coach Chris Haack said. “It got so bad that the last time he did it – he made an 8 or 9 on the 16th hole – and he was so distraught that he got in his car and started driving. His mom finally called me and said he was so down in the dumps, he’s driving around 285 in a constant circle.”

“The pressure of qualifying was something that I was not familiar with,” Kirk said. “I had a few bad experiences where I didn’t play very well and didn’t make the team. It was just one of those deals where I finished and Haacker wanted to talk to me and my parents wanted to talk to me but I didn’t want to talk to anybody. So I just drove around. I … needed some time to myself and that was the only place I felt like I could get it.”

Haack decided to take Kirk to his first collegiate tournament in Birmingham, Ala., anyway to see what it was all about. For the first round, Kirk was the team’s designated coach, tasked with standing around on the par 3s and driveable par-4 to offer advice to his teammates.

“At some point he walked over to the cart to us and said, ‘These guys are idiots. They won’t listen,’ ” Haack said. “Welcome to our world. Now you get it. It’s not an easy game and you make it harder on yourself. Take the simple way.”

The lesson made an impression on Kirk, who never missed in qualifying again as he helped Georgia win a national championship in 2005 and was the nation’s top collegiate golfer in 2007.

“It helped me from a course management standpoint to be able to take a step back from it and watch how guys were playing,” Kirk said. “It further confirmed my belief that I was good enough to play out there and compete.”

His pattern of struggle before success looped back again as a professional. He spent three seasons on the Nationwide Tour, struggling mightily as a touring sophomore before finally breaking through in 2010 with two victories and runner-up status on the season money list to earn his PGA Tour card.

“The real lapse was coming out of Georgia,” Kirk said. “My second (year) out there I finished 175th on money list and lost my status and had to go back through the tour school to get my status back on the Nationwide. That was obviously a very trying time, but I think I’m a better player for it. It was a huge learning experience to struggle like that and really sort of dig deep and work my way out of it.”

Kirk won an event opposite the British Open as a PGA Tour rookie in 2011 to secure his place and has been consistently among the top 50 on the tour’s season-long points standings every year.

“I thought it was going to be a lot easier than it was. Being the player of the year my senior year at school, I thought I was pretty good. I quickly learned how much better guys on tour are than guys in college. There’s a lot of great players in college and a lot come out and have success, but the depth of guys on tour and how complete your game has to be to win on the PGA Tour and mentally solid you have to be to handle the pressure that comes along with it is way more than I could have imagined.”

It wasn’t until the 2013-14 season when Kirk made the biggest impression, winning in his home state at Sea Island to start the year and closing on a hot streak with a playoff victory in Boston and top-20 finishes in the Masters, British Open and Players Championship.

“Winning on the tour is so hard to do that you never really know if or when it’s going to come again,” he said. “To get a win at Sea Island was huge for me. Davis (Love) was my favorite player as a kid growing up and now has become a great friend and my biggest mentor on the tour. So to win his tournament and at Sea Island was huge. I was able to carry that over into a really solid season all year.”

Frustrated by a rough stretch this year from Pebble Beach to Doral that left Kirk feeling “lost” and unable to “play well anywhere,” he might still draw confidence from his performance last year. With a T20 in his Masters debut despite a nervous 75 in his first round, Kirk has the best finish to build on of any of his Georgia mates in the field who are not named Bubba Watson.

“I think the course suits my game really well, when it’s good,” Kirk said.