CHRIS KIRK WINS VIKING CLASSIC

By mustang6560 on 7/18/11

Someone should teach Chris Kirk the art of "winning".

The PGA Tour rookie won his first tournament at the Viking Classic (the PGA Tour's "other" event from last weekend), but he did it all wrong.

Chris birdied the 17th hole at Annandale Golf Club to pull ahead of Tom Pernice Jr. and George McNeil by one stroke. After maneuvering carefully through the water-lined par 5 finishing hole, Chris was on the green in regulation and just needed to two-putt from about 10-feet to win his first PGA Tour victory and become the fifth rookie to win on tour this season.

His short birdie putt looked good up until the last second when it broke right, which left him a tap to win that even the most anxious of golfers couldn't miss. In this situation, he should have marked his ball and let his playing partner, Sunghoon Kang, finish out the hole so the moment could be his and his alone and the fans could help him celebrate his accomplishment. Instead, he went ahead and tapped in.

The crowd started to applaud his break through performance at the Viking Classic but then had to "Hush Y'all" to let Sunghoon putt. How anticlimactic was that? Watch the video, even Sunghoon is surprised Kirk decided to finish out and makes a gesture like "What is this rookie doing?"

Maybe I'm being overly critical of the guy, but winning on the PGA Tour is a big deal and you should revel in the moment because you never know if it's going to happen again.


Chris Kirk Wins Viking Classic





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