Chris Kirk had more than enough reason to feel nervous heading into a play-off decider at the recent Honda Classic, where he was seeking his first PGA Tour victory in almost eight years.
In the time since he had last been crowned a champion on golf 's biggest circuit, the 37-year-old had gone public regarding his battles with alcohol and depression, only to come back sober and ready for a new challenge. And almost four years after admitting he had a substance abuse problem, 'Captain Kirk' opened up about just how close he came to the brink amid his issues with alcohol.
“I owe everything that I have in my entire life to my sobriety,” the Knoxville native told reporters following a long-awaited win at PGA National Resort. “I wouldn’t be doing this for a living anymore. I probably wouldn’t have the family that I have currently anymore. I came really close to losing everything that I cared about.
“For that to have happened and worked out for me, obviously there was some decisions that I made, but mostly the grace of God and a lot of other people that really helped me along the way. It’s something that’s constantly on my mind, so it’s pretty easy for me to see that winning the Honda Classic is kind of a bonus when literally every good thing I have in my life I owe to that.”
His victory at the PGA National Resort will have felt that much more special considering it came as a result of his first career play-off. A banked shot into the water on the 18th almost spoiled his hopes of ending the PGA win drought, but he came up trumps in a head-to-head against Eric Cole.
As well as getting that considerable monkey off his back and restoring faith that he can still compete with the PGA elite, Kirk snagged a £1.2million grand prize in Florida, the most lucrative win of his career to date. Having fallen as low as 303rd in the rankings at the lowest point of his depression, he's now up to 32nd on the OWGR leaderboard.
That's good enough to guarantee he'll be in the line-up at this year's Masters, having failed to qualify for the competition since he missed the cut in 2016. The Tennessee talent tied for a share of 20th and 33rd in 2014 and 2015, respectively, but will hope to break a cycle of worsening records year-on-year at Augusta.
Before that, however, Kirk will travel to Orlando for the Arnold Palmer Invitational and his first opportunity to truly revel in his Honda Classic win with friends and family. “It’ll be a lot of celebrating, and I thank God that alcohol won’t be a part of it,” said the former world No. 16.
The father-of-three will approach an emotional Masters comeback with a different mentality to that of his 'old self', meaning the golf itself may end up coming secondary. “That par-three contest can’t come soon enough," added Kirk. "I’m really looking forward to that. The whole week, but just to be able to make those memories with my wife and my kids will be awesome.”
