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CROWNE PLAZA INVITATIONAL AT COLONIALMay 24, 2015Chris KirkFORT WORTH, TEXAS MODERATOR: We would like to welcome the 2015 Crowne Plaza Invitational at Colonial champion, Chris Kirk into the media center. Chris, what a day out there. If we can just get some comments on your round, the exciting finish and an all-world par there on the last hole? CHRIS KIRK: Thanks a lot, yeah. Obviously couldn't be more pleased with how I played coming down the stretch today. You know, especially through a lot of the round didn't really feel great, especially with my driver. That was why I wanted to hit driver on 18 so bad, but I just hadn't made a whole lot of good swings with it so tried to hit a little hook 3-wood around there. Felt like I kind of really just gutted it out and made the putts when I needed to down the stretch. And then to make that putt on 18, my first three wins on Tour have all been little tap-ins on the last hole, so to step up and make a putt that I knew was to win is something I'll never forget. MODERATOR: I know you said for quite some time that this is your favorite tournament. You're a former Hogan Award winner here and the first ever to win this event. How special is that to you? CHRIS KIRK: Unbelievable, yeah. That's amazing you saying it like that. You know, I came here my junior year in college, the final for the Ben Hogan Award, and didn't win, but before that day I had been planning on turning pro actually after my junior year. I had a great year that year, thinking okay, what else am I going to accomplish my senior year. So after I came here and did the whole deal and had the ceremony and I didn't win, it sort of motivated me, okay, that's what I'm going to do. So I went back to school at Georgia for my senior year and had a great year and came back and won the Ben Hogan Award. Those experiences, those two years coming here and getting to play the golf course and just seeing the incredible history of this place really, really made me love it. And then once I got on Tour, I found that it was a course that really, really suited my game and I've always really enjoyed the town of Ft. Worth. So all those things combined has made it my favorite place to come year in and year out. So to win it for all those reasons is really just beyond belief. MODERATOR: Before we open it up for questions, big jump in the FedEx Cup standings, but also I hear the check today may go to good use? CHRIS KIRK: Yeah, we're closing on a new house in Athens next Wednesday. My wife and two sons and I wanted to be close to the University of Georgia where we both went to school, so yeah, buy a new house next Wednesday. Thankfully the house costs a lot less than what that check was for so I think I'll be all right. Q. Chris, this is the first time at Colonial that you've had all subpar rounds and how big was that eagle to start you off today? CHRIS KIRK: Yeah, that was obviously a great way to start the day. I didn't realize that, that was my first time having all four subpar rounds. I had some good results in this tournament, I've had chances to win before but have never really been able to piece the four rounds together. I've had some really great rounds but they've never quite got the job done. So to be able to put it all together this year is pretty cool. Q. Chris, obviously momentum is a huge thing in this game. Going back and forth, Brandt had a putt there that could have done some great things for him, he didn't make it. Just talk about the mood swing there from his miss to your make and what that did mentally? CHRIS KIRK: Yeah, you know, obviously I had to have -- had the mentality, I was getting ready to get up and make that putt to get into a playoff, that was what I thought. And close friends with Brandt and play a lot of golf with him and he doesn't miss very many of those putts, so that was what I was prepared to do. And then once he didn't make it, then I was able to change my mindset a little bit. But at the end of the day it doesn't really matter, you know. It's all about you've got to read it right and you've got to step up and hit the putt that you need to hit. So to do that, whether it was to be in a playoff or to win, I wouldn't have been any more or less nervous either way. So to have that feeling going through you when your whole body's just kind of shaking, I know I don't really look like that thankfully, but to be able to step up and make that putt, that's the reason why all of us do this. Q. With the leaderboard being as tight as it is, are you the type that likes to keep track of that? And also that final hole was obviously a very pro Spieth crowd; have you ever had a win that was maybe so disappointing to the gallery? CHRIS KIRK: I feel like they cheered for me pretty good. No, you know, I'm sort of somewhere in between. I'm not like a constant leaderboard watcher but I'm not like walking around like this to make sure I don't see them either. If I happen to notice one, then I'll maybe check in, but I don't really care a whole lot what anybody else is doing. I'm very focused on the task at hand and focused on hitting my shots and hitting my putts to the best of my ability and I think that shows, you can probably see that in my demeanor. I'm not concerned with what other people are doing. I know that I just have to take care of my business and let the chips fall where they may. Q. Chris, what kind of mental toughness does it take to win on a day when you're -- you said you're not comfortable with your driver and obviously maybe you don't have your A-plus game today? CHRIS KIRK: I mean, to be honest with you, kind of surprised that I'm sitting here with y'all at the moment. Every other time that I've either won or been in this position I've really felt great about pretty much all aspects of my game. To be able to do it when I didn't really feel like I quite had it is I feel like a huge step for me. I think THE PLAYERS Championship was more of the same thing. I didn't really feel great with my swing there. I mean, I was playing really efficient golf, I was getting the ball up and down, making putts and hitting good iron shots when I had to. So to go in there at THE PLAYERS with the lead going in the final round and not win, I wasn't really hard on myself and, you know, didn't really expect to come and do this week. So it probably made me -- I was probably more nervous today than any of my previous three wins coming down the stretch just because I was constantly just having to -- it wasn't like oh, that's where I want to hit it, hit it. I was having to figure out a way to do it and hit. Like I said, I wanted to hit driver on 18 but I just didn't think that I was going to hit it anywhere on the planet, to be honest with you. So I was just trying to figure out a way to somehow keep it in front of me and somehow just get the ball in the hole. So like I said, I'm a little bit surprised but very proud of myself that I was able to do it. Q. Were any of your other wins clinched with your kids sitting in your lap and your wife sitting next to you? CHRIS KIRK: No, that was amazing. You know, for them to be able to travel with me, my wife Tahnee and my sons Sawyer and Foster. I love having them on the road with me. Whether you shoot 65 or 75, you get done and they don't know and they don't care, they just are happy to see daddy. So it's awesome. After having the low round of the day yesterday and getting myself in contention, you know, it's easy to sit around and think about it and whatever, but I don't have that opportunity. With them, you know, they're running me ragged for sure. But it's just amazing mentally to have them with me, that sort of healthy distraction. Q. Chris, talk about your birdie on 15, shot into there and that gave you the outright lead at that point. CHRIS KIRK: Yeah, that was huge. The entire back nine I kind of had 13 as my number in my head that I was wanting to get to, so made a really great save on 14, got up and down from that front right bunker and then hit a really good 3-wood off the tee on 15 and felt like that was kind of a wheelhouse number for me, it was 157. I hit my 8-iron 160, so I kind of prefer those shots where I'm taking a little bit off, kind of chippy little shots. Took just a hair off it and that's the pin that you probably don't fire at every single time but I just felt good in the moment and went ahead and hit it in there close. My goal is to try to get one more of those last three holes. Didn't manage to, but thankfully it didn't matter. Q. I'm just curious, do you remember what age you were when you first heard of Ben Hogan and maybe the mystique surrounding him? CHRIS KIRK: I don't remember, no, what age I would have been. I just remember in high school reading the golf books and studying people's swings. He's always been the standard, you know, and still is and will be for a long time I would imagine. To now have even just a little bit of an association with him is very special. Q. Apologize if you've already answered this but what did you hit on 18 out of the rough and were you surprised to see it go over the green like that? CHRIS KIRK: I hit a 9-iron. Unfortunately, I wasn't really surprised to see it over the green. I had 160 to the hole and it was downwind, and even though I was able to give myself a nice lie there, I felt it was probably going to jump a little bit. I only hit a 9-iron 145 but I had a combination of a lot of factors that were making that ball want to go really far, some adrenaline going and a little bit of a flyer lie and a little bit downwind and it got nice and warm and sunny out there all of a sudden. I was thankful it only went that far over the green. I didn't feel like a pitching wedge was ever going to get close to pin high, so I knew that I would have a lot better chance of making a 3 or a 4 from a little past the hole. Q. Did you give any thought into what you were going to wear today in terms of maybe later on if you're wearing that jacket? CHRIS KIRK: No, I didn't. I feel like I did okay. No, I didn't think about it thankfully. Q. And what was the difference in terms of your mentality shooting the 65 on Saturday and how you felt today? CHRIS KIRK: Yeah, on Saturday obviously being at 3-under going into the weekend I knew that it was going to be at least something in double digits to win. So you can't get it in one day here, this course never ever let's you shoot more than about 5; 6-under is like an amazing round out here. So I knew there really wasn't going to be much of a chance for me to shoot 8-under or something on Sunday. I had the number of 8 in my head most of my round on Saturday, I felt like I needed to get it to 8 to really be in striking distance and thankfully I was able to birdie 16 and 18 to do it. MODERATOR: Anything else? All right. Congratulations once again to Chris Kirk. CHRIS KIRK: Thank you. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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