Kisner in driver’s seat
CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Four years ago Kevin Kisner had the shanks so badly he was embarrassed to play practice rounds with other touring pros. His driver was like a hacked GPS system. He had no idea where it was going to take him.
A small adjustment that widened his stance finally corrected that problem, and for the last two days it has been his driver and his reasoned approach to it that has left him 8-under par at Quail Hollow and knotted at the top of the leaderboard with Hideki Matsuyama halfway through the 99th PGA Championship.
Although Kisner has played consistently well the past 21⁄ seasons, he has
2 never truly contended in a major championship, his best finish a tie for 12th at the 2015 U.S. Open and T18 at last year’s PGA.
Kisner’s back-to-back 67s have him halfway home to his first major and only second tour victory, but that is less remarkable than the way he’s done it.
Quail Hollow is considered a bomber’s course, a place where being long off the tee is the key to victory. Kisner is anything but that, ranking only 127th in driving distance this year and 90th this week. But even on the soft, rain-soaked fairways here that have made distance even more important because there is so little roll, Kisner has used his driver differently and with a precise plan that could not have worked better.
Kisner concluded before the tournament began that there are four birdie holes for him this week — the seventh, eighth, 14th and 15th. If he can make hay there and par the rest, he reasoned, he would have a chance to upset the field. Thus far, it’s worked better than the Marshal Plan.
After two days Kizner is 7-under on those holes, birdieing them all on Thursday and eagling 7 and birdieing 15 yesterday. Coupled with his steady play on the rest of the course (three bogeys, four birdies), Kisner is showing that what is more important than bombing your drive here is landing it in the fairway, which he’s done 21 of 28 times this week.
“Those are my holes to score well,” Kisner said. “If I play those 3-under the next two days, I’ll take that. Hitting it in the fairway a lot, which is huge around here.”
Not so many years ago, not hitting it in places where only the Mounties could find his ball seemed to be the one goal he had. He was shanking drives so severely the idea that he would in a few years be halfway to winning a major championship was laughable.
Kisner has made $7.4 million since by coming close with 12 top-10 finishes (plus two wins) and is no longer reluctant to play a practice round for fear of embarrassing himself off the tee. Yet the majors have never been the place where he played his best golf until two days ago.
“I’ve been upset with how I’ve played in the majors so far in my career,” Kisner said yesterday. “I feel like I have the game to compete in majors. That’s kind of been our goal for the year. We haven’t played well in them yet this year but every year you learn more about how to approach them.
“This is probably the easiest one I’ve had to prepare for because I know the golf course so well and I’ve been up here a lot. I’m excited about the opportunity and really fired up about the way I’m hitting the golf ball. I haven’t hit it this well this whole summer. So I’m looking forward to the weekend and having an opportunity to keep making birdies.”
To make them, he knows, he’ll have to keep hitting fairways and putts because what awaits him beginning today, he understands, is different from a normal weekend on tour.
“A big step (toward winning majors) is learning no lead is safe,” Kisner said. “(Majors) are not a whole lot of fun unless everything is working out for you. You’ve got to realize guys are making birdies and the whole mind set of ‘pars are good’ is kind of out the window.”
Fortunately for Kevin Kisner, and unfortunately for everyone chasing him today whenever the third round begins at rainsoaked Quail Hollow, thus far this major has become a whole lot of fun because the shanks are gone and the plan is working.
Whether that continues for a guy who has never played particularly well in major championships will be determined, he believes, by four holes — and reminding himself it’s not important how far he hits it off the tee, it’s where it lands that counts the most.
“At the end of the day, it’s just golf, right?” Kisner asked. “I have to hit my tee ball where I’m trying to look, and if I don’t find a way to get the ball in the hole the fastest.
“I think players put too much work into figuring out golf courses, instead of just getting the ball in the hole. If that’s more the mindset, things aren’t so hard to look at out there. It’s just a game then.”
Just a game, this week, with the 27-pound Wanamaker Trophy and a slice of golfing immortality at stake for the guy who can do what Kisner has been doing best so far — putting your drive in the fairway and getting the ball in the hole fastest.