Kirk returns to site of her first LPGA win
Commonwealth cousins make Ottawa feel a little more like home for Australian
Katherine Kirk really, really likes golfing in Canada.
The US$510,271 she has won in this country represents nearly one-eighth of Kirk’s LPGA Tour career earnings, and a victory in the 2008 Canadian Women’s Open at the Ottawa Hunt and Golf Club was her first of three on the circuit.
No wonder the 35-year-old Australian is looking forward to a return trip to the capital for the first time since. “I wish I could have a really good explanation for it, but I think probably the best reason is I just love this tournament,” said Kirk, who was known as Katherine Hull when she edged hall of famer Se Ri Pak by one stroke with her 11-under-par 277 nine years ago.
She had finished second, one stroke behind Meena Lee, in the 2005 Canadian Open near Halifax.
“I think it’s one of the best tournaments we play all year, and obviously it has a special place in my heart just because that’s where I had my first LPGA win,” Kirk said. “Golf Canada does such a great job of running the event. We always play on a great golf course and get fantastic crowds.
“I think maybe, being an Aussie, I might have a few more spectators cheering for me, being part of the Commonwealth, but it has just always been one of my favourite events. I would never miss it and I’m excited to play it.”
One thing Kirk will soon notice is the Ottawa club’s tournament course has been extensively remodelled, so familiar looks will be rare. Familiar feelings, though, won’t be.
“The last round sticks in my mind because I was six shots out of the lead (when it started) and not expecting to win at all because of the likes of Lorena Ochoa, Se Ri Pak and Yani Tseng were right up there at the top,” Kirk said.
“I played solidly all day. I remember shooting 69. I remember the last three holes quite vividly, and I remember someone in the crowd yelling out, walking off the 16th green, ‘Hey! You’ve got this! Keep going and you can win!’ ”
Kirk’s third LPGA Tour victory was last month in Wisconsin, so her only experience as a returning champion was in 2011, when she returned to Prattville, Ala., a year after winning the Navistar LPGA Classic. She tied for 34th.
“Obviously the level of competition has gotten a lot tougher on the LPGA Tour, even in just the last five years. It’s going to be obviously hard to hoist the trophy there again (in Ottawa), but it would be nice,” she said. “The depth of competitiveness has increased. I’m one of the older players on tour now — I think I’m about the 15th-oldest player — and I’ve seen a lot in the last 14 years.
“Certainly the younger players, they have access to better information and there’s no fear there. It’s the same as when I was their age, but the only difference is they’ve now got TrackMan (launch monitors) and they’re working with sports psychologists and trainers, and a lot of them have physios. There’s more information out there and they’re utilizing it better.”
The victory in Wisconsin helped boost Kirk’s world golf ranking to 74th, far above her standing of 254th at the same point last year.
She’ll return to Ottawa wellrested. She was idle while 24 of her peers participated in the Solheim Cup, played between teams representing the United States and Europe, which was held on the weekend in Iowa.
Kirk has had two weeks off from competition. She and husband Tom Kirk celebrated their fifth wedding anniversary with a few extra days in Scotland after the Ricoh Women’s British Open. They played golf, naturally.
After flying home to Kansas, Kirk make a brief trip to California to work with one of her coaches.
“I feel really good about my game,” she said. “Obviously there’s always something we’re working on. We’re never perfect and we’re certainly not robots. I know that what I want to change is not going to happen overnight or in the next week, but I feel really good about what I need to work on and the drills I’ve got to do.
“I think the key for me this year (in Ottawa), and certainly winning in Wisconsin the other week it was, is a hot putter. Obviously it’s just going to be, when I get to Canada, a matter of dialing in on the green speed and just keep on doing what I have been doing.”
That, and maybe some good Canadian karma — it also turns out that Kirk’s caddy Patrick Simard, who was born in Spain, carries a Canadian passport.