After a 2-under-par 70 Sunday, Australian Katherine Kirk put the finishing touches on her third LPGA Tour victory at the inaugural Thornberry Creek LPGA Classic.
Kirk, who went 152 LPGA Tour starts between her last victory and Sunday, birdied the 72nd hole to finish at 22-under par, the lowest four-round tournament total in her career.
‘To make that putt (on 18) was huge,’ said Kirk.
‘All wins are good. Winning out here is hard, and it’s gotten a lot harder out here since I first did it, that’s for sure. There is so much talent out here now and it makes it so much harder to win. I think I’m the 15th-oldest player on Tour, so if you’re looking at age it’s more in favour of the younger generation these days, but hard work pays off. I’m grateful for the opportunity to still be playing, and I still love it.’
Kirk had an up-and-down Sunday with four bogeys offset by six birdies, and was able to hold off all challengers, including Sei Young Kim and Pornanong Phatlum, who shot rounds of 9-under and 10-under respectively.
Kirk’s last LPGA Tour victory came in 2010, and to finally notch her third win, proved to her that many years worth of hard work had finally paid off.
‘So much hard work and patience, and I had a rough couple years like 2015 and 2016, and just an amazing team behind me. My husband has been 100 percent supportive the whole time,’ said Kirk. ‘I can’t put (this feeling) into words. It’s just a great feeling.’
South Africa’s Ashleigh Buhai finished runner-up – her best finish ever on the LPGA Tour – after a 5-under-par 67, and said she was comfortable in the final pairing of the day.
‘It was awesome. I felt I relished on it. From the first hole I started out with a birdie, and I just tried to keep feeding off it,’ said Buhai of her first experience in a final group. I really enjoyed the support, and yeah, it was a lot of fun out there.
Buhai and Kirk had played together many times, but still, Kirk’s 22-under par total proved to be just one shot too many for Buhai to overcome.
Photo: Getty Images
