Chris Kirk carded 8-under 65 on Sunday, January 7, to win the Sentry 2024, beating Sahith Theegala by one stroke margin. He aggregated at 29-under after 72 holes at Kapalua Plantation Course to become the first PGA Tour 2024 season winner.
Kirk entered the final round of the Sentry as a 54-hole leader and then went bogey-free for the next 18 holes with the help of eight birdies. This was good enough to hold the lead over Theegala, who posted a low 63, which included ten birdies.
After battling alcoholism for a long time, Kirk won the Honda Classic last year, his first title since 2020. Last year's win helped him finish in the top 50 of the FedEx Cup and made him eligible to play all the Signature events of this season
"I lost the joy of most things in life for a while there," Kirk said after winning the Sentry. "But, yeah, it's certainly back. I think I just love how hard this is. Like, it's so hard to be great at this, and I love the process that it takes. I love the work that it takes to try to be the best version of myself.
"I definitely have fallen back in love with that process, and sometimes you get rewarded for it, like today, and sometimes you don't. That's just part of the deal. I think to be successful and to really enjoy your life as a PGA TOUR player you've got to love the work," he added.
The Sentry is Kirk's sixth title on the PGA Tour. The purse size for the event was $20 million, and he bagged $3.6 million, the biggest paycheck of his career so far.
The Sentry 2024 leaderboard explored
Here's the complete leaderboard for the Sentry 2024:
- 1. Chris Kirk: -29
- 2. Sahith Theegala: 28
- 3. Jordan Spieth: -27
- 4. Byeong Hun An: 26
- T5. Sungjae Im: -25
- T5. Brian Harman: -25
- T5. J.T. Poston: -25
- T5. Collin Morikawa: -25
- T5. Scottie Scheffler: -25
- T10. Jason Day: -24
- T10. Xander Schauffele: -24
- T12. Sepp Straka: -23
- T12. Patrick Cantlay: 23
- T14. Adam Hadwin: -22
- T14. Eric Cole: -22
- T14. Patrick Rodgers: -22
- T14. Tyrrell Hatton: -22
- T14. Max Homa: -22
- T14. Matt Fitzpatrick: -22
- T14. Harris English: -22
- T14. Akshay Bhatia: -22
- T22. Erik van Rooyen: -21
- T22. Luke List: 21
- T22. Viktor Hovland: -21
- T25. Taylor Moore: -20
- T25. Si Woo Kim: -20
- T25. Nico Echavarria: -20
- T25. Mackenzie Hughes: -20
- T29. Lucas Glover: -19
- T29. Kurt Kitayama: -19
- T29. Adam Schenk: 19
- T29. Wyndham Clark: -19
- T33. Adam Svensson: -18
- T33. Sam Burns: -18
- T33. Brendon Todd: -18
- T33. Corey Conners: -18
- T33. Cameron Young: -18
- T38. Tony Finau: -17
- T38. Tom Hoge: -17
- T40. Matt Wallace: -16
- T40. Andrew Putnam: -16
- T40. Justin Rose: -16
- T43. Emiliano Grillo: -15
- T43. Denny McCarthy: -15
- T45. Keegan Bradley: -14
- T45. Tom Kim: -14
- T47. Tommy Fleetwood: -13
- T47. Nick Hardy: -13
- T47. Ludvig Åberg: -13
- T50. Camilo Villegas: -12
- T50. Seamus Power: -12
- T52. Nick Taylor: -11
- T52. Russell Henley: -11
- T52. Cam Davis: -11
- T52. Davis Riley: -11
- 56. Rickie Fowler: -10
- 57. Lee Hodges: -9
- 58. Hideki Matsuyama: -8
- 59. Vincent Norrman: -6