Chris Kirk ends eight-year title drought with Honda Classic victory – Weekend Roundup
This past weekend saw the culmination of three tournaments across the DP World Tour, LIV Tour and PGA Tour with all three providing exciting and thrilling storylines. Here is a quick recap of everything that happened.
Chris Kirk found himself back in the winner’s circle after eight long years with a playoff victory over fellow American Eric Coles in a playoff in this year’s Honda Classic.
Kirk started the final round with a two stroke lead over Cole and although he played some nervy golf, he still held a one stroke lead heading up the last hole. However, disaster struck on his final hole as an errant tee shot would see him bogey the last hole and tie Eric Cole’s score at -14.
For the first time in 2023 a playoff was needed to settle the winner but thankfully for Kirk it was over quickly.
Heading back up the 18th, Kirk put the tournament to bed with a stunning approach which set him up perfectly for birdie which he duly converted.
Kirk’s victory was the fifth of his career and will see him return into the world’s top 40.
Charles Howell III wins first LIV title – nets $4,000,000 pay day
Charles Howell III produced a fine final round performance to win the first LIV tournament of the season. Howell’s final round would turn out to be incredibly lucrative – his individual victory would see him net $4,000,000 and his heroics also helped his team Crushers GC rise to first place in the team standings which saw him receive a share of the first-place team prize of $3,000,000.
Heading into the final round, Howell III started the day just one stroke behind co-leaders Peter Uilhein and Talor Gooch but used all of his experience of the Mayakoba Resort to leave his rivals in the dust.
When a member of the PGA Tour, Howell III recorded three top ten finishes at the Mexican Open. Clearly comfortable with the layout, he started like an express train with seven birdies in his first ten holes. Howell’s charge to victory was aided by Uilhein stuttering on the twelfth hole where he posted a triple bogey to effectively end his title chances.
LIV will now take a few weeks break before the field reassembles at Tucson on March 17th.
Marcel Siem wins his fifth DP World Tour title – first since 2015
It was a weekend of long title droughts coming to an end after Marcel Siem repeated the feat of Chris Kirk by winning his first title in eight years at this season’s Indian Open.
Leading by two heading into the final round, the narrative of the tournament changed on the 13th hole, where Siem’s bogey was compounded by his compatriot Yannick Paul securing a birdie.
With the two Germans neck and neck, the momentum would once again swing in Siem’s favour after he was able to birdie the 15th hole. From there the two Germans would par the remaining three holes with Siem holding onto win by one stroke.
Heading into the week, the popular German found himself ranked all the way down at 330 in the world and he was only able to play on the DP World Tour this season courtesy of a strong performance in Q School qualifying.
With his Tour place now cemented for another season, Siem finds himself just outside the world’s top 250 and will be wanting to continue his steady climb up the rankings as the season progresses.
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