Southern Pines, N.C. – The U.S. Women’s Open, like virtually every other tournament put on by the conformists at the USGA, celebrates the routine. Find the fairway. Hit the green. Putt twice for par and stride to the next hole.
Repeat.
Which is precisely why Cristie Kerr wasn’t supposed to be able to win the biggest event in women’s golf. From the spelling of her name to the path she has taken in her career, Kerr is complicated. There are stories of slights and haughtiness, tales that even other players relish repeating. There are references to “my good friend Donald” – as in Trump – which is fitting, because dealing with her, some say, can be akin to a painful, drawn-out negotiation.
“But I’m really very funny, once you get to know me,” Kerr says.
Indeed, others insist they’ve never had a better friend, or been around a more giving person.
“We were paired together for my very first event, and she told me if I ever needed anything or just wanted someone to hang out with, to just call her,” said Natalie Gulbis, who was a bridesmaid for Kerr’s wedding – at sunset on a golf course in Scottsdale, Ariz. – last winter. “She’s been there for me ever since.”
Given that yawning dichotomy, how could Kerr possibly ever win the U.S. Women’s Open? The answer came Sunday at Pine Needles Golf Club, when, with Gulbis standing just beyond the 18th green, Kerr found the fairway, hit the green and two-putted for par to take the first major championship of her career.
“I did really well this week not taking anything for granted, even the littlest putt, but that last one was hard, because it was something that I’ve been dreaming of since I was a little girl,” said Kerr, gazing at the massive trophy sitting at her feet.
Kerr said she came in feeling that she would win the tournament, but there was little to suggest that would be the case, the 29-year-old fighting her swing as much as any of the 155 other competitors. On a muggy, weather-delayed Saturday, when most players tried to escape the heat before returning to the course to begin the third round, a solitary Kerr beat balls out on the driving range.
When play was stopped because of darkness, Kerr said she was more concerned with just hitting the ball well than worrying about what the ultimate result would be.
That was in keeping with her strategy for the week.
“We were only thinking about the ABCs: fairways and greens and then seeing what happened,” said her caddie, Jason Gilroyed. “Sometimes Cristie’s mind can wander, she gets more worried about outcomes, and that can really throw her off.”
But throughout Sunday’s front nine, Gilroyed wasn’t sure if Kerr would be able to keep it together. So to buy some time, he told jokes, talked about hockey and the NFL, the restaurants they had frequented during the week.
Finally, on the back nine, Gilroyed said, “something clicked, and, fortunately, no one else was doing anything.”
That included Lorena Ochoa. Hoping for a one-on-one, final-round battle, the world’s top- ranked player got her wish. When the third round was completed early Sunday morning, Ochoa was in a tie for second place, one shot behind Kerr. She moved into a tie for the lead when her playing partner bogeyed the eighth hole.
But from there, most of Ochoa’s efforts were spent making a number of spectacular par saves. And when Kerr managed to hole an 18-foot birdie putt on the 14th hole to take the lead, the Mexican star couldn’t respond in kind.
“I thought I’d make a couple of birdies on the back, and if Cristie is a little bit off, she would make a bogey,” said Ochoa, who eventually settled for a tie for second with Angela Park. “But I couldn’t. It didn’t happen.”
Ochoa’s winless streak in the majors reached 22, while Kerr’s stopped at 41. During that time, Kerr has gone from a bespectacled, overweight teenager to a femme fatale. From a player who couldn’t win – it took five full seasons before she won her first event and then another three before she won a tournament that included Annika Sorenstam – to one who became a weekly threat.
And now, a player who has moved from possibly being overrun by talented teeny-boppers like Morgan Pressel and Paula Creamer, to U.S. Open champion.
“That’s the beautiful thing about life and about golf,” Kerr said. “I’ve always been a very passionate person about everything I’ve done, whether it was my weight loss, or my golf, or my charity, or someone else’s charity.
“Whatever I’ve done, I’ve done it at 150 percent. Right now, it’s nice to be on top.”
Staff writer Anthony Cotton can be reached at 303-954-1292 or acotton@denverpost.com.
