Four tied for lead at Hewlett Packard Enterprise Houston Open

Those early tee times notwithstanding, Chris Kirk says he’s not a morning person. But when he lived on St. Simon’s Island in southeastern Georgia, one of his favorite things to do was to get up and go paddle boarding at sunrise. That’s when the Atlantic Ocean was the calmest. Kirk would paddle out into the blue-green water, the morning’s light shimmering on its glassy surface, for 30 or 40 minutes. Sometimes he’d sit down or stretch out on the board, alone in his thoughts. “I think it has some similarities to being on the driving range by yourself when you’re a kid just kind of working, trying to get something just right,” Kirk says. “You feel like you’re just kind of standing on the water, walking on water a little bit. Just being out where you could barely see the shoreline with nobody around, it was so kind of peaceful and calming.” An added benefit? It was also good exercise for the lanky Georgian who admits that he isn’t exactly the kind of gym rat some PGA TOUR players are. Particularly if the waves were up when Kirk returned to shore, he could get in a little surfing, too. “I struggle with that,” the 6-foot-3, 175-pounder admits with a smile. “… I just really don’t enjoy working out that much. But being able to do something like paddle boarding was really a great release.” Kirk now lives on a 40-acre retreat outside Athens, not far from the University of Georgia where he was a member of the Bulldogs’ 2005 NCAA title team and winner of the 2007 Ben Hogan Award. His paddle boards are stored at the home of his parents, who live on a lake. Someday, though, he hopes to the sunrise calls him back to the ocean. Kirk actually started paddle boarding on something of a whim. He missed the cut at the 2010 Melwood Prince George’s County Open in College Park, Md., on what is now known as the Korn Ferry Tour and was headed home, looking for something to pass the time. Kirk called Mac Barnhart, who was his agent at the time, and asked him what he knew about paddle boarding. He told him he wanted to try it. So, the next day, the two men drove to Jacksonville Beach, Florida and rented a couple of boards. Suffice it to say, they were hooked. Kirk and Barnhart both ended up buying paddle boards that day and bringing them home to St. Simon’s Island. Turns out, another friend and local icon, World Golf Hall of Famer Davis Love III, already had one – but he hadn’t quite caught the bug yet. “We were talking to him, saying this is awesome, you’ve got to try it,” Kirk recalls. “And he’s like, oh yeah, I have one of those. And we’re like, of course you do. “So, the three of us went out a ton, Mac and Davis and I, and we’d go out in the mornings. Mac and Davis even opened a paddleboard shop for a little while. And then it became this whole huge thing. And it all came from me missing the cut and wanting to do something on the weekend.” The story gets even better, too. After essentially spending the better part of next week on his paddle board, Kirk went to Arkansas and won the Fort Smith Classic – his first victory as a pro. He would go on to win again that summer and finish second on the Korn Ferry Tour money list to lock up his PGA TOUR card. “We paddled every day for a week,” Kirk said with a grin. “And then I went and won the tournament the next week. So, we’re, like, this is the answer to being a professional golfer.” Kirk, a four-time winner on TOUR, was a quick study. He learned early on to jump off when he felt like he was going to fall rather than risk a collision with the board. “Learning on relatively flat waters is a very easy,” Kirk says. “I don’t know why anyone ever gets on a kayak ever. It’s so much better. It’s kind of the same thing. You can go in and out wherever you want, but I mean, a kayak kills my back and wears out your arms. “On a paddleboard you’re using your whole body standing up and you can see everything better. It’s awesome.” With the exception of a lightning scare when he was out on the water one day, Kirk hasn’t had any mishaps on the paddle board. He can’t say the same about skim boards, though. After the pro-am at the (Korn Ferry) Tour Championship at Daniel Island later that year, Kirk was in the ocean for a little R&R and lost his balance on a skim board. The result was an avulsion fracture of a bone at the base of his left thumb that sidelined him for several months. “So yeah, no more skim boarding,” Kirk says. These days, Kirk’s three energetic young sons – aged 3, 7 and 9 – keep him busy. The oldest, Sawyer, is “just obsessed” with baseball, he says. The middle child, Foster, likes baseball, too, but he also enjoys fishing and shooting his bolt-action single-shot .22 rifle at the range on the family’s property. The baby of the family, Wilder, is usually up for anything but he particularly like wrestling with his dad and riding the trails in Kirk’s 1976 Bronco. Balancing their “me and dad time” with his kids is all-important these days. When they’re older, though, don’t be surprised if Kirk and his family get back to St. Simon’s Island on a more regular basis, maybe even buying a second home there. “We moved away really for being closer to family and to make travel easier for me,” Kirk says. “But we still love it. I wish we got down there more often than we do, and we talk about it all the time.” And when that happens, Kirk might have to buy some more paddle boards.

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Spring Break in the Sunshine State concludes this week as The Honda Classic will be the fourth consecutive and final event of the Florida Swing. Jack Nicklaus and PGA National in Palm Beach Gardens will have the Champion Course dialed up and The Bear Trap ready to go. RELATED: Power Rankings | Expert Picks | The First Look Rest and the wicked rarely go together and this week will be another grinder. The backdrop of palm trees and glorious sunshine is fantastic but this will be, by my count, the fifth consecutive event on TOUR where par is a very solid score. From Riviera, to The Concession, to Bay Hill, to TPC Sawgrass and now the Champion Course, don’t be surprised if guys run out of gas this week. It’s never easy here. The last three seasons this Nicklaus/Fazio has ranked in the top three hardest tracks on TOUR. The layout here is only 7,125 yards but plays to Par-70 and the wind isn’t a factor. There’s plenty of room, as usual with Nicklaus designs, to swing it off the tee and the greens are massive targets (7,000 square feet) to land it. The challenge will come from 67 bunkers and water in play on 15 of the 18 holes. Finding the rough, only two inches of over-seeded Bermuda, will still give players a chance. Once on the greens, it’s the fourth straight week of TifEagle Bermuda running at 12 feet or better so everyone should be more than comfortable. Par is a very solid score this week and anything in red figures will be rewarded. The Bear Trap will test the nerves down the stretch but No. 18 is a Par 5 for a last chance saloon. The wind blowing provides the grind and so do the green complexes. Get on the green and find a way to get them in! Make pars and run to the next tee! A field of 144 will be chasing down a prize pool of $7 million with $1.26 million and 500 FedExCup points for the winner. Recent Event Winners Stats 2020: Sungjae Im (-6, 274) Picked up his first TOUR win in his 50th start at age 21. … Closed with 66, matching the low round of the day and the week, to win by a shot. … Sat three back after 54 holes. … Also posted 66 in Round 2. … Did not lead after any round until the final one. … Co-led after 36 holes on debut in 2019 after posting 64 in Round 2. … Won in his second attempt. … Posted the highest winning score on TOUR since the 2018 Wells Fargo Championship. … Becomes second consecutive first-time winner at fifth since the move to PGA National in 2007. … Entered the week making five of his last six cuts but his only top 10 was The American Express. … Youngest winner in history. Notables: Mackenzie Hughes (2nd) made the cut on the number (+3) then fired 66-66 to miss a playoff by a shot. … Byeong Hun An (T4) opened with 76 but played the final 54 holes 9-under for his second top 10 in three career events. … Daniel Berger (T4) picked up his second top four finish in six tries. … Brendan Steele (T4) led after 36 holes but closed 71-71. … Lee Westwood (T4), heard of him?, sat one off the 36 hole lead, but still added his fourth top 10 in seven starts. … Cameron Davis (T8) hasn’t MC in two tries. … 2014 winner Russell Henley (T8) also won here in his second attempt. … Defending champion Keith Mitchell (MC) could not join Jack Nicklaus as the only back-to-back winner. … Tom Lewis (T47) shared the first round lead with 66. … Cut was 3-over 143. … 66 was the low round of the week. … Only 5 bogey-free rounds. … Least amount of bogeys made for the week was NINE. … Course ranked third hardest on TOUR. 2019: Keith Mitchell (-9, 271) Posted a final round 67 to defeat Brooks Koepka (not entered) and Rickie Fowler by a shot. … First win on TOUR in his 40th start. … Sat one off the 54 hole lead. … Co-led after 36 holes for the first time. … One of five players to post all four rounds par or better. … Won in his second attempt at the event (MC). … Highest winning score on TOUR since the 2018 Honda Classic. … Entered the week MC-MC but opened the calendar with T16 at Sony. … First top 10 since 2018 John Deere Classic. Notables: 2017 winner Rickie Fowler (T2) closed 66-67 for his second podium in four years. … Lucas Glover (T4) opened and closed with 66. … Vijay Singh (6th) posted all four rounds at par or better including a 65 in Round 3. … 54-hole leader Wyndham Clark (T7) shot 72 from the final group on his debut. … Kyoung-Hoon Lee (T7), also on debut, posted 71 playing with Clark. … Jim Furyk (T9) hit the top 10 in his second event since 2012. … Justin Thomas (T30) couldn’t become the first player in forever to defend. … Brian Harman (not entered) and his course record of 61 wasn’t bothered as 63 was the low round of the week. … Jhonattan Vegas (T16) opened bogey-free with 66. … Cut was 2-over 142. … Just five bogey-free rounds. … Course ranked as the second hardest NON major of the season. 2018: Justin Thomas (Not Entered; -8, 272) Defeated Luke List on the first playoff hole to win for the eighth time on TOUR. … Fired 65-68 on the weekend to force playoff. … Sat one off the lead after 54 holes. … Posted career-best 65 at Champion in Round 3. … Started a streak of three straight winners here leading the field in Strokes-Gained: Tee to Green. … Won on fourth attempt. … First playoff at the event since 2015 (Harrington defeats Berger on Monday). … T9 week before at Riviera continued his streak of four consecutive top 25s on TOUR. Notables: Luke List (P2) picks up his career-best paycheck after holding the 54 and co-36 hole leads. … First round leader Alex Noren (3rd) played 12-under around his second round 75. … Byeong Hun An (T5) closed 69-65. … Jamie Lovemark (7th) shared the 36 hole lead with List. … Kelly Kraft (T8) posted 66 on Saturday to join the fight. … Defending champion and all-time money leader at Honda Rickie Fowler (MC) didn’t see the weekend. … Cut was 5-over 145. … Only six bogey-free rounds for the week. … Round 2 saw only 13 scores in the red. … First year for brand-new TifEagle Bermuda greens. … Third most difficult event on TOUR (all events) in 2018 season. Key stat leaders Top golfers in each statistic on the 2019-2020 PGA TOUR are listed only if they are scheduled to compete this week. * – Top 10 finish here since 2015 or past champion Horses for Courses

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Peter Uihlein topped the leaderboard at 8-under 63 on Thursday in the Shriners Hospitals For Children Open, with Jordan Spieth 3 strokes back in his season debut.

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