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| Chris Kirk holds the trophy after winning the Deutsche Bank Championship on Monday. |
NORTON, Mass. -- Chris Kirk picked up the biggest win of his career with a two-stroke victory Monday at the Deutsche Bank Championship.
Just how big he’ll have to wait to see.
But that’s a story for Tuesday night when Tom Watson makes his captain’s picks for the Ryder Cup.
In the meantime, Kirk was happy with moving to the top of the FedExCup standings and earning a spot in the season-ending TOUR Championship by Coca-Cola, where the Atlanta native will have a chance to play for $10 million and his first FedExCup title.
“I'm still just in such shock that I actually won this tournament,” Kirk said. “It's going to take me a little while to figure that out.”
A dozen birdies -- including five on Monday -- and no bogeys over the final 36 holes at TPC Boston certainly helped.
So apparently did playing alongside Rory McIlroy a day earlier. Kirk fed off the environment and matched the world’s top-ranked player shot for shot.
On Monday, Kirk held McIlroy, and everybody else, off with more mistake-free golf.
“Being in the group with (McIlroy) and watching him play so great (Sunday) … and just the huge crowds that go along with that, it's really just kind of heightens your focus a little bit,” Kirk said. “That's something that I do struggle with every now and then, really getting myself into it and getting focused, playing how many tournaments we play every year, every single shot, it's hard to get to that extreme level of focus where you don't even see anything around you or hear anything.”
It was quite a turnaround from earlier in the week.
Ten shots behind after the opening round, Kirk was so disgusted he skipped his usual practice session.
But by the time he got to Monday he had rounded into form. Kirk made two birdies and a clutch 15-footer for par over his final nine holes to stay in front.
As for whether he makes the Ryder Cup?
“I would absolutely love to do it,” he said. “But I'm not going to really base how happy I am with how I'm playing, or how my year has gone, on whether I make the team or not.”
Henley came in second to Kirk at the Deutsche Bank Championship, just two shots back.
• Hudson Swafford and Ryuji Imada missed the cut in the Hotel Fitness Championship, the first leg of the Web.com Tour Finals. They will play this week in the Chiquita Classic in North Carolina.
