Cristie Kerr Wins Lotte Championship for 19th Career Tour Victory
Cristie Kerr wins Lotte Championship (LPGA)
Cristie Kerr won the LPGA Lotte Championship on Saturday for her 19th tour title; Kerr’s four-day total of 20-under 268 broke the Lotte tournament record. She finished the event with a 6-under 66 for a three-stroke victory.
“It feels amazing,” Kerr said. “You know, on Friday morning I wasn’t playing too well and then I just found something and was able to turn it on and I just kept it going. I can’t remember two and a half days after I struggled with my swing feel, and then made so many birdies in my life. It was an unbelievable run.”
With the win Kerr becomes the second American to win an LPGA Tour title this year after Brittany Lincicome won at the Pure Silk-Bahamas LPGA Classic.
Kerr hadn't won in 30 starts since the season-ending CME Group Tour Championship in 2015. She was a pedestrian 4 under halfway through Lotte, then made a made a big move. She birdied seven of the last eight holes Friday, soaring into contention with the 62 and growing comfortable walking in her birdie putts before they fell in the hole.
Kerr credits a bit of luck from... Turtles in her victory this weekend.
“I didn’t even think about it until after I shot 10-under (Friday) that turtles are really good luck for me. They always have been. I went swimming with the turtles on Friday afternoon and I inadvertently touched one,” she said. “The patrols are out there so that you don’t harm them, but it kind of swam at me and I touched it, and it was really, really good luck.”
Kerr’s longtime USA Solheim Cup teammate Paula Creamer doused Kerr with champagne on the 18th green after her win was made official. With the win, Kerr moves into the top 10 in the Race to the CME Globe, and, is within six points of qualifying for the LPGA Hall of Fame.
“I’ve always thought about it,” she said of the Hall of Fame. “I’ve come this far and I don’t plan on quitting golf any time soon. Sky is the limit. If you shoot for the stars you may get to the moon. That’s the old saying.”
The LPGA Tour is off next week before heading to the Lone Star State for the Volunteers of America Texas Shootout presented by JTBC in Irving, Texas on April 27th
