THUNDER BAY – Jeremy Kirk has been waiting a long time to hoist the Strathcona Invitational trophy.
Until Monday, it was the only local major missing from his resume, but it’s a thing of the past now.
Kirk eagled the par 5 second hole, sticking a six-iron to 10 feet on his second shot, built a three-hole lead through seven holes, and despite a furious comeback from his opponent, 2021 Inviational winner Conor Carr, finished things off by the 16th hole to capture the match-play championship 4&2.
It’s the fifth local major for Kirk, who has two District Open and two District Amateur titles to his name, along with a pair of Better Ball wins.
“I made the finals as a junior and thought it would be easy to get back, and it’s been eight, nine years,” Kirk said.
“So it feels good to get back and actually win it.”
As well as he’s played in recent years, his lack of success at the Current River course was starting to get to Kirk, who wondered if it might be the major that got away from him.
“Yeah, those thoughts were in the back of my head. You’re right, this was the last one that I needed and so it feels fabulous to get it done,” he said.
Carr, disappointed at not adding a second Strathcona title to his growing list of golf accomplishments, said it was only a matter of time before Kirk won one.
“I’ve been playing golf with Jeremy a long time, played a lot of two-mans with him. It was shocking that he hadn’t won one yet. We’ve seen him dominate all of local golf. But I’m happy I was the one who could welcome him to the champions club at Strathcona, even though I was on the losing end of it,” Carr said.
Carr gave him a run for his money, at least through 10 holes.
He sank a four-foot come-backer on the eighth to cut Kirks lead to 2-up, then pulled off the near-impossible on No. 9, draining a 45-footer from a few feet short of the green for a second straight birdie, Kirk’s lead dropping to one at the turn.
The two golfers halved the 10th, but Carr found trouble off the tee on No. 11, his tee shot on the par 3 coming up well short. He sculled his chip over the green and chipped short of the hole. Kirk found the green in one and easily won the hole, taking back a two-hole lead.
Carr missed a four-footer on the tricky 12th green and settled for par, missing a chance to make it a one-hole match again, then left his approach wide in the right-hand rough and above the hole on No. 14, then couldn’t get up-and-down for par.
Suddenly Carr was up three again, with just four holes left to play.
“I played solid all day. I was bogey-free all day and eight and nine were just birdie putts by Conor, really good putts and I can’t do much about that,” Kirk said.
“I stayed the same and kept swinging the same and made my pars and that was good enough.”
A short birdie putt on 15 could have ended it on the first of two back-to-back par 5 holes, but Kirk slid it past the hole and needed one more tee shot to put the match away. Carr’s struggles continued on 16, his short game letting him down again. He chunked his chip, then couldn’t drain a putt, ultimately conceding the match.
Dave Joubert took the senior title, knocking off Barry Caland.
