For someone who’s had a career that likely will land her in the World Golf Hall of Fame – 20 LPGA victories, including the 2007 U.S. Women’s Open and the 2010 Women’s PGA – Cristie Kerr has not traveled an easy road. That determination has been on full display at the 75th U.S. Women’s Open.
The road Kerr travels took a nasty turn last week, and when she arrived at Champions Golf Club on Monday, it was far from certain she’d be able to tee it up. She spent the previous Friday in the emergency room after suffering multiple injuries in a golf cart accident. For a player who is the oldest in the field at age 43, withdrawing would have been no surprise.
But that’s not who Kerr is. The cart crash left her with three dislocated ribs and cuts and bruises just about everywhere. But this woman knows all about working her way back. Since the crash, she’s had physical therapy and cryotherapy, and ice packs have been a constant companion.
But not only did she make it to the first tee on Thursday, she shot even-par 71 on the Champions Jackrabbit Course and proved that was no fluke by backing it up with a 69 Friday on the more difficult Cypress Creek Course.
At 2-under-par 140 and just five strokes off the lead, Kerr goes into the weekend with a chance to become the oldest champion in U.S. Women’s Open history, edging out the legendary Babe Zaharias by a couple months. Considering she leads the field by hitting 30 of 36 greens – and that she putts lights out – Kerr has to like where she is.
“I do think so, yeah,” she said when asked if having reduced expectations because of the injury might be a blessing for her.
“I’ve definitely missed shots I would normally not miss because I'm in pain, but it's actually – it’s kind of a nice mental place to be,” she said. “I'm not happy how I got here, but maybe it’s meant to teach me a lesson, I don’t know. God moves in mysterious ways.”
On both days, the pain caught up with Kerr late in the round and that’s when her history of grinding it out kicked in big time.
“The last four or five holes, I hit it beautifully until that point, and it just – this just started hurting so much more, so it just started tightening up,” she said.
“I just wasn’t getting through the golf ball the last four or five holes,” she said. “Clearly, I’m not happy with the way I hit it coming in, but I know that’s not fully in my control right now, so I’ve just got to be patient with myself.”
If there is one thing that Kerr’s life has taught her, it is the importance of patience. She was a teen on the LPGA Tour before youth became one of its common themes, turning pro in 1996 at 18, right out of high school and after representing the United States in the Curtis Cup Match. That brash youngster is a far cry from who Kerr is today.
Realizing it was a detriment to both her performance as a player and her marketability as a personality, Kerr lost 50 pounds in her late teens, undergoing a workout program that made her one of the most fit players on Tour. That was step one.
Still, winning did not come easily. It took her six years until she picked up her first LPGA title in 2002 but beginning in 2004, she won 13 times over the next seven years. And now she trails only Annika Sorenstam and Karrie Webb on the LPGA career money list. That was step two.
And in the middle of all that, her mother Linda developed breast cancer and after she survived it, Kerr created Birdies for Breast Cancer, a charity to raise funds for awareness, research and treatment of the disease. That was step three.
She also married businessman Erik Stevens, became a businesswoman herself with her own wine label and experienced motherhood for the first time in 2013 with Mason and again in 2018 with a second boy, Griffin. That was step four.
The competitive fire that rages in Kerr is aided by one of the best putting touches in the history of the game, especially from long distance. For an opponent, it can be disconcerting when Kerr is feeling it with the flat stick and begins walking the ball into the hole, sometimes taking off almost as soon as the ball leaves the clubface.
Kerr, who is in her 24th LPGA season, has played in the U.S. Women’s Open 25 times and in every one of them since 1998. In addition to that 2007 victory, she was second in 2000, third in 2009 and 2011 and fourth in 2001.
Now she has a chance to make history. Kerr has played through the pain before – both physical and emotional. If she starts walking putts in on the weekend at Champions, this diamond anniversary U.S. Women’s Open would have a winner for the ages.
Ron Sirak is a Massachusetts-based freelance writer who frequently contributes to USGA digital channels.
