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Solid outing lifts Kokrak into Top 10
It was like old times playing on a Sunday, but this was slightly different.
Jason Kokrak’s first Sunday out as a PGA Tour player — and not as a Nationwide Tour player — was special as the Warren native finished tied for ninth in the AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am.
“You’ve got to shoot low to do well on Sunday,” the Warren JFK High graduate said via telephone of his 2-under 70 on the Pebble Beach course that he played earlier during the 72-hole event.
“I played solid and hit in the part of the green you’re supposed to hit,” Kokrak said, “I made a few putts, but nothing special.
“It was a good solid round of golf and I’m pleased with my first top 10 finish,” Kokrak said. I’m very pleased.”
He was one of six golfers to finish with 277.
“I played well the other day,” said Kokrak of Friday when he had a 5-under on the same par-72 Pebble Beach course.
“Today, I could have been there but I lipped out a couple putts here and there,” Kokrak said. “The conditions were a bit tougher — with about the same wind [as Friday], but a little bit gusty.”
The 26-year-old rookie was paired with Vijay Singh and their amateurs.
“He’s a very nice guy,” Kokrak said of his first time playing with Singh. “He doesn’t talk much, so I was able to go out and play. We talked between shots, but nothing too extensive.”
Kokrak didn’t achieve putting perfection, but he solved earlier inconsistencies enough to lower the bottom line.
“I hit the ball good and didn’t make as many putts as I wanted to, but I had a couple nice long putts,” he said of long ones on 14 and 18 for birdies.
“I had some nice par saves and hit a lot of greens in regulation,” Kokrak said. “I had a lot of two putts, but also a few missed opportunities. Overall, I putted a lot better this week than in weeks past.”
Kokrak’s round Thursday was a 2-under on the par 70 Peninsula course, then a 5-under on Friday before Saturday’s 72 on Spyglass Hill — his only even-par round.
One feather in his hat was finishing ahead of an elusive Tiger Woods.
“No, I didn’t even see him one time all week,” Kokrak said of any off-course sighting. “He’s like a ghost out there.”
Kokrak said he did see the galleries following Woods and Phil Mickelson.
“I was coming up 14 when they were at 8 or 9. The galleries with them were huge. It was interesting but I couldn’t see him from that far away.”
Regardless, Kokrak had to have felt satisfied.
“I got him [Woods] this week. Hopefully, if I continue to beat Tiger I think we’re going to have an OK career.”