Cristie Kerr


Cristie Kerr is an American professional golfer who plays on the LPGA Tour. She has 20 wins on the LPGA Tour, including two major championships, and over $19 million in career earnings. Kerr was the number one-ranked golfer in the Women's World Golf Rankings for three time periods in 2010. She is naturally left handed but plays golf right handed.

Amateur career

Kerr was born in Miami, Florida, and started playing golf at the age of eight. She had a successful amateur career, winning the 1994 Junior Orange Bowl International Golf Championship and the 1995 Women's Western Amateur. She was the 1995 American Junior Golf Association Junior Player of the Year. In 1996 she played in the Curtis Cup and was the low amateur at the U.S. Women's Open. She graduated from Miami Sunset High School in West Kendall, Florida.

Professional career

Kerr's first win in a professional tournament came in April 1995 in the Ironwood FUTURES Classic on the Futures Tour, which she played while still an amateur.
She turned professional in 1996 at age 18 after graduating from high school, playing on both the Futures Tour and Players West Tour. In October 1996, she tied for sixth at the LPGA Final Qualifying Tournament to gain exempt status for 1997. Her LPGA career started fairly slowly; she broke into the top fifty on the money list in her third season in 1999, but did not win until her sixth season. In 2002, she won her first LPGA event at the Longs Drugs Challenge in California. By 2004, she was one of the leading players on the tour, with three tournament victories, and a fifth-place finish on the money list. She won two tournaments in 2005 and moved up to third on the money list. She tied for second at the 2000 U.S. Women's Open, matched by her performance in the 2006 Women's British Open. Her first win of 2006 came at the Franklin American Mortgage Championship where she posted a tournament-record score of 19 under par. In 2006, she was the only American to win more than one event on the LPGA Tour, winning three times. She won the 2007 U.S. Women's Open, her first major championship. She was also a member of the United States Solheim Cup team in 2002, 2003, and 2005.

The hallmarks of Kerr's game are putting; she finished in the top five on the LPGA Tour in putts/greens hit in 2005 and 2006 and iron play. She was fifth in greens-in-regulation in 2005. In 2005, Kerr finished in the top 10 in half of the tournaments she entered, and ranked second in the LPGA in scoring average, trailing only Annika Sörenstam.
In 2010, Kerr won two of the first 10 tournaments on the LPGA Tour, including the LPGA Championship, which she won by a record-breaking 12-stroke margin over the second-place finisher Song-Hee Kim. As a result of this finish, she went to the top of the Women's World Golf Rankings on June 28, 2010. Kerr held the position for three weeks before Ai Miyazato again regained the top ranking by a margin of 0.0006 average points.
In 2015, Kerr won the CME Group Tour Championship by one shot over fellow American Gerina Piller and South Korean Jang Ha-na. That year she made 24 cuts out of 25 events, captured her 17th career victory at the Kia Classic and posted a 3–0–1 record at her eight Solheim Cup, helping the U.S. team to victory.
In 2016, she recorded four top-10 finishes, including a tie for seventh at the LPGA KEB Hana Bank Championship. She was also on the victorious U.S. team at the UL International Crown, where she posted a team-best 3–1–0 record. In 2017, Kerr recorded her 19th and 20th career wins, moving her into a tie with Laura Davies for 26th all-time on the LPGA career wins list. That year she also participated in her ninth Solheim Cup for the U.S., posting a 3–0–1 record, thereby surpassing Juli Inkster for the all-time lead in points recorded by a U.S. player in Solheim Cup history. In 2018, Kerr recorded two top-10 finishes, with a season-best finish tied for second at the Kia Classic

Breast cancer activism

Kerr is actively involved in fundraising for breast cancer research.
The LPGA and the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation awarded Kerr the 2006 LPGA Komen Award due to her dedication to find a cure for breast cancer through the foundation that she founded called Birdies for Breast Cancer. Kerr donates $50 per birdie. As of August 2009, she has raised over $750,000 through donations and an annual charity event. Kerr created the foundation in honor of her mother, Linda, who has been her inspiration. The foundation was created in 2003, the year that her mother Linda was diagnosed with breast cancer. Kerr also founded Curvature Wines, which helps to raise money for breast cancer charities. All Trump resorts carry the 2006 cabernet sauvignon under the Curvature Wines label.

Personal life and off-course activities

Kerr is in height. In 1999, she weighed, a weight that caused her to have back spasms. Her parents, who are divorced, are both diabetics, and her mother had a heart attack when Kerr was in the ninth grade. After her weight peaked, Kerr began exercising regularly and went on a diet. By 2002, she had lost, and weighs.
Kerr made an appearance on an episode of the third season of Donald Trump's television series The Apprentice in 2005. In 2006, Kerr married businessman Erik Stevens. Kerr and Stevens maintain a residence in Scottsdale, Arizona. One of her sponsors is Mutual of Omaha, which donates money to her breast cancer research foundation every time she places third or better.
Kerr partnered with Pride Mountain Vineyards in Napa, California, to launch her Curvature wine label with the 2006 vintage. She has also launched a new wine venture, Kerr Cellars, with winemaker Helen Keplinger, beginning with a 2013 vintage. The label now produces Pinot noir and red and white Bordeaux blends. In 2013, she passed the Court of Master Sommeliers level I test.
On December 8, 2013, Kerr and Stevens welcomed their first child, a son named Mason, via a surrogate. Kerr welcomed a second boy, Griffin, on August 28, 2018.

Professional wins (28)

LPGA Tour wins (20)

No.DateTournamentWinning scoreTo parMargin of
victory		Runner-upWinner's
share
1Apr 21, 2002Longs Drugs Challenge66-72-67-75=280−81 stroke Hee-Won Han135,000
2Apr 17, 2004LPGA Takefuji Classic69-67-73=209−7Playoff Seol-An Jeon165,000
3Jun 20, 2004ShopRite LPGA Classic66-68-68=202−111 stroke Paula Creamer
Giulia Sergas		195,000
4Sep 5, 2004State Farm Classic69-63-63-69=264−241 stroke Christina Kim180,000
5May 8, 2005Michelob ULTRA Open at Kingsmill68-68-68-72=276−85 strokes Jill McGill330,000
6Aug 28, 2005Wendy's Championship for Children68-67-66-69=270−181 stroke Paula Creamer
Annika Sörenstam		165,000
7May 7, 2006Franklin American Mortgage Championship67-69-66-67=269−192 strokes Pat Hurst
Lorena Ochoa
Angela Stanford		165,000
8Aug 13, 2006CN Canadian Women's Open67-70-74-65=276−121 stroke Angela Stanford255,000
9Sep 10, 2006John Q. Hammons Hotel Classic70-61-68=199−141 stroke Annika Sörenstam150,000
10Jul 1, 2007U.S. Women's Open71-72-66-70=279−52 strokes Lorena Ochoa
Angela Park		560,000
11Aug 24, 2008Safeway Classic71-67-65=203−13Playoff Helen Alfredsson
Sophie Gustafson		255,000
12May 10, 2009Michelob ULTRA Open at Kingsmill 69-63-66-70=268−162 strokes In-Kyung Kim330,000
13Jun 13, 2010LPGA State Farm Classic 67-67-63-69=266−221 stroke Na Yeon Choi
Anna Nordqvist		255,000
14Jun 27, 2010LPGA Championship68-66-69-66=269−1912 strokes Song-Hee Kim337,500
15Nov 11, 2012Lorena Ochoa Invitational67-69-67-69=272−161 stroke Inbee Park
Angela Stanford		200,000
16May 5, 2013Kingsmill Championship 66-71-66-69=272−12Playoff Suzann Pettersen195,000
17Mar 29, 2015Kia Classic67-68-68-65=268−202 strokes Mirim Lee255,000
18Nov 22, 2015CME Group Tour Championship68-69-66-68=271−171 stroke Jang Ha-na
Gerina Piller		500,000
19Apr 15, 2017Lotte Championship71-69-62-66=268−203 strokes Chun In-gee
Jang Su-yeon
Lydia Ko		300,000
20Oct 29, 2017Sime Darby LPGA Malaysia70-63-65-71=269−151 stroke Jacqui Concolino
Shanshan Feng
Danielle Kang		270,000

LPGA Tour playoff record
No.YearTournamentOpponentResult
12004LPGA Takefuji Classic Seol-An JeonWon with par on seventh extra hole
22004ADT Championship Annika SörenstamLost to bogey on first extra hole
32008Safeway Classic Helen Alfredsson
Sophie Gustafson		Won with birdie on first extra hole
42008Navistar LPGA Classic Candie Kung
Lorena Ochoa		Ochoa won with par on second extra hole
Kerr eliminated with par on first hole
52013Kingsmill Championship Suzann PettersenWon with par on second extra hole
62017Volunteers of America Texas Shootout Haru NomuraLost to birdie on sixth extra hole

Futures Tour wins (1)

^ Won as an amateur, top professional earned $4,500.

Ladies European Tour (1)

Other wins (6)

Wins (2)

Results timeline

Results not in chronological order before 2019.
^ The Women's British Open replaced the du Maurier Classic as an LPGA major in 2001

^^ The Evian Championship was added as a major in 2013.

LA = Low amateur
CUT = missed the half-way cut
WD = withdrew

T = tied

Summary

* Includes match play and other events without a cut

World ranking

Position in Women's World Golf Rankings at the end of each calendar year.
YearRankingNotes
20064
20076
20087
20094
20102
20114
201211
201312
201413
201511
201630
201710
201831
2019110

Team appearances

Amateur
Professional
1 Kerr conceded the match at the start because of injury; Solheim Cup rules categorized this as a 10 and 8 loss.

Equipment

As perfect evidence that the equipment the professionals play is available to all, Kerr bought her 2007 U.S. Women's Open winning PING G59 Craz-E at a South Korean golf store. Winning with PING has its perks and two replicas of this winning club were made, one given to Kerr and the other deposited in the PING Gold Putter Vault.