A Ginn Tribute contender in 2007, Kerr staying the course

FILE/AP

Cristie Kerr won last year's Women's U.S. Open in Southern Pines, N.C.

MOUNT PLEASANT — As disappointed as Cristie Kerr was over the way she finished the Ginn Tribute Hosted by Annika in 2007, she was one of the first players to give Nicole Castrale a big hug after Castrale beat Lorena Ochoa in a playoff and won for the first time on the LPGA Tour.

With two holes left at RiverTowne Country Club, Kerr was in the hunt, a couple of shots behind Ochoa and on the heels of Castrale. But the 152-yard, par-3 17th eliminated any hopes Kerr had of winning for the first time in 2007.

Kerr's tee shot landed in the heavy rough left of the green and she walked away with a double bogey, ruining her round and ultimately leaving her three shots out of the playoff.

"It was pretty disappointing, but it didn't take me long to get over it," said Kerr, who, like tournament hostess Annika Sorenstam, represents Ginn Resorts. "You've got a tournament every week. You have to be able to focus and look forward to playing the next event."

Kerr grew up in Miami, where she was a junior golf prodigy. She was the 1995 American Junior

Golf Association player of the year, and in 1996 played on the U.S. Curtis Cup team and was low amateur in the U.S. Women's Open.

After graduating from high school, Kerr decided against college and turned pro, a decision that flew in the face of conventional wisdom a decade ago. Kerr won a Futures Tour event and finished sixth in the LPGA qualifying tournament, earning her ticket to the big show.

"It was the right thing for me to do," Kerr said. "I didn't feel right about going a year to college and then going professional. I was an honor student, but I didn't feel right about taking somebody else's scholarship. I was either going to go for four years and get a degree or not at all. That's what I did."

It took a while for Kerr to achieve success on the LPGA, but since then she has been the dominant U.S. player. She went wire to wire to win the 2002 Longs Drugs Challenge for her first LPGA title and has altogether won 10 titles.

It didn't take Kerr long to get over the disappointment of her third-place finish in last year's Ginn Tribute. She finished 18th the following week in the LPGA Championship, fourth in the next tournament, and then added the crowning touch of her career on July 1 when she won the U.S. Women's Open at Pine Needles in Southern Pines, N.C.

"That was the realization of a lifelong dream," Kerr said. "It's the tournament I wanted to win the most and I did. It was kinda' like, 'Where do you go from here?' You have to readjust your goals, start over in a sense."

Kerr said she doesn't share her goals, but one is to get back in the winner's circle again and "from there, just continue getting better and better from there."

"I've contended three times this year," Kerr said. "I want to get my game back to where it was two years ago where it was good enough to win three tournaments, possibly more. That's where my goals are right now."