Cristie Kerr Bio
Cristie Kerr (born October 12, 1977) 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.
Over more than two decades on tour, Kerr has built a reputation as one of the steadiest American players of her generation, with a major title, a long-running Solheim Cup presence, and a thriving charitable platform. She continues to compete on the LPGA Tour while running Birdies for Breast Cancer and her wine ventures.
Early Life and Background
Cristie Kerr was born on October 12, 1977, in Miami, Florida. She started playing golf at the age of eight and quickly developed into one of the top junior players in the country. Her parents, who are divorced, are both diabetics, and her mother suffered a heart attack when Kerr was in the ninth grade. These early family experiences shaped a disciplined approach to her sport and her long-standing commitment to health-related causes.
Kerr attended Miami Sunset High School in West Kendall, Florida, where she balanced academics with a busy junior tournament schedule. She graduated in 1996, the same year she turned professional, capping a junior run that included the 1994 Junior Orange Bowl International Golf Championship and the 1995 Women’s Western Amateur. In 1995, she was also named the American Junior Golf Association Junior Player of the Year, signaling that she was ready for a professional stage.
Path to Professional Golf
Before turning pro, Kerr picked up her first taste of competitive professional golf in April 1995, winning the Ironwood FUTURES Classic on the Futures Tour while still an amateur. That same year, she played in the Curtis Cup and was the low amateur at the U.S. Women’s Open, establishing herself on the radar of LPGA scouts.
After graduating from Miami Sunset High School in 1996, Kerr joined the LPGA Tour pathway by tying for sixth at the LPGA Final Qualifying Tournament in October 1996, earning exempt status for the 1997 season. Her early pro years were split between the Futures Tour and the Players West Tour, where she gained the experience needed to compete week in and week out against established tour players.
Cristie Kerr Career
Early Career (1996–2001)
Kerr’s LPGA career started slowly. She broke into the top fifty on the money list in her third season in 1999 but did not record her first LPGA victory until her sixth year on tour. Along the way, she built the work habits and course management that would later define her prime years.
She tied for second at the 2000 U.S. Women’s Open, an early sign that her game was close to breaking through at the highest level. By the end of this developmental stretch, she had also earned spots on the United States Solheim Cup team in 2002, 2003, and 2005, building a long international résumé alongside her domestic results.
First LPGA Wins and Rise (2002–2005)
Kerr’s first LPGA Tour victory came at the 2002 Longs Drugs Challenge in California, ending a long wait and validating her work. By 2004, she had become one of the leading players on the tour, capturing three tournament victories and finishing fifth on the money list.
In 2005, she added two more wins and climbed to third on the money list. She finished in the top 10 in half of her starts that year, ranked second on the LPGA in scoring average behind Annika Sörenstam, and was fifth in greens-in-regulation. Putting and iron play had emerged as the hallmarks of her game, with top-five finishes on the LPGA Tour in putts per greens hit in 2005 and 2006.
Major Championship Era (2006–2010)
The 2006 season marked Kerr’s arrival as a global star. She won three times, including the Franklin American Mortgage Championship, where she posted a tournament-record score of 19 under par, and was the only American to win more than one LPGA event that year. She also tied for second at the 2006 Women’s British Open, showing she could contend on links courses as well as parkland layouts.
In 2007, she captured her first major championship at the U.S. Women’s Open, completing a long-anticipated breakthrough. Her 2010 campaign was even more dominant: she won two of the first ten events of the season, including the LPGA Championship, which she won by a record-breaking 12-stroke margin over Song-Hee Kim. The win moved her to the top of the Women’s World Golf Rankings on June 28, 2010, a position she held for three weeks.
Sustained Success (2015–2018)
Kerr’s career arc continued upward in the mid-2010s. In 2015, she won the CME Group Tour Championship by one shot over Gerina Piller and Jang Ha-na, made 24 cuts in 25 starts, and captured her 17th career victory at the Kia Classic. She posted a 3–0–1 record at her eighth Solheim Cup, helping the United States team to victory.
In 2016, she recorded four top-10 finishes and helped the U.S. team win the UL International Crown with a team-best 3–1–0 record. The 2017 season brought her 19th and 20th career wins, moving her into a tie with Laura Davies for 26th all-time on the LPGA career wins list. She also surpassed Juli Inkster for the all-time lead in points recorded by a U.S. player in Solheim Cup history, finishing with 21 points. In 2018, she recorded two top-10 finishes, with a season-best tie for second at the Kia Classic.
Driving Style and Strengths
Kerr’s game is built on elite putting and crisp iron play. She finished in the top five on the LPGA Tour in putts per greens hit in both 2005 and 2006, and ranked fifth in greens-in-regulation in 2005. Her right-handed swing, played on a body that is naturally left-handed, gives her an unorthodox but highly repeatable motion, and her steady temperament has helped her convert close-range opportunities in big moments.
Notable Events and Milestones
Among her signature moments are her 2007 U.S. Women’s Open victory, her 12-stroke win at the 2010 LPGA Championship, and her run to the top of the Women’s World Golf Rankings in 2010. Her Solheim Cup totals and her work off the course through Birdies for Breast Cancer have also become defining parts of her career identity.
Cristie Kerr Career Wins
Cristie Kerr has accumulated 20 LPGA Tour victories, two major championships, and additional titles on the Futures Tour, the Ladies European Tour, and the Legends of the LPGA. She reached the career win mark in 2017, when she tied Laura Davies for 26th on the all-time LPGA career wins list.
LPGA Tour Highlights
Her first LPGA win came at the 2002 Longs Drugs Challenge, ending a six-season wait for her breakthrough title. Her most recent LPGA victory came in 2017, when she collected her 19th and 20th career tour wins. In 2015, she added a high-profile victory at the CME Group Tour Championship and earlier captured her 17th career title at the Kia Classic.
Her two major championship wins, the 2007 U.S. Women’s Open and the 2010 LPGA Championship, are the crown jewels of her résumé. She has also been a steady force in the Solheim Cup, where she surpassed Juli Inkster for the all-time lead in points recorded by a U.S. player.
Other Wins and Performances
Beyond the LPGA, Kerr has posted a win on the Ladies European Tour and a victory on the Legends of the LPGA. She also won the 1995 Ironwood FUTURES Classic on the Futures Tour as an amateur, an early signal of the success that would follow.
Cristie Kerr Family
Family Background and Racing Lineage
Kerr’s parents, both diabetics and now divorced, were central figures in her upbringing in Miami, Florida. Her mother, Linda, suffered a heart attack when Cristie was in the ninth grade, and her later breast cancer diagnosis inspired one of her most important off-course initiatives. The family had no professional golf lineage, making Kerr’s rise a self-made journey from a Miami public high school to the top of the LPGA Tour.
Personal Life
In 2006, Kerr married businessman Erik Stevens, and the couple maintains a residence in Scottsdale, Arizona. They welcomed their first son, Mason, on December 8, 2013, via a surrogate, and a second son, Griffin, on August 28, 2018. Kerr has also been active in wine ventures, partnering with Pride Mountain Vineyards in Napa Valley to launch the Curvature label with the 2006 vintage and later founding Kerr Cellars with winemaker Helen Keplinger.
2025 Season Performance
Cristie Kerr continues her long run on the LPGA Tour in 2025, building on more than two decades of competitive golf that began in 1996. As a veteran presence in the American contingent, she remains a reliable contender in a deep field, drawing on the course management and putting touch that have defined her career.
Her 2025 schedule reflects the balance she has struck between competition and her charitable and business ventures. With 20 career LPGA wins, two majors, and a record-setting Solheim Cup résumé, Kerr enters each season with a clear understanding of her strengths and a deep competitive reservoir.
Looking across the season, Kerr’s experience at major championships and high-pressure events positions her as a steady threat on courses that reward accuracy and patience. Her continued play underscores a career that has bridged generations of American women’s golf, from her amateur days in the mid-1990s to the modern global LPGA Tour.