SNOQUALMIE — At some point on Sunday, Tom Kite said every golfer will win his last tournament. And for the elder golfer who’s gone two years without a victory, it’s natural to wonder if that day has, in fact, already come.
After winning the Boeing Classic two years ago, Kite said he went through “a couple of years of up-and-down golf. Not very consistent. Very trying. And you start wondering, ‘Will I have a chance to win a golf tournament ever again?’”
The answer, it seems, is yes, as Kite proved Sunday in a thrilling final round at TPC Snoqualmie Ridge. Trailing second-day leader Scott Simpson by three strokes heading into the final 18 holes, Kite notched eight birdies in a round of 6-under-par 66 to overtake Simpson for a two-shot victory.
“Obviously this feels really good,” said Kite, in between sips of a celebratory glass of red wine. “Two years is a long time to go without winning.”
Though Kite did not play well in last year’s Boeing Classic, he finished second at the inaugural event in 2005. In the tournament’s four years, he has two wins and a second-place finish.
“I feel comfortable here,” he said. “Almost every shot out here sets up really well to my eyes, for some reason.
“I get excited about this tournament,” he added. “The whole atmosphere, everything. I fell in love with the tournament the first year I came in here. This is a great event, and I’m just fortunate that I tend to play well at this golf course because this is a fun one to be involved with.”
The 58-year-old Kite, who received a first-place check for $255,000, finished with a three-day total of 14-under 202 for his 10th career Champions Tour victory. Simpson, who was trying to win for the second time on the 50-and-over tour, closed with a 1-under round of 71 for a 204 total.
Third place went to John Cook, who shot a 67 on Sunday to finish at 205, while first-round co-leader Mark Wiebe closed with a 70 to finish fourth at 206.
Defending champion Denis Watson, who took himself out of contention with an opening-round 74, shot a 66 on Sunday to finish tied for fifth at 207.
Though other golfers contended at times throughout a cloudy and sometimes rainy day, Sunday’s round was really a showdown between Kite and Simpson, who shared the final threesome with David Edwards. When Simpson birdied the 375-yard, par-4 seventh hole and Kite suffered a bogey, Simpson’s lead over Kite grew to four strokes.
But the momentum began to change on the next hole when Kite birdied and Simpson took his first bogey of the tournament. Kite added birdies on Nos. 10 and 14 to pull into a tie, and when he birdied the 15th hole and Simpson took a bogey at No. 16 — inexplicably, he missed a straight-on 2-foot putt — Kite was in front by two shots.
He protected that margin to the end, including an 11-foot birdie putt on the final hole.
“It was just a great duking it out,” said Kite, who is, like Simpson, a former U.S. Open winner. “Scott played well, even though he missed a short putt on 16 that was totally uncharacteristic of him. It was a total shock for him to do that.
“But prior to that it was just boom, boom, boom, boom,” he said, throwing a series of shadow punches. “It was back and forth.”
“It was just one of those days,” Simpson sighed. “I was just a little off here and there.”
Since beating Keith Fergus in a playoff to win the 2006 Boeing Classic, Kite had just four Champions Tour runner-up finishes and no victories in 48 starts before Sunday’s win. Given his age, he couldn’t help wondering if he was perhaps done pocketing winner’s paychecks.
“You try to eliminate those thoughts,” he said, “because obviously they are counterproductive to winning a golf tournament. But fortunately my support team — my teachers, my wife, my caddy, my friends at home and everybody I choose to surround myself with — they’ve been unbelievably positive. They have a lot of confidence in me, a lot of faith in me, and they keep reinforcing the fact that I’m a pretty good player.
“If you keep having people tell you you’re good enough, every once in a while it kicks in and you win a tournament,” said Kite, who had pumped his fists in triumph as he stepped off the 18th green.
And that final victory in Kite’s long and distinguished golfing career?
“It ain’t this one,” he said with a grin. on
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