Tom Kite still flying strong
SNOQUALMIE — Tom Kite stood in front of a clinic crowd at the TPC at Snoqualmie Ridge this week and blissfully confessed that he lives an advanced version of his sixth-grade summer.
"When I was 12 years old, my dad would drop me off at the golf course in the morning during the summer and he would pick me up at night. Sometimes, it would be dark and I would have played 18 or 36 holes. I just went from sunup to sundown and just loved the game and couldn't get enough of it. Well, here I am, 56 years old, doing the same exact thing."
Kite is one of the biggest names in the Boeing Greater Seattle Classic that runs Friday through Sunday at the TPC at Snoqualmie Ridge. He played well in the inaugural event last year, shooting 66-69-67-214 for a 14-under total that could win a lot of tournaments but didn't win this one. He finished second to David Eger, who shot 68-64-67 — 199.
"I really played well," Kite said. "I didn't think the winner would be 17 under. All you can say is, 'Well done.' "
Kite was the first player in PGA Tour history to reach $6 million in earnings and was the money leader in 1981 and 1989.
But until 1992, he was known as one of the best players never to win a major. All that changed on a blustery Sunday at Pebble Beach when he won the U.S. Open.
Someone once wrote, "All golf wants is a major and as soon as you feed it one, the beast is satisfied."
Kite fed the beast on that Sunday with a round that included a chip-in with a lob wedge on the par-3 seventh hole.
"I still have that flag," he said. "The superintendent got it for me."
Kite said that victory "certainly allowed a lot of things to happen."
"I probably wouldn't have been named Ryder Cup captain (1997) and probably not elected to the World Golf Hall of Fame (2004) without that."
Kite's golfing roots are notable. His father, an Internal Revenue Service administrator, started him in the game at age 6. At age 11, the family moved to Austin, Texas, and Kite began receiving instruction from the legendary Harvey Penick, who later wrote the best-selling instructional book, "The Little Red Book."
Kite and childhood friend and rival Ben Crenshaw, who also was a Penick pupil, played at the University of Texas and shared the 1972 NCAA individual championship.
Crenshaw, another marquee player in the Boeing tournament, won two Masters titles. The second was in 1995. The day before the tournament's first round, Crenshaw and Kite were pallbearers at Penick's funeral in Texas.
In Kite's Snoqualmie clinic, he repeatedly referred to lessons learned from Penick and called him "Mr. Penick."
Penick gave Kite a solid foundation, but Kite's unrelenting quest for constant improvement has meant him being open-minded. He hasn't been afraid of change and is credited as the first player to carry three wedges. He also has used a sports psychologist and was among the first golfers to incorporate fitness training into his regimen.
"You're always trying to get better," he said.
At 5 feet 9, 170 pounds, Kite never has been a big hitter, but he has used accuracy and a superb short game on his way to 19 PGA Tour wins and eight Champions Tour titles, including this year's AT&T Classic.
Last year, Kite came close to making history on the PGA Tour. He led the Booz Allen Classic by one shot going into the final round but faded to finish 13th. Had he won, he would have beaten Sam Snead's record as oldest Tour winner by three years.
Kite said he enjoys playing on both the PGA Tour and Champions Tour.
"I like them both," he said. "Certainly, the Champions Tour is lower key and a little less pressure and a little less intensity."
At any tournament site, the approachable Kite commands respect.
Defending Boeing Classic champion David Eger said the first things that pop to his mind when he thinks of Kite are "the success and longevity of his career."
"He's a workaholic. A hard, hard worker," Eger said.
That work ethic has rubbed off on his children. Daughter Stephanie was a member of the NCAA championship gymnastics team at the University of Alabama in 2002. Son David will be a senior on the University of South Carolina golf team.
Their father shows no signs of slowing down.
As he put it, "I love doing what I'm doing."
Craig Smith: 206-464-8279 or csmith@seattletimes.com
