Watson & Kite still great competitors

The senior set had a few moments at the PGA Championship on Sunday.

There was 50-year-old Tom Watson's sliding downhill 20-footer for a birdie on the 9th hole to get to 9 under for the tournament.

Tom Kite, another 50-year-old, blasted a one-hopper out of a cavernous bunker on No. 6 to get to 7 under with a birdie.

Those shots and others were met with encouraging shouts to the veteran twosome.

``Show these kids!''

``Get one for our set!''

Even: ``You da man!''

Watson and Kite, who spend their golf time on the Senior PGA Tour these days, still have enough game to play with kids 20 or even 25 years younger and they showed it Sunday.

Both started the final round at 5 under, Watson on the strength of a 65 on Saturday that tied the then-course record. Only an opening 76 kept Watson from a real shot at the one major title that eludes him. Kite, for his part, put together three solid under-par rounds.

At one juncture Sunday, they were on the first page of the leaderboard, tied for ninth place at 9 under.

``I'm there. I'm close enough to make a run,'' Watson remembered saying to himself. ``I was thinking hard about it.''

But neither could keep his level of play high on the back nine.

Six possible birdie putts lipped out for Watson, while Kite had three bogeys.

Watson's trophy case includes five British Open titles, two Masters and one U.S. Open - but no PGA crown. When he saw the leaders backing up for a time, Watson dreamed.

``I could see that Wanamaker Trophy,'' Watson said.

Kite won his only major at the U.S. Open at Pebble Beach and was once the all-time leading money-winner on the PGA Tour. But Woods surpassed Kite's purse total last year alone.

Kite was captain of the 1997 Ryder Cup team; Watson was captain in 1993.

They seemed to feed off each other and the encouraging galleries along the fairways at Valhalla Golf Club. Both birdied the par-5 second hole to start their runs.

Tom Watson plays into the 2nd, earned an invitation to the 2001 PGA. Allsport

Watson, his putting troubles seemingly a thing of the past, rolled in more long putts Sunday, just as he did Saturday. There was a 20-footer on No. 4 and a 6-footer on No. 8. He also had a horseshoe on No. 13 that went in, came out and back at him, leaving a tap-in for par.

Kite scrambled, mixing clean irons with occasionally wayward ones. A soft flop from way below the green on No. 12 saved par.

``It was fun playing well,'' Kite said. ``We knew if we played as well on the back as we did on the front, we had a chance.''

The other seniors in the 82nd PGA did not fare so well.

Jack Nicklaus, 60, on his valedictory tour of major tournaments, nearly holed an eagle wedge on his 36th hole that would have allowed him to make the cut.

Lanny Wadkins, another former PGA champion, also left before the weekend.

Ed Sabo, 51, got in as a club pro, but also played in four senior tour events this year with a 15th place finish in the U.S. Senior Open. He missed the cut here by three strokes.

Bobby Nichols, a 64-year-old regular on the Senior PGA Tour and winner of the 1964 PGA Championship, withdrew before play began because of ailing hips.

Kite and Watson were special invitees to the tournament.

But Watson earned a return trip for next year's PGA, where he will try once again to fill that space in the trophy case.

``At 50 years old,'' Watson said, ``I can still play with the kids.''

Email this page to a friend