Kite increases lead to five

Tom Kite has the name and game for windy conditions.

Kite followed his course-record 9-under 63 with a 69 on Saturday to take a five-stroke lead in the Senior PGA Tour's season-opening MasterCard Championship.

The 52-year-old Texan birdied five of the first seven holes, but had two bogeys on the back nine as the wind picked up on the Hualalai Golf Club course. He took a 12-under 132 total into the final round.

``I wish it was a bigger lead, but any lead is a nice lead,'' said Kite, who won the 1992 U.S. Open in high wind at Pebble Beach.

After favorable conditions in the morning, the wind suddenly whipped up, gusting to 35 mph. The wind shook the palm trees, bent flag sticks and rattled some players.

Kite had a 31 on the front nine, and a 38 on the back.

``The wind hit us on the seventh hole and from that point on it was just an absolute battle,'' he said. ``Very few opportunities to make birdies. It was difficult to stand over any kind of putt, whether a 30-foot putt or a 2-foot putt.''

His first bogey of the tournament came on the 11th hole, when he three-putted.

``The wind just moved that ball out of the hole,'' he said.

He also bogeyed the 18th after hitting his 4-iron second shot into a bunker.

John Jacobs had a 67 and was at 137, along with Walter Hall (69) and Bob Gilder (70). Brothers Lanny Wadkins (69) and Bobby Wadkins (70) were another stroke behind. The brothers were paired together for the final round.

Jacobs faced the wind for the last five holes, while Kite had to deal with it after the seventh hole.

``Yeah, I love it,'' Jacobs said. ``The only thing is, Kite's shorter than I am, so it doesn't affect him as much as the taller guys.''

He said the wind makes it difficult, especially with putts.

``If you get downwind, putting, you're a dead duck out there,'' he said.

Defending champion Larry Nelson, who was second going into the round, had a 74 and was at 139, tied for seventh with Dana Quigley (68), Jim Thorpe (69) and Bruce Fleisher (71).

Wind took Nelson's tee shot on the 167-yard No. 12 into the rocky lava fields. He took a drop and made double bogey.

Nelson, who was paired with Kite, said the winds took a toll on his game. He shot a 39 on the back nine.

``It's really hard to keep your balance,'' he said. ``I think every shot that I mis-hit, I was moving when I hit it.''

Hale Irwin, who won at Hualalai in 1997 and tied for second in 1998 and 2000, made five birdies and a bogey during his 68 and was at 141, along with three others, including Doug Tewell (74), who had a hole-in-one Friday.

The wind-swept Jack Nicklaus-designed Hualalai course is surrounded by black, dry lava, which eats up poor shots. In the backdrop of the 7,053-yard oceanside course is Mount Hualalai and Mauna Kea, two of the five volcanoes on the island of Hawaii.

Jacobs said he's hoping for more wind Sunday.

``If you're behind, you want it to blow,'' he said. ``If (Kite) gets a five- or six-stroke lead, and there's no wind, nobody's going to catch him.''

Hall agreed, saying he needs a round in the mid-60s ``just to have a chance.''

``A reasonable 15- or 20-mile wind would be fine and dandy,'' Kite said. ``J.J., Gilder and Walter, Lanny and Bobby ... I'm sure those guys want the wind to blow 100 mph.''

But history is on Kite's side.

Of the previous 18 tournaments, the golfer who has led or tied for the lead after 36 holes has won 13 times. Kite's five-stroke lead also tied the record for the largest margin after two rounds.

The winner of the $1.5 million tournament, limited to tour winners in the last two years and major champions in the last five, will earn $258,000.

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