Golf Roundup : Kite Gets Playoff Victory at Orlando

Tom Kite and Davis Love III each double-bogeyed the 18th hole Sunday to send the Nestle Invitational at Orlando, Fla., to a playoff, and Kite won the tournament when Love three-putted the second extra hole.

“I’ve won a lot of tournaments, but I’ve never won one like this. I’m in shock,” Kite said. “It looked like a pro-am out there. No, not that good.”

Love, 24, and Kite were tied when they went to the 18th tee. Each had good drives. Kite hit his second shot into a lake to the right-front of the green. Thinking he was out of it, his shoulders slumped and he bowed.

But Love lofted his second shot over the green and into the gallery, the ball hitting a small girl on the shin. Love failed to reach the green with his first chip, then got on in four.

Kite got on in four and had a 15-footer for bogey. He missed it and Love needed only a three-footer for a bogey and the title. But he missed it and they finished 72 holes tied at six-under 278.

In the playoff, both made pars at 15. On No. 16, Kite got his approach in the fringe, and Love found the green. Love was 30 to 40 feet away and his putt was about eight feet short. Kite got down in two for par, and Love missed his putt for par.

Love, whose only victory in a four-season PGA Tour career came in the 1987 Heritage Classic, shot a 73 over the final 18 holes. Kite shot a 71.

Kite, 39, third on the all-time earnings list, collected $144,000 from the total purse of $800,000 and pushed his total for the year to $318,723. Kite, who won this tournament in 1982 when it was known as the Bay Hill Classic, won for the first time since the 1987 Kemper Open.

For the third consecutive week, U.S. Open champion Curtis Strange made a move too late in the final round and finished third. Strange shot a 31 on the back nine and finished with a 65, the best round of the day. His four-round total of 279 was one stroke back.

Payne Stewart, Don Pooley and Loren Roberts were another stroke back at 280. Stewart and Pooley each had a closing 70, Roberts a 72.

Greg Norman shot a 67 and finished at 284. Tom Watson shot a 71 to finish with a five-over-par 289.

Bruce Crampton shot a three-under-par 68 to overcome a two-stroke deficit in winning the $300,000 Arizona Classic at Phoenix.

Crampton, who finished with a 16-under-par total of 200, won the 16th Senior Tour title of his career.

Bobby Nichols, who led after the first and second rounds, shot a 72 and finished one stroke behind.

Ove Sellberg took a big step toward becoming the first Swedish golfer to make the European Ryder Cup team when he won the $400,000 Baleares Open at Palma de Majorca in the Baleares Islands.

A strong challenge by Bill Malley of Hayward, Calif., fizzled with a double bogey on the 16th hole.

Sellberg, the overnight leader by one shot over Malley, finished the final round with a bogey-free 71 for a 9-under-par 279 and the first prize of $66,000.