Stewart Goes Ka-Putt as Kite Wins Playoff : Golf: Kite becomes all-time leading money winner and PGA player of the year with sudden-death victory.

After three-putting the 18th green for a bogey Sunday in the Nabisco Championships, Payne Stewart ruefully commented, “I let everybody back in the tournament.”

Not quite. Only Tom Kite, who took advantage of Stewart’s lapse to win the $2.5-million tournament at Harbour Town Golf Links in a playoff.

It didn’t last long. Stewart missed a four-foot putt for a bogey at the second playoff hole after Kite had made his par.

So Kite, who is continually reminded how he blew a lead in the U.S. Open last June on the final day, has redeemed himself to an extent.

For sure, his rewards for winning were enormous. He earned a first-place paycheck of $450,000 and another $175,000 in bonus money as the leading money winner on the tour this season.

Moreover, he also became the PGA player of the year, an award based on a point system, and has now passed Tom Watson and Jack Nicklaus as the all-time career money-winner.

Kite had a 68 on the final round while Stewart had a 66. Each had a 72-hole total of 276.

It seemed that Stewart, clad in the blue and gold colors of the Los Angeles Rams, seemed destined to win on another windy day at Hilton Head.

He birdied the first five holes and had the lead to himself after six holes when he was eight under par for the tournament. Then, he stretched his lead to three strokes over the field with a remarkable eagle on the par-four, 327-yard ninth hole.

He hit a pitching wedge 121 yards on his second shot, the ball taking one bounce and diving into the cup.

He then gave his caddie a high-five and went on to the back nine. He faltered with a bogey at the 11th hole, but still had a two-shot lead going to the 18th tee.

Then, he three-putted. His first putt of about 30 feet went to the left of the cup, about four feet away.

Then, he missed coming back, the ball lipping the cup and going out. And he had to settle for a bogey.

“If I had two-putted the last hole, things would have been different because 18 is a very tough hole to have to birdie,” Stewart said.

As it was, Kite had to birdie only the 17th hole to get into the playoff. His seven iron tee shot on the par-three, 169-yard hole landed only three feet from the pin and then he sank the putt for the birdie to go eight under par and tie Stewart, who had already finished.

However, Kite still had to par the 458-yard, par-four 18th to assure himself of a playoff against Stewart.

His second shot missed the green, but he chipped to within three feet of the cup. Then, he barely made the short putt, the ball dropping in from the edge of he cup.

“Those putts that I had on the last two holes in regulation play were as tough as I’ve ever had to make in my life,” Kite said. “I stepped back twice. I was trying to steady myself in between gusts of wind.

“The same thing happened on 18. I almost missed that putt from about three feet. I can sympathize with what happened to Payne in the playoff.”

The playoff between Stewart, the tour’s leading money-winner at the time, and Kite, who was in second place on the money list, began at the par-four, 373-yard 16th hole.

Both players parred the hole and went on to the treacherous par-three 17th, where the wind from Calibogue Sound was playing havoc with the pros again Sunday.

Stewart’s tee shot came down in the fringe of the green, about 30 feet away from the cup. Kite’s tee shot was about 20 to 22 feet short of the flag.

Stewart rolled his putt about four feet past the pin. Kite’s putt went about one-foot short for an easy tap in.

Then, Stewart pulled his putt to the right, giving the tournament to Kite.

“I didn’t expect any bogeys in the playoff,” Kite said. “I thought we would be out there until someone made a birdie.”

Stewart’s consolation prize for second was worth $270,000, more than any first-place paycheck in previous tour events this year.

Kite and Stewart both became golf millionaires for a season, a status achieved for the first time last year by Curtis Strange, who beat Kite in a playoff for the Nabisco title.

“Here I am complaining about losing and I just made 200-and-something thousand dollars,” Stewart said.

Stewart’s playoff record is 0-5. Kite’s is 5-3.

“The odds are getting better for me,” Stewart said. “One of these days I’ll win one.”

Wayne Levi, the third-round leader, and Paul Azinger finished in a tie for third at 278, each earning $146,250.

Azinger and Levi were seven under par going to the 18th hole with a chance of getting into a playoff. The 18th treated them as rudely as Stewart as they each bogeyed the hole.

Kite said he didn’t watch the scoreboards on the final round but was advised by his caddie, “to get cooking,” when he made the turn.

“I was trying to keep myself in the present as much as I could,” Kite said. “I didn’t want my thoughts to be racing ahead to what might happen.”

Asked if his victory in the rich Nabisco tournament made up for failure to win his first major championship when he shot a 78 in the final round of the U.S. Open, Kite said: “No, it doesn’t make up for it. Nothing will ever change the fact that I had such a poor final round of the U.S. Open. But this is an important step.

“I’m sure some people thought that loss would end my victories here on the PGA Tour. I knew in my heart it wouldn’t. Now everyone knows.”

Kite has earned $1,395,278 for 1989, the most won on the tour in a single season. His lifetime earnings are No. 1 on the all-time list at $5,600,691.

“Obviously to get that high up there, you have to have played very well over a long period of time, which I have been fortunate to be able to do,” said Kite, 39, who has 13 victories in his 17 years on the tour.

“But I’d be foolish to say that this makes me a better player than Jack Nicklaus. Tom Watson during his prime was awesome. But it certainly puts me up there.”

Way up there on a windy day to his liking.

“I’m glad the wind blew,” he said. “I just hope it blows every day for the rest of my life. I just love it.”

Golf Notes

Payne Stewart, helped by his eagle on the ninth hole, shot a seven-under-par 29 on the front side, breaking the nine-hole course record of 30 held by Mark Hayes and Wayne Levi. . . . Blaine McCallister scored a hole-in-one on the par-three, 189-yard seventh hole. He used a five iron. He finished with a 68 for a three-over-par 287. . . . Sunday’s victory was Kite’s third on the tour this season, tying Steve Jones.