GOLF ROUNDUP : Kite’s Playoff Win Puts Earnings at $6 Million

Tom Kite rolled in a 15-foot birdie putt on the first playoff hole Sunday to defeat John Cook in the St. Jude tournament at Memphis, Tenn., and become the PGA Tour’s first $6-million man.

Kite hit a seven-iron to the green on the 13th hole, the first of sudden death, but Cook’s approach landed in a bunker. Kite needed one putt for his first tour win of the year and the 14th of his career.

“I take the attitude in a playoff that you have to deliver the first blow,” Kite said. “I was 146 yards from the hole and I was going right at it. You can’t count on someone making a mistake on a playoff hole. You’ve got to go for the birdie.”

The first prize of $180,000 pushed Kite’s career earnings to $6,144,890. Cook, winless since 1987, earned $108,000.

The pair were tied for the lead when the round began at the 7,006-yard, par-71 TPC course at Southwind. However, Cook ran off four birdies in a row starting at the 12th hole to pick up five strokes on Kite and lead by one. Kite birdied the par-three 17th to tie Cook at 67 for the round and 15-under 269 for the tournament.

David Canipe shot a steady round of 69 to finish third at 12-under 272. David Frost, Tim Simpson and Bob Estes were tied for fourth at 274.

Barb Mucha, who failed to qualify for the 1988 tour after playing in 1987, won her first LPGA tournament when she birdied the second playoff hole to beat Lenore Rittenhouse in the Boston Five Classic at Danvers, Mass.

As she had promised Saturday, Mucha celebrated winning the $52,500 first prize by jumping into the pond alongside the 18th fairway of the 6,008-yard Tara Ferncroft course.

Mucha and Rittenhouse had finished 72 holes at 11-under-par 277, setting up the first playoff in the 11-year history of the tournament. Rittenhouse shot 65 and Mucha had a 69.

Cindy Rarick finished third, shooting 66 for 278. Defending champion Amy Alcott and first-day leader Ok-Hee Ku, who double-bogeyed the 18th, tied at 280. Alcott had a 69 Sunday and Ku shot 70. Nancy Brown and Laura Baugh tied at 281.

Bruce Crampton shot a final-round 68 to win the Senior Tour’s Paine Webber Invitational at Charlotte, N.C., in just his third tournament since returning from a lengthy layoff.

Crampton, who missed 11 weeks for a stress-related illness, pulled away from a pack of 21 golfers within one stroke of the lead when the day began. He won $67,500.

Tied with Tom Shaw at 10-under, Crampton birdied the 16th hole by two-putting from 70 feet for birdie, moving to the eventual winning total of 11-under 205.

Shaw, who surged into contention with a second-round 65, finished one shot back with a 69.

Helen Alfredsson, last year’s European rookie of the year, won a sudden-death playoff with a par on the fourth hole against Zimbabwe’s Jane Hill to take the British Women’s Open at Woburn England.

The two were tied at four-under-par 288 after Hill matched the tournament record with a final-round 68. Alfredsson shot 73 and needed the playoff for her first tournament win.

Ronan Rafferty of Northern Ireland shot a 69 for a wire-to-wire, four-stroke victory in the PLM Open at Malmo, Sweden.

Rafferty had an 18-under-par total of 270, a tournament record. Vijay Singh of Fiji was second at 274 after shooting 65. Former Masters champion Bernhard Langer of West Germany was one more stroke behind.

Fred Couples, the only U.S. tour member who made the cut, also closed with a 65 to share fourth with Sweden’s Ove Sellberg at 276.