GOLF TOURNAMENT OF CHAMPIONS : Once Again, It’s a Close Battle Between Rivals Wadkins and Kite

Lanny Wadkins and Tom Kite began competing against each other as teen-agers and, at 41, they are still battling.

Wadkins maintained his lead in the Infiniti Tournament of Champions Friday at La Costa by shooting a five-under-par 67 for a 36-hole total of 132.

Kite, who was three strokes behind Wadkins at the start of the round, also shot a 67 and didn’t gain any ground on his longtime rival.

“Obviously I’m pleased with the way I’m playing, but dad gum, the way Lanny is playing . . . “

On another day of intermittent rain, the course continued to yield some low scores as 13 players in a field of 31 had sub-par rounds.

“The golf course plays easier with soft conditions, but you still don’t expect to not pick up any ground when you shoot a five-under 67,” Kite said.

The fast-playing Wadkins is regarded as a formidable front-runner, and he’s off and running again.

“I’ve lost only two tournaments in my life when I was ahead going into the final round,” Wadkins said. “Once I get up on people, I intend to stay there.”

There are, of course, two more rounds to play, but a Wadkins-Kite shootout is likely.

Kite, at 135, is two shots ahead of John Huston and Chip Beck, while Fred Couples is at 138.

“I just want to continue shooting as low as I can,” Wadkins said. “I can’t control what others do.”

Wadkins and Kite are longtime adversaries, dating to 1966 when they played in the National Junior Championship at California Country Club in Whittier.

They were eliminated in the semifinals of the match-play tournament won by the late Gary Sanders.

Then, in 1970, Wadkins beat Kite in a playoff for the U.S. Amateur title in Portland, Ore.

Wadkins is aware of how he stands in relation to his contemporaries. He has 19 career victories to Kite’s 14 and has won one major professional championship, the PGA in 1977.

A victory in one of the four majors, the U.S. and British Opens, Masters and PGA, has eluded Kite. However, he is the all-time leading money-winner. Wadkins is fifth.

Wadkins and Kite will be paired today as they have been so often in the past.

“Tom is easy to play with. He’ll just do his thing and I’ll do mine,” Wadkins said.

Wadkins said he didn’t do anything exceptional Friday, “just a decent, solid round.”

So decent that he had five birdies without a bogey. In fact, he’s had only one bogey in 36 holes. He finished in style on the par-four, 421-yard 18th, hitting a five-iron within two feet of the cup and making his last birdie.

“I made the putts I had to and I drove well on the tight holes,” Wadkins said.

Obviously, the wet weather didn’t bother Wadkins, Kite or the other sub-par players.

“The rain softened up the course and it played easier,” said Kite, explaining that in dry weather the greens have more bounce than they do now.

Kite said he had a good, scrambling round with six birdies and one bogey. He also saved par at the 14th and 16th holes while coming out of bunkers.

Although Wadkins said his round was just decent, his 12-under-par total of 132 is only one shot higher than the T. of C. record set by Tom Watson in 1980.

Wadkins and Kite have had parallel careers. Wadkins joined the PGA Tour in 1971. Kite followed the next year.

Wadkins got his first tour victory, the Sahara Invitational, in 1972, while Kite got his in 1976, at the IVB-Bicentennial tournament.

Each has been on six Ryder Cup teams, and they have similar physical characteristics. Wadkins stands 5-feet-9 and weighs 160 pounds; Kite is 5-8 and 155.

And they each live in Texas--Wadkins in Dallas, Kite in Austin. Moreover, they were born four days apart.

Golf Notes

Bob Tway birdied the four par-three holes in his round of 67. “Four 2s. I’ve never done that before,” he said. Tway played in the morning when when the rain was more persistent. “It was more of nuisance than anything else,” said Tway, who wore a rain suit as a concession to the weather. He shot a 73 Thursday and has a 36-hole total of 140. . . . John Huston also had a 67 Friday, Fred Couples a 68. . . . Defending champion Paul Azinger shot a 72 for a 36-hole total of 146.