Kite Victorious in Playoff

The winds calmed down and the drama picked up on the final day of the $1.45-million SBC Senior Classic on Sunday at Valencia Country Club in the Santa Clarita Valley.

Tom Watson made a chip shot he said was from 123 feet for an eagle on the final hole of regulation that put him into a playoff with Tom Kite, which Kite won with a par on the second hole.

Kite, who earned the $217,500 first prize to push his season earnings to $608,600, was on a roller coaster ride all day.

“Wow, that was a wild and woolly one,” he said. “That was quite a soap opera we played out there.”

After a birdie on the 12th hole put Kite up by two strokes at five-under par for the tournament, he double bogeyed the 13th hole and bogeyed the 15th before salvaging a 69 with birdies on two of the final three holes of regulation.

Watson’s chip shot with a nine-iron on the final hole of regulation, a 546-yard par-five, happened shortly after Gil Morgan came within an inch of making a double eagle that would have put him in the playoff.

Instead, Morgan finished tied for third with Tom Purtzer, who got up and down from a greenside bunker on 18 for a birdie.

Kite and Watson finished 54 holes at four-under 212. Watson, who had a two-stroke lead at the start of the day, shot a 71.

Purtzer, the first-round leader, and Morgan finished at 213. No one else in the field of 78 golfers finished at even par or better, as gusty winds that at times exceeded 30 mph sent scores soaring during the first two days.

Doug Johnson, a qualifier who came into the final round tied for third and played with Kite and Watson in the final threesome, struggled to a 76 and finished in a tie for eighth.

After Purtzer and Morgan finished their rounds, they stood side by side waiting to see how Watson and Kite did on the final hole and see if they would be in a playoff. “Your shot just went from the best of the day to the second best of the day,” Purtzer told Morgan.

However, later Purtzer was raving about Morgan’s near double eagle. Morgan was about 270 yards from the hole and his three-wood missed dropping in by an inch as it rolled past about three to four feet. “In my 27 years of golf, that’s the best shot I’ve ever seen,” Purtzer said.

“It was a bullet right at the flag. I’m a big fan of Gil Morgan, and he never fails to amaze me.”

As for Kite, he hit a perfect tee shot at 18. His second shot rolled to the back fringe, stopping at the first cut of rough.

“It wasn’t an easy shot to begin with, and after Tom’s chip shot it got even tougher,” Kite said.

Kite’s chip of about 25 feet left him with a five-foot birdie putt, which he made.

He had also made a five-foot putt at the 17th to save par after his second shot took a bad bounce and went off the back of the green.

Although the playoff lacked the drama that occurred on the final hole of regulation, there were still some anxious moments.

On the first hole of the playoff, the 18th, a 40-foot birdie putt by Kite stopped a fraction of an inch short.

Then Watson missed a five-foot birdie putt.

“I thought it was going to go left and I just missed it right,” Watson said.

On the second playoff hole, the 470-yard par-four 10th, Watson hit his tee shot into rough on the right and was left with a downhill lie. His second shot left him about 20 yards short of the green and after his approach shot he missed a seven-foot putt.

Kite two-putted for par and the victory.

It was Kite’s second Senior Tour victory of the year and fifth since joining the tour in 2000. His other victory came at the Mastercard Championship in Kona, Hawaii, the first tournament of the season.

For his victory Sunday, Kite earned 218 points in the season-long Charles Schwab Cup competition and took over the lead from Hale Irwin. Kite has 606 points, Irwin 493 heading into this week’s Toshiba Senior Classic at Newport Beach Country Club.

Watson has had quite a few amazing shots in his career, including his chip shot at 17 at Pebble Beach in the 1982 U.S. Open when he beat Jack Nicklaus.

Asked to rank Sunday’s chip, he said, “It definitely ranks in my top five.”

So where does the chip at Pebble in ’82 rank? No. 1?

“I’m not going to tell you,” he said with a smile.