Kite Delivers a Shiver to the Field at Valencia

The windchill dropped to 31 degrees during the second round of the AT&T; Classic at Valencia Country Club on Saturday, and Tom Kite took it as a challenge.

After learning the temperature on the eighth hole, Kite eagled the ninth, then shot 29 on the back nine -- trumping Mother Nature by two -- for a tournament-record-tying eight-under-par 64 that gave him the lead with a two-day total of 10-under 134.

He is one ahead of Andy Bean and three clear of Monday qualifier Mitch Adcock, the first-round leader. Tom Purtzer, the 2003 champion, is five shots back, with Loren Roberts, a three-time winner on tour this year, lurking in a three-way tie with defending champion Des Smyth and Ben Crenshaw at four under.

Kite, who won at Valencia in 2002 and is a seven-time Champions Tour winner, stepped on the ninth tee Saturday at one over for his round, but then somehow got hot in the unusually cold weather.

After the eagle at No. 9 he made four consecutive birdies on Nos. 10-13 -- the longest birdie-eagle streak on the senior tour this year. After missing a four-foot birdie putt at No. 15, he birdied the final three holes to take sole possession of the lead.

“It was kind of one of those days when nothing was happening,” Kite said. “I was playing pretty well on the front nine and not really getting much to happen at all. So it was the kind of thing where I said, ‘I have to get this thing started at some point in this round.’ ”

Kite had crisp iron play to thank for his sizzling back nine. He hit seven shots to within 15 feet of the hole, making all but one of them for birdie, and added a 20-foot birdie putt on No. 11.

His score equals the lowest back nine in tournament history and is the lowest since the tournament moved to Valencia in 2001.

“That was a good one,” Kite said. “I don’t shoot many 29s.”

Especially in the type of weather he played in Saturday, though it wasn’t as bad as had been predicted; although heavy rain fell in parts of the Southland, Valencia, for the most part, was spared.

“It was cold, it was not the most pleasant day and it was certainly not what we expect in this neck of the woods,” Kite said. “But compared to what we were expecting, this is such a pleasant surprise.”

Another surprise was Bean, who shot 65 to move into contention. Bean, an 11-time winner on the PGA Tour, made his Champions Tour debut in 2003, but has yet to achieve the success many predicted he would have among the over-50 set.

A prodigious driver and skillful iron player, Bean has been held back by poor putting. His last victory in any event came nearly 20 years ago, at the 1986 Byron Nelson Golf Classic -- a span of 374 events on the PGA and Champions tours.

“It’s been very frustrating,” he said. “You can’t believe it.”

Saturday he needed only 26 putts in a round that started eagle-birdie. His only hiccup was a three-putt from 20 feet on No. 6.

The last time Bean played his way into the final group was in 2004, but he never made it to the first tee because of an allergic reaction to a piece of sausage and had to be carted off in an ambulance.

“I’ll probably go to Outback and have a piece of swordfish,” Bean said of his Saturday dinner plans.

Kite said his plan for today is to do the same thing he did Saturday, when, as one tournament staff member put it, he “became the first guy to shoot the temperature.”