Kite Can’t Get Closer Than Third
By Kevin McManemin, USGA
Baltimore, Md. -- Tom Kite, always a gallery favorite, just
couldn’t stay out of the crowd on Sunday. It was a thrill
for the fans, but bad news for Kite. Playing from behind the
ropes usually isn’t the best strategy for winning a championship.
On the 13th hole, Kite’s drive swerved toward
the gallery, bounced off a spectator and landed in the rough,
among a grove of trees. An amazing recovery shot, followed
by a great chip and a good putt, and Kite escaped the par
5 with a birdie, despite the inauspicious start.
Three holes later he again found himself trying to recover
a poor drive from behind the gallery ropes. “Great place
for a house,” he quipped to the crowd as he climbed up the
tree-lined hill to find his ball.
“I fought with the driver all week, and this is not a golf
course where you can hit some errant drives and expect to
score very well,” said Kite after the round.
Despite his problems off the tee, Kite’s iron play from the
rough was excellent on Sunday and his errant drives didn’t
cause him to go above par. He played well on the greens throughout
the Senior Open.
“There were some encouraging things that came out of the
week,” said Kite. “I putted better than I have for a long,
long time.”
However, it was his putting that ended up costing him on
Sunday; three-putted greens on holes 6 and 15 gave Kite his
only bogeys of the day.
Kite came into the round 4 under par for the championship,
in fifth place. He netted five birdies and 11 pars to finish
with a 3-under-par 68.
With Walter Hall stumbling on Sunday, ending 6 over par to
drop to a tie for 11th, Kite eased into third place.
It is the second time Tom Kite has finished in third place
at a U.S. Senior Open (he came in third at the 2000 Senior
Open at Saucon Valley C.C. in Bethlehem, Pa., finishing behind
Hale Irwin and Bruce Fleisher).
While Kite has two victories on the Senior Tour this year,
his finish at the Senior Open marks his best finish in a major
championship for the season. He finished tied for 15th
at the Senior PGA Championship and failed to make the cut
at both the Masters and the U.S. Open.
Dougherty Notches Fourth Place
Ed Dougherty came into Sunday in sole possession of fourth
place, and managed to hang on to the position by shooting
a 1-under round of 70. He came into Sunday four shots behind
leader Don Pooley, but wasn’t able to finish far enough under
par to make up the difference.
Sunday at Caves Valley Country Club started badly for Dougherty.
On the first hole, his drive landed in the rough above a bunker.
“I had such a horrible lie, a big clump of grass to the right
of the ball and I knew I couldn’t get around it,” said Dougherty.
“I knew if I hit it, it was going to stop the club, which
it did, and I shanked it up.”
His shot out found the rough on the opposite side of the
fairway. Then Dougherty hit a poor chip shot that overshot
the flagstick and rolled to the edge of the green. He two-putted
the green and marked a bogey for the first hole.
Fortunately, it would be his last bogey for the Senior Open.
Birdies on holes 5 and 7 put him back at 1 under for the round.
He would stay at 1 under for the remainder of the championship.
Dougherty nailed 11 pars in a row, parring every hole from
8-18 to finish out the day.
Dougherty played impressive golf throughout the 2002 Senior
Open. After shooting a first round 71 to par the course,
Dougherty beat par in his three subsequent rounds, shooting
69-68-70. The fourth-place finish is his best finish in any
tournament this season (he also tied for fourth at the Audi
Senior Classic in February). Coming into the Senior Open
this week, Dougherty only had two top-10 finishes this season.
While a victory would have been nice, Dougherty was happy
with his finish this week.
“You know, I didn’t know what first prize was, I didn’t know
what 10th prize was,” said Dougherty. “I never look. It
would have been great [to win]. But fourth is not bad, either.”
E-mail McManemin with questions or comments at kmcmanemin@usga.org.
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