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Tom Kite  |
EXEMPT STATUS: Top 31 on 2002 Champions Tour Money List FULL NAME: Tom Kite HEIGHT: 5-9 WEIGHT: 170 BIRTHDATE: December 9, 1949 BIRTHPLACE: McKinney, TX RESIDENCE: Austin, TX FAMILY: Wife, Christy; Stephanie Lee (10/7/81), twins David Thomas and Paul Christopher (9/1/84) EDUCATION: University of Texas (1972) SPECIAL INTERESTS: Landscaping TURNED PROFESSIONAL: 1972 JOINED TOUR: 2000 |
| PGA TOUR Victories |
| (19) 1976 IVB-Bicentennial Golf Classic. 1978 B.C. Open. 1981 American Motors Inverrary Classic. 1982 Bay Hill Classic. 1983 Bing Crosby National Pro-Am. 1984 Doral-Eastern Open, Georgia-Pacific Atlanta Golf Classic. 1985 MONY Tournament of Champions. 1986 Western Open. 1987 Kemper Open. 1989 Nestle Invitational, THE PLAYERS Championship, Nabisco Championship. 1990 Federal Express St. Jude Classic. 1991 Infiniti Tournament of Champions. 1992 BellSouth Classic, U.S. Open Championship. 1993 Bob Hope Chrysler Classic, Nissan Los Angeles Open. |
| Champions Tour Victories |
| (6) 2000 The Countrywide Tradition, SBC Senior Open. 2001 Gold Rush Classic. 2002 MasterCard Championship, SBC Senior Classic, Napa Valley Championship presented by Beringer Vineyards. |
| Other Victories |
| 1974 Air New Zealand Open. 1980 European Open. 1981 JCPenney Classic (with Beth Daniel). 1987 Kirin Cup (medalist). 1989 Dunhill Cup. 1992 Shark Shootout (with Davis Love III). 1996 Oki Pro-Am, Franklin Templeton Shark Shootout (with Jay Haas). |
| Current Year Charles Schwab Cup Points and Positions |
| 262 (26) |
| Current Year Champions Tour Money and Positions |
| $366,632 (27) |
| Current Year Best Champions Tour Finishes |
| T4--Kinko's Classic of Austin |
| Current Year Champions Tour Best Round |
| 65 at Round 2, MasterCard Classic, at Round 2, Kinko's Classic of Austin |
| Current Year Champions Tour Highlights |
| Appeared to be in control of things at the Kinko's Classic in his hometown of Austin with two holes to play, but bogeys on 17 and 18 proved costly and he slipped back to a T4, two strokes out of the Hale Irwin-Tom Watson playoff...Was T7 at The ACE Group Classic. |
| Best PGA TOUR Finishes |
| 1--1976 IVB-Bicentennial Golf Classic. 1978 B.C. Open. 1981 American Motors Inverrary Classic. 1982 Bay Hill Classic. 1983 Bing Crosby National Pro-Am. 1984 Doral-Eastern Open, Georgia-Pacific Atlanta Golf Classic. 1985 MONY Tournament of Champions. 1986 Western Open. 1987 Kemper Open. 1989 Nestle Invitational, THE PLAYERS Championship, Nabisco Championship. 1990 Federal Express St. Jude Classic. 1991 Infiniti Tournament of Champions. 1992 BellSouth Classic, U.S. Open Championship. 1993 Bob Hope Chrysler Classic, Nissan Los Angeles Open. |
| Best Champions Tour Finishes |
| 1--2000 The Countrywide Tradition, SBC Senior Open. 2001 Gold Rush Classic. 2002 MasterCard Championship, SBC Senior Classic, Napa Valley Championship presented by Beringer Vineyards. |
| Best 2002 PGA TOUR Finishes |
| T25--Valero Texas Open |
| Best 2002 Champions Tour Finishes |
| 1--MasterCard Championship, Napa Valley Championship presented by Beringer Vineyards, 3--U.S. Senior Open, T4--Kroger Senior Classic, T5--Royal Caribbean Classic, Verizon Classic, 6--AT&T Canada Senior Open Championship, T7--The Countrywide Tradition, FleetBoston Classic, T8--Bruno's Memorial Classic, TD Waterhouse Championship, Lightpath Long Island Classic, T10--FORD SENIOR PLAYERS Championship |
| 2002 Season PGA TOUR |
| Tournaments Entered--5; in money--2; Top 10 finishes--0 |
| 2002 Season Champions Tour |
| Tournaments Entered--23; in money--23; Top 10 finishes--14 |
| 2002 Season Highlights |
| Moved up six spots on the money list and had a career-best year on the Champions Tour with over $1.6 million and three victories, equaling the total of his first two years on the circuit...Also fifth in the final Charles Schwab Cup standings...Was a six-stroke victor at the first official event of the season, the MasterCard Championship. Became just the third player to go wire-to-wire in the tournament after opening with a Hualalai course-record 63 that included a pair of eagles on the front nine. Victory in Hawaii made him just the fourth player to have won the season-opening event on both the Champions Tour and the PGA TOUR (joining Jack Nicklaus, Al Geiberger and Don January)...Defeated Tom Watson in a playoff hole to win the SBC Senior Classic. Forced the overtime session with a birdie on the 18th hole and then made par on the second extra hole for the victory...Won his ninth TOUR title in the state of California near the end of the season. Held off Bruce Fleisher and Fred Gibson to win the Napa Valley Championship by one stroke despite shooting an even-par 72 on Sunday, the highest final-round score by a winner in 2002 and also the highest finish by a winner in the history of the event. Win at Silverado came 30 years after he successfully made it through the PGA TOUR Qualifying School at the same venue. Victory in Napa also gave him three TOUR wins in a single season for the first time since 1989...Made a bid for the U.S. Senior Open title at Caves Valley. Trailed by just one stroke after 36 holes, but fell out of contention with a 2-over 73 on Saturday...Made consecutive eagles in the final round of the AT&T Canada Senior Open, a Champions Tour first since Steve Veriato made back-to-back eagles at the 2002 Gold Rush Classic...Led all players in the All-Around stats category and also was first in Greens in Regulation for third year in succession...Played in four PGA TOUR events...T25 at the Valero Texas Open after posting four consecutive rounds in the 60s...Also finished T36 at THE PLAYERS Championship, the 23rd time he made the cut in the event, a tournament record...Missed the cut at the MasterCard Colonial, ending a streak of 28 straight years in which he made the cut in the Fort Worth event...Also missed the cut at the U.S. Open at Bethpage on Long Island. |
| Career Highlights |
| 2001: The last of 22 different winners on the Champions Tour...Was among the top-10 in over two-thirds of his starts and finished third in four events before winning the Gold Rush Classic by one stroke over Allen Doyle. Three-round total of 22-under 194 at Serrano CC tied an all-time Champions Tour record in relation to par and included a senior career-best 10-under 62 in the second round, his lowest since closing with a 62 at the 1993 Bob Hope Chrysler Classic in on the PGA TOUR. His 17-under 127 score after two days was the lowest first 36-hole total of the year and 15-under 129 on Saturday and Sunday was the lowest last 36-hole total in 2001. Victory near Sacramento came during a run of 19 straight rounds of par or better...Played in five events on the PGA TOUR and finished 168th on the money list with $211,252...Rallied from 44th place after three rounds to T5 at the U.S. Open at Southern Hills, the best finish by a senior in a major championship since Sam Snead T3 in the 1974 PGA Championship. Along with Vijay Singh, fired a sizzling 6-under 64 in the final round, one shot off the 18-hole U.S. Open scoring record...Was T44 at THE PLAYERS Championship and T34 at the MasterCard Colonial...Missed the cut at the PGA Championship at the Atlanta Athletic Club, ending a run of nine consecutive cuts made on the PGA TOUR since becoming a senior, and also missed the cut at the Southern Farm Bureau Classic near Jackson, MS. 2000: Posted first Champions Tour victory in a three-man playoff with Larry Nelson and Tom Watson at The Countrywide Tradition, in his fifth start. Battled Watson for six holes (Nelson went out on the second extra hole) before prevailing with a birdie. Became the first player since Tom Wargo at the PGA Seniors' in 1993 to post his first victory in a Champions Tour major...Also had a two-stroke win over Bruce Fleisher at the SBC Senior Open. Played the last four holes in 3-under-par to overtake Fleisher...Finished in the top-10 in all four Champions Tour majors. Finished T2 at he rain-shortened PGA Seniors' Championship, third at the U.S. Senior Open at Saucon Valley and sixth at the FORD SENIOR PLAYERS Championship after holding the lead going into the final round...Set a new Champions Tour standard by hitting 78.0 percent of Greens in Regulation, breaking the old mark of 77.0 percent by John Mahaffey in 1999...Made the cut in all six of his PGA TOUR appearances--Bob Hope Chrysler Classic (T61), THE PLAYERS Championship (T66), MasterCard Colonial (T50), U.S. Open (T32), British Open (T70) and PGA Championship (T19). |
| Personal |
| After wearing glasses since age 12, had LASIK surgery in late January 1998 to correct acute nearsightedness...Serves as a spokesman for Chrysler Junior Golf Scholarship program...Started playing golf at age 6 by following his father around and won his first tournament at 11...Three of his last four PGA TOUR victories came on holidays -- 1992 BellSouth Classic (Mother's Day), 1992 U.S. Open (Father's Day), 1993 Bob Hope Chrysler Classic (Valentines Day)...Biggest thrill in golf was being selected as the Ryder Cup captain in 1997...Has worked with such teachers as Harvey Penick, Bob Toski, Peter Kostis, Chuck Cook, Jim McLean, Dave Pelz and Dave Phillips...His daughter, Stephanie, is a gymnast at the University of Alabama and was a member of its national championship squad in 2002...Lists Pebble Beach as his favorite golf course and Michael Jordan as his favorite athlete...Dream foursome would include Bobby Jones, Ben Hogan, Byron Nelson and Walter Hagen "because they were the best players of all time that I never had a chance to play with."...The first car he owned was a 1957 Chevy...Enjoys Mexican food...He and his family have two dogs, Maja, a shepherd mix, and Mulligan, a fox hound...Says the best shot of his career was when he holed his lob wedge for a birdie on the seventh hole at Pebble Beach during the last round of the 1992 U.S. Open since it helped him to a two-stroke win...Would like to continue his golf course design work in the future with his son David joining him. |
| PGA TOUR Playoff Record |
| 6-4 |
| Champions Tour Playoff Record |
| 2-0 |