Hall of Famer Kite to make 1,000th career start at SAS

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Tom Kite is still grinding it out on the range, 40 years and 1,000 starts into his career.

"I've got to go hit some balls, so let's make it quick," said Tom Kite when asked to make a few observations about his next tournament, the SAS Championship at Prestonwood Country Club in Cary, N.C. It will be Kite's 1,000th combined start in a 40-year career on the PGA TOUR and Champions Tour.

Kite

The 61-year-old Texan, well-known for the extra time he puts in on the range, had just finished a pre-tournament interview while in Korea for his 999th combined start, the Songdo IBD Championship presented by Korean Air.

"Quite honestly, it doesn't really mean a whole lot," said Kite, who eventually finished tied for 45th at the end of the week in Korea after rounds of 69-77-75. "It means that I've been out here a long time and it means I've been able to remain relatively healthy and that I've enjoyed playing golf for a long time, and I still enjoy it. It's just a number, just like a birthday, it doesn't mean a thing."

Kite's answer might be surprising but when you examine his career, it kind of makes sense. There's no doubt the extra time and effort on the range brings results.

Kite made his first PGA TOUR start at the 1971 Masters Tournament as an amateur, probably a very daunting prospect at the time. Nowadays it seems almost every amateur invited to the Masters Tournament already has plenty of TOUR experience.

"When you start qualifying for major championships as an amateur, that's a little bit different," Kite said. "You're seeing more difficult golf courses and you're on a much bigger stage and it gave me some nice preparation for when I went out on TOUR. I remember I played with Doug Ford. He was a fast player too. I liked that."

Charles Coody won the Masters that year while Kite tied for 42nd after a final-round 80, beating Ford by three strokes.

Kite turned professional and joined the TOUR the following year but had to wait until his 106th start to capture his first victory at the 1976 IVB Bicentennial Golf Classic in Philadelphia when he worked overtime to defeat Terry Diehl in a playoff at the fifth extra hole.

He ended his PGA TOUR career with 19 wins, including the 1992 U.S. Open at Pebble Beach. His last win came in the 1993 Nissan Los Angeles Open. Kite's outstanding consistency during his career is reflected by the staggering number of cuts he made on the PGA TOUR -- 590 from 713 starts, or 79%. His total is second only to Jay Haas who has 592 made cuts from 798 starts (70%).

After celebrating his 50th birthday on Dec. 9, 1999, Kite became eligible for the Champions Tour at the turn of the century. He began his senior career with a tie for ninth at the 2000 Royal Caribbean Classic, a now-defunct stableford event.

"There was a little bit of adjustment getting used to the Champions Tour because most of the tournaments are three-day tournaments so you have to be ready to go because you don't have that extra round to make up ground," said Kite. "I certainly expected to win early on the Champions Tour and I was fortunate to be able to do that."

It took just four more tournaments to claim victory at The Tradition, a Champions Tour major and a four-round tournament. Coincidently, just like his first win on the PGA TOUR, Kite won in overtime again when he defeated Tom Watson and Larry Nelson at the sixth extra hole of sudden death.

Kite played 818 combined events before being inducted into the World Golf Hall of Fame in the class of 2004 along with Isao Aoki, Charlie Sifford and Canadian amateur Marlene Stewart Streit.

Kite has won ten Champions Tour titles, most recently the 2008 Boeing Classic, and he will be actively seeking his 11th title when he tees off in this week's SAS Championship. He holds the 18-hole tournament record at SAS, shooting 61 in the final round of the 2003 event. Incidentally, two years ago, Leonard Thompson made his 1,000th combined-career start at the SAS Championship. The opening round will mark Kite's 890th official round on the Champions Tour and his 3,475th official round on both Tours.

Only 11 players have made 1,000 or more combined career starts, most recently Hale Irwin at last year's Outback Steakhouse Pro Am. Miller Barber still has the most combined starts on both Tours with 1,292.

"After thinking about it a little more, I guess it is a pretty good achievement," Kite admitted.

It seems at least two things are certain - hard work pays off, and you'll always find Kite on the range.

Below is a chart of Tom Kite's milestones: