home

jobs

	products recent interviews FastScripts archive about ASAP Sports

Our Clients:

Browse by Sport

Find us on

Subscribe to RSS

Click to go to
Asaptext.com

View our
e-Brochure

BOOZ ALLEN CLASSIC

June 11, 2005

Tom Kite

BETHESDA, MARYLAND

JOEL SCHUCHMANN: We welcome Tom Kite, congratulations on a great round today, 66 and right now it looks like you might be our 54 hole leader at 10 under par. That would make you this week's CRESTOR Charity Challenge winner. $50,000 will go to a local organization called The Neediest Kids, and $50,000 will also go to a health related charity of your choice.

So congratulations, and I'm sure you're excited after a great three days for you.

TOM KITE: Awesome three days, really was. Heck, if this was the Champions Tour, they would be giving me the trophy now. Can we change this and do that right now? (Laughter). It's supposed to end after three rounds, isn't it?

No, obviously, I'm just pleased making some putts and hitting the ball like that and getting into contention. You know, those of you that know me, and we've talked about this year, know that this is why I came back. This is the only reason that I took this little challenge to come back and play the TOUR was to challenge myself and put myself in a position to see what I could do, to see if I had what it takes to contend, to have what it takes to possibly win a golf tournament, who knows.

But needless to say, I'm enjoying the heck out of it and I'll be having a blast out there tomorrow.

JOEL SCHUCHMANN: Talk about your final four holes, three birdies in that stretch, and the back is playing much more difficult today.

TOM KITE: Yeah, I was just hanging around, just making all pars on the back nine. And then the 15th hole, I hit a nice pitching wedge in there, probably three feet short of the hole and made that birdie.

Then I made a very improbable birdie on 16. I hit a good 3 wood off the tee and had perfect yardage in there and just kind of came off a 7 iron and blocked it pin high right. So I had to go up and over that ridge that bisects the green, and, I don't know, probably 35, 40 feet. You probably have the numbers there.

JOEL SCHUCHMANN: 33 feet.

TOM KITE: 33 feet, okay. Obviously coming up over that ridge and down like that, highly improbable to make that, but it poured in just like a little short putt.

Then on 18, I hit a nice 6 iron, I had perfect yardage there again and came up probably 12 feet short of the hole and just putting right up through the saddle there is a pretty easy putt. All I had to do was just make sure I hit it solid, and I did, to suck in on the right side. Nice way to finish.

Q. Going to make you earn this one with the whole world chasing you by either one or two shots; there's like 15 or 16 guys right there.

TOM KITE: You know, I'm just happy to be here, believe me. I'm ecstatic with the position that I'm in. Obviously, yes, it's going to be hard. Yes, the scores are jammed. Davis Love and I talked about it this morning; that with 9 under leading and 1 under par making the cut, you know, starting the third round, it was anybody's tournament. 70 guys could have won the golf tournament.

Well, now that number's decreased a little bit. There's probably not 70 out there that have a chance to win, but it's probably close to that, maybe 50. I haven't even looked at the scores but I know they are bunched up. It's going to take somebody, hopefully me, but somebody will come and shoot a good score tomorrow and they will be crowned the winner here. Needless to say, I'm pleased with where I am, and as anybody in my position would be.

Q. You have spent most of the last five years on the Champions Tour, was that just not satisfying to you or

TOM KITE: No. It's 100% satisfying. What I chose to do this year should in no way ever be considered a slam at the Champions Tour, because the Champions Tour, it's fun. I mean, it is a lot less stressful. It's more low key. And, you know, after doing something like this for, I guess, over 30 years now, you know, it's nice to be able to go out there and have a little bit lower key and still compete and still be challenged.

You know, the guys out there that are the good players out there on the Champions Tour can really, really play. I mean, for Hale Irwin to not be ranked anywhere in the top thousand in the World Rankings just shows you what a how the World Rankings need to be improved. I'll be nice and say that. (Laughter). They need to be improved. You know, Hale Irwin is certainly in the Top 100 players in the world, if not in the Top 30 or 40 or 50. You know you're going to have to play well.

But, this was my last opportunity to really play the PGA TOUR because of that career Top 50 exemption. You know, I think when I left to go on the Champions Tour, I think I was like third or fourth still on the career Money List. In those five years since that time, at the end of last year, I think I was 44th or 47th, because the Champions Tour money doesn't count, and it just shows you how the money has grown. So if I had not acted on it in '05, it's gone, so I decided to act on it. I truthfully did not know how many tournaments I would play on the PGA TOUR versus the Champions Tour. I was kind of in the back of my mind shooting for about a 50/50 split or somewhere close to that. Matter of fact, starting in July, I've got a lot of tournaments on the Champions Tour in a row.

Q. You have struggled on this TOUR this year.

TOM KITE: I have struggled on any Tour that I've played in the first four months. January, February, March and April, I was not a good player. If I'd have been playing I was joking down there when I was doing an interview downstairs, I wouldn't have been in the Top 10 in the Firecracker Fourth of July golf tournament in Austin, Texas. I was not a factor on the Champions Tour. I was not a factor on the PGA TOUR, and that was disappointing. Obviously, it gave a lot of the people that thought what I was doing was foolish a lot of ammunition and give them a right to blast me for doing something they perceived as foolish. Fortunately, I wasn't doing it for them. I was doing it for me. You know, that's kind of the way it is.

You know, I'm pleased that I'm playing well now. I've played better on the Champions Tour when I played there. I've played better on the PGA TOUR when I've played there now. It's just nice to play well.

Q. Playing well, and playing as well as you have this week may be a little different. Have you surprised yourself with how well you've played this week?

TOM KITE: Maybe a little bit, but not a whole lot. I mean, obviously, to do what I've decided to do this year, you know I have confidence in myself. When I play well, I'm good. I'm pretty darned good when I play well, I just haven't played well.

So now that I'm starting to play well, yeah, maybe I'm a little surprised, but I'm not bowled over. I'm more surprised that I've played so crappy the first part of the year. That's the bigger shock to me than, you know, what I'm doing this week.

Q. You had another disappointment earlier in the week when you didn't qualify for the Open. Is what we're seeing out here perhaps channeling some of that disappointment, any connection there at all?

TOM KITE: No connection at all. I didn't play well at the first round. Made a couple of mistakes, basically because I didn't know the golf course. I had played it one round, but there were some critical mistakes that I made. I misread a few putts, put myself in a wrong position a couple of times. I shot 1 over par the first round.

The second round, I played very well until I bogeyed two out of the last three. I had a 6 under par for the day in the second round. I got myself in position and I just needed to if I'd had finished birdie, par, birdie instead of bogey, par, bogey, wouldn't have shot 59, but I would at least be going to Pinehurst.

Q. When you made this decision to come out here, with your Top 50, what goals or what did you think you would accomplish? Where do you think you would end up at the end of the year, and did you have to reassess or think about reassessing them after your poor start?

TOM KITE: I'm not trying to dodge your question, but I've really never been a goal person. I get up every morning trying to do the absolute best that I can do. And I don't really think that I have to if I do that on a consistent, continual basis, you know, that's it. At the end of the year, when I sit there and look at the money that I've made or the tournaments that I've won or the finishes that I've had, that's as good as I could do. I bust my rear trying to be the best that I can all the time, and I really don't have to worry too much about the goals or anything.

But, you know, I just knew that this would probably be my last year to have the opportunity to play a number of tournaments on the PGA TOUR, and I just wanted to act on it. I didn't really, you know, get too excited about certain possibilities.

Obviously on the Champions Tour, by playing this much out here, I've taken a lot of the potential to do some nice things out there away, like the Charles Schwab Cup and everything. I'm not in contention for that. I've only played, what, four tournaments out there I think I think four tournaments out there. Getting ready to start playing a few more.

Q. Depending on what happens tomorrow, obviously if you win it doesn't matter, but even if you don't win tomorrow, obviously the money will be good for you. Will you make adjustments to your schedule to try to get in the Top 125?

TOM KITE: Possibly. Possibly. I mean, my schedule, like I said, starting in July well, I'll tell you what it is right now. I'm not in next week. I'm going to play at Westchester, Barclays. Then I'm going to take the next week off and not play either Tour. Then, I have qualifying well, the Monday after Westchester, I have qualifying for the British Open, and so I'll know then what my schedule will be. But anyway, I'll take the rest of that week off. And then if I qualify for the British Open, I have the Ford Senior Players Championship, a major; the British Open, a major; the Senior British Open, a major; the Senior U.S. Open, a major; and then I defend at 3M in Minneapolis. That's five straight weeks with four of them being majors.

So, I know what I'm going to be doing apart from the British Open, through the end of July, and at that point, after that five week stretch, I may just go into hibernation and camp out. If I play well and do some nice things and find myself in a position to improve my position out here on the PGA TOUR and maybe give myself one more year, yeah, why not.

Q. So the long term goal is to come back?

TOM KITE: No, really isn't a long term goal. But if the opportunity presents it itself, why not? I certainly have enjoyed this year. No reason to believe I wouldn't enjoy another year of it.

Q. What were you hearing from the crowd today toward the end?

TOM KITE: Oh, they have been so fantastic. It's been one of the most pleasing things at every Tour stop that I've gone to. And I promise you, I get the same reaction when I go to the Champions Tour. The people are really enjoying watching this. I think they are really they are pulling for me. I've got a lot of fans and a lot of friends out there that are that have been very, very supportive, a lot of people that I don't know that are very supportive of me, and they are unbelievably encouraging. You know, when I get here, when I get to a tournament, when I get to the Bob Hope, when I went to the L.A. Open or Doral or any of the tournaments that I've played, I've had so many people come up and say, "It's great to have you out, we're really pleased you're here." I can't tell you how many people I've had this week that have said the same thing, "So nice to have you back." That's most appreciated.

JOEL SCHUCHMANN: Tom, thank you very much.

End of FastScripts.

ASAP Sports, Inc. | T: 1.212 385 0297