Tom Kite flies high in Constellation Energy Senior Players Championship
Tom Kite was in the sky after scoring 3-under par 67 in the first round of the Constellation Energy Senior Players Championship.
Like his name, Kite took the advantage of the early conditions and secured an edge over the trio of Michael Allen, Mark O’Meara and Joe Ozaki. He led the pack with a lead of one shot at the course of TPC Potomac
at Avenel Farm in Maryland.
Kite, has been winless since the 2008 Boeing Classic and hence was extremely unhappy with his form which according to him was getting worse with growing age. However, to his surprise his game flipped and he recorded four birdies
in the back nine.
According to the player, "On No. 9, I hit the first really good, quality shot I hit the whole day, from that point on, I played a really solid back nine and that was pleasing...the guys that I played with are going to pick up
the paper and go, 'Unh-unh! There's no way he shot that score.”
Kite was horrible during his pro-am session on Wednesday and he accepted that he needed to work on few things during the practice session, which he did later on. However, the player has an edge on hard courses and that was the
reason behind his sudden rise. He later told the press, that most of his victories were on the harder courses like Pebble Beach, Butler National and Doral.
Even his fellow player Mark O’Meara praised his performance. He was found telling the press, “He hits it good at 60. He still gets it out there and his short game was good today. He made some good saves. He's a grinder. You can
see why he's a Hall of Famer.”
Meanwhile, Michael Allen charged from behind and smashed five birdies and three bogeys to take the second position of the leader board. According to the experts, Allen would have been in the lead if he would not have missed the
shot on the 14th hole. The player was a runner-up at the Viking Classic which took place last week.
Behind the second group was Russ Cochran, the winner of the Posco E& C Songdo and SAS championship. He took the fifth place by scoring a 70 alongside Jeff Sluman, Eduardo Romero, Loren Roberts, Trevor Dodds and David Peoples.
Bernhard Langer shot a 71 and was only four shot behind the leader. The player holds the credit of being the winner of the British and US Senior Open championships. Moreover, he is the tour's money leader as well.
The day was too cruel with the captain of the losing side in the Ryder Cup as well. Corey Pavin posted a 76 despite being 19th on the money list. He carded six bogeys, one double bogey and two birdies to take the
56th spot. There were 78 players on the field and only four managed to break the par. Even worse was Fred Couples, who shot a 78 to wrap up the first round of the Constellation Energy Senior Players Championship.
Even the 70-year-old Tom Watson, was better than the Ryder Cup captain: he scored four bogeys which was fewer than Pavin and stood at a higher spot than him with a score of 74.
This is it for the first round of the Constellation Energy Senior Players Championship which was taking place at the TPC Potomac in Maryland. The event carrying a purse of $2.7 million purse has entered the second
round and very soon the results will be here. To find out who became the mid way winner, do read the upcoming article.
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