AT&T CLASSIC NOTEBOOK: BEAN SEEKS SENIOR MOMENTS.Byline: Dave Shelburne Staff Writer SANTA CLARITA Santa Clarita, city (1990 pop. 110,642), Los Angeles co., S Calif., suburb 30 mi (48 km) NW of downtown Los Angeles, on the Santa Clara River; inc. 1987. Situated in the Santa Clara valley and nearby canyons, Santa Clarita includes the former towns of Canyon Country, - The best scorers of the AT&T Classic go into today's final round at Valencia Country Club attempting to end long winless streaks on the age 50-and-over Champions Tour. Leader Tom Kite Thomas Oliver Kite, Jr. (born December 9, 1949) is an American professional golfer. Kite was born in McKinney, Texas. He began playing golf at age 6 and won his first tournament at age 11. (134), whose second-round 64 tied the tournament course record, has not won a senior tour event in 30 starts, since placing first in the 2004 3M Championship. Second-place Andy Bean Thomas Andrew "Andy" Bean (born March 13, 1953) is an American professional golfer who has won numerous tournaments at both the amateur and professional level including 11 PGA Tour victories. (135), who has never won on the Champions Tour, is seeking his first victory since he won the Byron Nelson John Byron Nelson, Jr. (February 4 1912 – September 26 2006) was an American PGA Tour golfer between 1935 and 1946. He and two other well known golfers of the time, Ben Hogan and Sam Snead, were born within 6 months of each other in 1912. Classic on the PGA Tour The PGA Tour is an organization that operates the USA's main professional golf tours. It is headquartered in Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida, USA. Its name is officially rendered in all caps as “PGA TOUR". in 1986. Bean, who won 11 times on the PGA Tour but has been winless in his previous 71 Champions Tour starts, said he thought he would have won by now, his fourth season on the senior circuit. ``It's been very frustrating because I've hit the ball well enough, and my putting has been what really kept me back,'' he said. Kite, who has seven Champions Tour victories, won 19 times, including the 1992 U.S. Open The term U.S. Open is applied to "open" United States national championships in a particular sport, in which anybody, amateur or professional, American or non-American may compete. These include:
--By the numbers: Kite's record on the senior tour when leading or sharing the lead entering the final round is 5 for 12. The last time he led entering a final round on this tour, he won at the 2002 Napa Valley Championship The Napa Valley Championship was a golf tournament on the Champions Tour from 1989 to 2002. It was played in Napa, California at the Silverado Country Club. The purse for the 2002 tournament was US$1,300,000, with $195,000 going to the winner. . In 16 previous editions of this tournament, players leading or tied for the lead entering the final round have combined for five victories - only one of those at Valencia. --California dreaming: Kite has won a combined eight times on the Champions Tour and PGA Tour in this state. Two of those victories have been in the Los Angeles area - the 1993 Nissan Open at Riviera Country Club The Riviera Country Club is a country club with a championship golf course. It is located in Pacific Palisades, California, within the city limits of Los Angeles, California. The country club opened in 1926, with George C. Thomas, Jr. as the course architect. and the 2002 SBC (1) (SBC Communications Inc., San Antonio, TX, www.sbc.com) A large, national telecommunications company that grew from a multitude of local and regional companies, including Southwestern Bell, Pacific Bell and Nevada Bell, into a single, unified brand by 2002. Senior Classic at Valencia. He also recorded his biggest victory in California - in the 1992 U.S. Open at Pebble Beach. Kite is attempting to become the first two-time senior tour winner at Valencia. If he is successful today, he will join Joe Inman (1998, 1999, 2000) and Gil Morgan (1996, 1997, 2004) as the only multiple winners in the event, which has been called the Security Pacific Senior Classic (1990-91), Ralphs Senior Classic (1992-96), Pacific Bell Senior Classic (1998-99), SBC Senior Classic (2000-2002) and SBC Classic (2003-06). --Making his move: Dave Stockton made the biggest move of the second round, improving 34 places and eight shots with a 3-under 69 that vaulted him from a tie for 66th to a share of 32nd. --Cold weather, hot sticks: Though temperatures Saturday got as warm as only the high 40s and a wind chill wind chill, the cooling effect of wind and temperature combined, expressed in terms of the effect produced by a lower, windless temperature, also called wind chill factor, wind chill temperature, wind chill equivalent temperature, wind chill index, wind chill was in the 30s for most of the day, the second-round scoring was lower (73.077) than the first round (73.615), with 10 rounds in the 60s Saturday after eight rounds in the 60s Friday. The toughest hole of the second round was the par-4 sixth, which features a water-guarded green and played to a scoring average of 4.449. The hole yielded just three birdies - by Mark McNulty, Fuzzy Zoeller and Dave Eichelberger. --Streaking: Kite's 64, which included a back-nine 29 that established a nine-hole tournament record for Valencia, was spiced by a mid-round run that started with an eagle, followed by four consecutive birdies. That streak is the best eagle-birdie run of the season on the Champions Tour and equals the best recorded in each of the past three seasons. CAPTION(S): photo Photo: Andy Bean, who is in second place, hasn't won since his days on the PGA Tour, at the 1986 Byron Nelson Classic. Alex Collins/Special to the Daily News |
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