Tom Kite, thriving on the gusty winds off Calibogue Sound, soared to a 65 Friday and took a four-stroke lead after two rounds of the Nabisco Championshiop.
"To play this golf course with only one bogey and that many birdies is good at any time," Kite said after his spectacular effort in winds that gusted to 30 miles per hour over the Harbour Town Golf Links."With conditions like this, with the wind like this, yes, it's as good a round as I've played all year," Kite said after reaching the halfway point in 134, eight under par.
The tournament, offering almost $3.5 million in individual prize money, is the richest in professional golf. It is the last official-money event of the PGA Tour season and will determine both the leading money-winner and the Player of the Year.
Kite is very much in the race for both major titles. He's second to PGA champion Payne Stewart on the money-winning list and trails only Mark Calcavecchia on the point list from which the Player of the Year will be determined.
"There are a lot of very nice things that can happen this week, but I have to play well to make them happen," said Kite, who won consecutive titles earlier this season and led the U.S. Open until he hit into the water in the final round.
That misfortune served as a lesson, and Kite was taking nothing for granted with two rounds to go in this event that offers a $450,000 prize for first place, along with a $175,000 bonus to the season's leading money-winner.
"The score I shot, all the strokes I made up today, somebody else can make up tomorrow," he said.
Chief contenders are Donnie Hammond, the upstart first-round leader, and Mark O'Meara. They're at 138.
Each was within one stroke of the lead until they reached the worst of the winds on the exposed 17th and 18th holes. Kite played those holes one under. Hammond and O'Meara were two over.
Hammond shot 73 and O'Meara matched par 71.
Stewart and Chip Beck were another stroke behind at 139. Stewart had a 70 and Beck a 68, the second-best score of the day.
The only others in the elite field of the 30 leading money-winners to break par for two rounds were Steve Jones and Greg Norman. They were at 141. Jones, a three-time winner this year, had a 69. Norman, his craggy face creased by frowns and scowls, had a 74.
Curtis Strange, the U.S. Open champion and the defending title-holder in this tournament, struggled to a 75 and was at 143.
"He just wasn't in sync," said Kite, who played in the same twosome with Strange. "He never got his rhythm. And it was a very difficult day to try to scrape a round out of."