Tom Kite won't have to worry about missing the Masters again next year.
He made sure of that on Sunday when he shot a 7-under-par 65 to win the Atlanta Classic, automatically qualifying for next year's get-together at Augusta."What a great feeling," Kite said. "This win means so much."
Kite missed the 1992 Masters, ending a string of 17 consecutive appearances in the season's first major championship.
"Obviously, it was a disappointment," he said.
Kite claimed his 16th PGA Tour victory after a slow start when he bogeyed the first two holes and fell five shots behind amateur David Duval, the 20-year-old Georgia Tech junior who started the day with a two-shot lead.
Kite then birdied six holes in a row to take a lead he never relinquished, finishing with a 16-under-par 272 total on the 7,018-yard Atlanta Country Club course and a three-shot victory over Jay Don Blake, who shot 68 for $108,000.
The $180,000 first prize made Kite the first golfer to reach $7 million in career earnings. He now has won $7,104,455, well ahead of runner-up Tom Watson's $5,914,836.
Kite said when he went to No. 3 after bogeying the first two holes, he just wanted to at least make a decent showing.
"To a certain extent, pride takes over at that point," he said.
He rolled in an 18-footer for a birdie on the third holes and the birdie putts kept on falling over the next five holes from 15, 22, 6, 5 and 11/2 feet.
When he made the turn with a two-shot lead over Blake and three in front of Duval, Kite knew he had a chance to end his drought.
He sank a 3-footer for birdie on the 14th and capped the day in style - rollling in a 10-foot eagle putt on the par-5 final hole.
"It was fun today after the first two holes," Kite said. "At 18, it was exactly the way I envisioned it.
"It's such a crazy game. To think he could get off to that fast a start and me that slow and two holes later be tied for the day," Kite said of his and Duval's starts.
Duval, who three-putted for bogey on the ninth hole, had three double bogeys on the way to a 79 that dropped him into a six-way tie for 13th place.
He said he had no reason to be upset because he's not a pro.
"All I can do is just smile and learn from it," Duval said.
In Chesapeake, Va., Jennifer Wyatt won the LPGA Crestar-Farm Fresh Classic on Sunday by shooting a 2-under par 70 for her first career victory.
In Frisco, Texas, George Archer beat Tommy Aaron on the third hole playoff Sunday to win $60,000 in the Murata Reunion Pro-Am senior tournament.