SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. -- Tom Kite made a 1-foot birdie putt on the sixth hole of a playoff with Tom Watson to win the Tradition, the Senior PGA Tour's first major of the season.

Larry Nelson also finished regulation Sunday at 8-under-par 280, but bogeyed the second playoff hole, leaving Kite and Watson, two of three famous first-year players on the tour, to duel it out for another four holes.Watson shot a 4-under 68, but had the most ground to make up. He opened the tournament with a 76, but shot a remarkable 66 on Friday when storms delayed play for four hours.

Nelson shot a 69 in the final round, and Kite, still trying to get comfortable with his putter, struggled to a 72.

The victory closed a gap for Kite, who won the 1992 U.S. Open and 20 other titles on the regular tour. He was the only one of three famed senior rookies who had yet to win.

"I'm still getting used to the senior tour and what everything is like," said Kite, who got his first win in five starts on the 50-and-over circuit. "But, golly, I mean it doesn't get any better than this -- you know, to have 'Dueling Banjos' with Watson is what it's all about."

He also had seen only modest financial success, with one top-10 finish in his first four tournaments. But the $240,000 first prize sent Kite's earnings to $311,426 -- enough to jump from 49th to fifth on the money list.

Watson won one of two events he entered after turning 50 last fall, and Lanny Wadkins won the first one he entered this year.

Bruce Fleisher, who has won twice already this year, was fourth at 282, and Joe Inman followed at 283.

The playoff began on No. 18, a 511-yard par-5, and, after all three birdied, the progression went to No. 17, a 194-yard par-3 that played toughest on the Cochise Course at Desert Mountain all tournament.

Nelson found that out when he hit his tee shot over the back fringe and chipped up, but two-putted from 5 feet.

From there, Kite and Watson had the spotlight to themselves as the gallery surged into the mesquite- and cactus-covered hills to the 17th green and back.

Watson nearly ended it on the fifth extra hole when, playing No. 18 for the fourth time, he hit his second shot into a sandy wash in front of the green. Playing out of a supposedly unplayable area, the five-time British Open champion chipped within 7 feet.

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Earlier, Kite's third-shot pitch out of the rough landed 30 feet away. But both two-putted.

On the last playoff hole, Watson bounced his tee shot over the green, while Kite dropped a 6-iron next to the cup. It stopped a foot away.

"That lets me know what I have to do," Watson joked with the crowd. Then he nearly did it, lofting a high, 30-foot chip that bounced once and hit the flagstick, rolling 2 feet to the side as the gallery erupted in applause.

Watson putted out for par, then embraced Kite after sank his birdie putt.

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