PARKER, Colo.—Tom Kite doesn’t mind that the thin air, hilly terrain and erratic wind gusts at the Colorado Golf Club conspire to favor the younger golfers on the senior circuit.
Kite still considers himself a whippersnapper after celebrating his 60th birthday in December, a point that’s hard to argue as he sits in second place halfway through the 71st Senior PGA Championship, a single stroke behind Fred Couples.
Couples shot a 4-under 68 on Friday, putting him at 7 under after 36 holes. He had the best round of the day despite teeing off in the afternoon, when the winds picked up after a lull.
Tom Lehman (71) is two strokes behind Couples, and Lu Chief-soon (70) and Jay Don Blake (69) are tied for fourth, three shots back.
Bernhard Langer, the co-leader along with Robin Freeman after the first round, was making an impressive charge on the back nine until a double-bogey on No. 17 and a bogey on 18 left him with a 3-over 75, same as Freeman.
They are tied with Nick Price (71), four shots off the pace.
After turning the requisite 50-years-old in October, Couples has energized the Champions Tour, winning half of the six events he’s entered this season.
He’s trying to become the 12th golfer to win the Senior PGA Championship on his first attempt, something Kite came tantalizingly close to doing himself in 2000, when he finished second to Doug Tewell in a tournament shortened to 54 holes by heavy rain.
Kite is aiming for one of golf’s true rarities, winning a tournament in his 60s. Of the 915 tournaments in Champions Tour history, only 18 have been won by hexagenerians.
“I have that as a goal,” Kite said after his second straight 69 moved him to 6 under. “I work hard on my conditioning and my game to try to make it last and I’m very pleased with where my game is right now. I think that at some point I will win in my 60s. And I look forward to that day. I hope it’s this weekend.”
