1988 Final Leader Board

1 M. Hatalsky 274 (won playoff with par on second extra hole) 2 Tom Kite 274 T3 Craig Stadler 276 T3 Mike Reid 276 T5 James Hallet 277 T5 Bob Gilder 277 T7 Larry Mize 278 T7 Dick Mast 278 T7 Calvin Peete 278 T7 John Mahaffey 278 Complete Scores

By Sally Jenkins
Washington Post Staff Writer
Monday, June 6, 1988; Page B1

Morris Hatalsky found the oddest luck and most secret places of the Tournament Players Club at Avenel yesterday, hitting shots everywhere from out of bounds to behind a scorers tent. He eagled, he chipped in and he bogeyed wildly, but he was the eventual winner of the Kemper Open with a five-foot par putt to defeat defending champion Tom Kite on the second hole of a playoff.

The final round was as unpredictable as the 25-mph winds that ran amuck across Avenel, the short, 6,867-yard, par-71 course that is in just its second year of existence. Kite, who captured the inaugural here last year, came close again yesterday with his final round of 69, the only subpar performance among the significant leaders. That forced the playoff with Hatalsky, who finished regulation with a par 72, standing 10 under for the tournament at 274.

Both had bogeyed the 444-yard par-4 18th in regulation and both threatened to do so again in the playoff. They badly mis-hit their shots from the fairway after parring 17, the first playoff hole. Hatalsky pulled his metal wood far to the left, behind a scorers tent, then Kite pushed his 2-iron far right of the green and could not recover, leaving a chip 10 feet short.

But Hatalsky's apparent bogey turned into a par when his lofty chip came to rest five feet from the cup. Kite barely missed his putt, and Hatalsky unwaveringly stroked the ball into the hole.

That gave him just his third victory of a 13-year PGA Tour career, and his biggest paycheck ever at $144,000. His last victory came five years ago, at the Greater Milwaukee Open, and when he clinched this one he let the putter fall to the ground and leaped. He had finished no higher than 30th previously this year, and had at times contemplated a quiet exit from the game.

"That is the most excited I've ever been on a golf course, and rightfully so," Hatalsky said. "It's been a tremendous week for me, and a long time since I've won. I've had my doubts."

Hatalsky's victory couldn't have been any more unlikely after a round that ebbed and flowed with the breezes, alternating marvels with horrors for everyone.

If Kite could have won, then Craig Stadler, the two-time Kemper winner at Congressional Country Club, probably could have also. Stadler had moved into a tie for the lead with Hatalsky at 12-under on the par-5, 524-yard 13th hole with a birdie, while Hatalsky bogeyed after mis-hitting a fairway wood out of bounds and into someone's front yard. But Stadler's decline was swift, as he stumbled to a double bogey on the next hole and played the final five holes in a total of 4 over par.

Stadler ultimately shot a 72 to finish in a third-place tie with Mike Reid (72) at 8-under-par 276, two strokes back of the playoff duo. Talented young nonwinner Jim Hallet made seven birdies for the day and briefly trailed Hatalsky by a stroke around the turn, but his finish at 72 was emblematic of the day, and he tied Bob Gilder for fourth at 277. The 1980 Kemper winner, John Mahaffey (74), was tied with three others, including Larry Mize and Calvin Peete, at 278.

So if Hatalsky was the beneficiary of some freakish luck, he was also ultimately the one who had best handled such a wild scramble. He had to endure threats from Stadler, Hallet and then Kite. Not to mention his own errant shots.

"It was such an up and down round," Hatalsky said. "It just ran the gamut of golf shots."

The final round took shape this way: Hatalsky began the day at 11 under par, with a two-stroke lead over Stadler and three over Kite. By the seventh tee, after eagling the par-5 sixth hole by reaching it with a 4-wood and making a 25-foot putt, he held as much as a four-stroke lead. But the trio would ultimately engage in a struggle against a bitter wind on the final four holes, which they collectively played in six over par.

"The course played very hard, that was evidenced by the scores," Kite said. "Certainly the last four holes, dead into the wind, produced some very long and errant shots."

The tournament truly began on the 13th, with Stadler's charge to tie Hatalsky, and the creeping menace of Kite, who was a hole ahead of that pair and birdieing. Hatalsky's front nine had been a succession of saves, in addition to the eagle. He tempted fate over and over by barely eluding bogeys, including a 40-foot chipin for par on the 461-yard seventh.

Hatalsky entered the back nine in 2 under par for the day, 13 under for the tournament and with a one-stroke lead over Hallet and a four- and five-stroke lead over Stadler and Kite, respectively. The first move came from Stadler, with a birdie at the par-3 No. 11 on a 5-iron to five feet, and then another at the 454-yard par-4 No. 12 with a 15-foot putt. That put him two strokes back.

In the meantime Kite was birdieing 13, and then 14 to move to 11 under, also two strokes back. Then on the 13th, Stadler reached the par 5 in two and and two-putted from 20 feet for a birdie. Hatalsky, meanwhile, had decided to go for the green and drove it right straight out of bounds. He managed to get a miraculous 1-iron 240 yards to the green and 45 feet away from the flag. He bogeyed by two-putting and they were tied at 12-under, with Kite a stroke back.

Kite would settle down for three straight pars to stand at 11-under going into the 18th. But on the very next hole for Stadler and Hatalsky, there would be an even more dramatic, three-stroke swing. Stadler's 1-iron off the tee ran across the short 301-yard fairway and into a creek. He stubbed his chip from the drop, left yet another chip short three feet away, and two-putted when the ball ran around the cup. Hatalsky birdied with a wedge to 10 feet, and he had recovered at 13-under.

Then came the last four holes. Stadler and Hatalsky each bogeyed the par-4, 458-yard 15th – Stadler when he knocked an iron well over the green and Hatalsky when he drove into the deep right rough, with a metal electrical box in his line to the green that gave him no shot. Hatalsky would bogey yet again on the 16th, a 415-yard par-4 into the brutal wind, with a three-putt from 50 feet. "Things were slipping there," he said.

That dropped him into a tie with Kite, who was in trouble on 18. He had driven into the right rough and still had 240 yards to the green in the wind. His fairway wood was a pull to the right rough in front of the green, and he left his chip 30 feet short and two-putted for bogey.

Hatalsky managed to get through the par-3 No. 17 all right, but he soon found himself in the same situation as Kite on 18. He, too, found rough then came up short and to the right of the green, facing 100 feet to the flag. His chip went over the top of the stick and ran by 10 feet. He missed the putt.

That set up the playoff, which began with two unsteady pars at 17. Then came that vicious 18th again and it seemed that whoever could make par would win. Hatalsky's second shot was a horrible pull-hook and, under the circumstances, Kite's 1-iron out of an awkward downhill lie was an even worse shank.

"I needed to really burn it to get it to the green," he said. "I tried to hit a low hook and never turned it over. I played the shot I played and I still think it was the best one. You don't second-guess. I missed the shot and there's nothing I can do."

Kite's chip to 10 feet could have been better, but his putt couldn't have, and for a moment it seemed to go in. "It just stayed there on the edge, so pretty. Or so ugly," he said. "I guarantee you it didn't miss by much."

Hatalsky's light chip was typical of his shotmaking all day, which amounted to making the ones he needed most. Hatalsky actually blanked out as he made his last putt.

"That shot was an absolute miracle," Hatalsky said. "I couldn't have been in a worse place. I just threw the wedge up there and hoped and prayed for some kind of putt."