My story filed for the Monday edition from the fourth annual Boeing Classic:

SNOQUALMIE – Tom Kite built a legacy on consistency, and a star-studded name for himself by winning golf tournaments.

But even he began to wonder.

In 2006, he was one of the big names to travel to the upstart Boeing Classic, and walked away one of its first champions.

Fifty-eight tournaments had come and gone on Kite's 50-and-over Champions Tour schedule, with no wins to speak of.

Well, the drought ended Sunday as Kite reeled in overnight leader Scott Simpson with a birdie-making barrage on the back nine at TPC Snoqualmie Ridge, and won by two strokes.

Kite's 6-under-par 66 made him the only golfer in the 78-player field to record three consecutive rounds in the 60s – something the champion has done three of the four years the tournament has been played – and the Austin, Texas resident finished at 14-under 202 for his 10th career Champions Tour win.

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Simpson had a 71 to place second at 204, and John Cook was third (205) after firing a final-round 67. Defending champion Denis Watson also rallied Sunday with a 66 to finished tied for fifth.

By day's end, the glorious crystal globe, signifying the Boeing Classic champion, was back in the 58-year-old Kite's hands. And he wasn't going to loosen the grasp on it anytime soon.

"You know, at some point in time, in all of our careers, we are going to win our last golf tournament," said Kite, who now has 39 wins between the Champions Tour and PGA Tour. "When you win it, you obviously don't think that's going to be your last one, because you're on a high."

Putting woes, especially down the stretch of tournaments, plagued Kite a season ago. He went back to the long putter in September, and climbed in the putting statistics.

Strangely, ball-striking became an issue. He came into this week ranked 58th in greens hit in regulation.

"Up-and-down golf," said Kite, characterizing the winless span. "Not very consistent. It was a little frustrating, and very trying."

Kite made his way into the final group Sunday with Simpson, and faced a three-stroke deficit when Simpson birdied the par-4 seventh, and he made a bogey.

A hole later, Kite returned the favor by getting home in two shots with a 3-wood approach, and making birdie. Simpson bogeyed the hole, ending a streak of going 43 holes without a bogey.

Kite said the key moment Sunday came on the downhill and difficult par-4 11th, playing 462 yards. Kite faced an awful lie in the right rough after his drive, and chopped a 5-wood on the right apron near the green.

He chunked a chip shot. On his fourth shot, he rolled his ball 10 feet past the hole, but sank the comeback putt for a bogey to remain two strokes behind Simpson.

"(It) probably won me the golf tournament," Kite said.

He then exploded for three birdies in a four-hole stretch. His birdie on the drivable par-4 14th over a canyon tied him with Simpson, and he curled in a 7-foot birdie putt on the par-5 15th to take the lead for good.

Still with striking distance, Simpson missed a 2-foot par put on the 16th to fall two shots off the pace.

"Back nine, I was a little off. I don't know," said Simpson, trying to find reasons to explain the freefall. He led by two shots in 2006 on the back nine and lost to Kite, too, that year.

"We play kind of similar, both work pretty hard at it and are pretty consistent players. I'm happy for him to win, especially since he played really well, and I know he loves this tournament the same way I do."

Kite has won this tournament in half the four years. The only other Champions Tour stop he's done that is at the AT&T Champions Classic.

"After two years, you kind of start to wonder, 'Am I going to win one, will I have a chance to win a golf tournament ever again?' Obviously this feels really good," Kite said. "Two years is a long time to go without one."

CHIP SHOTS
Kite sat down in his post-tournament media session wearing a champions' Boeing Classic leather jacket, and sipping on a glass of red wine. … Simpson, a Southern California graduate and avid Trojans' football follower, was reminded he was taken down Sunday by a University of Texas product – much like USC was in the 2005 BCS title game by the Longhorns. "Same thing, all I had to stop was one guy, and I couldn't do it," Simpson said. "I tackle Tome about as well as they tackled Vince Young." … Rookie Dan Forsman had the tournament's best round with a 64 Sunday, and Massy Kuramato had a back-nine 30 as the best nine-hole showing. … Seven of Kite's 10 Champions Tour wins have come in California (seven) and Washington (two). … Boeing Classic director Chuck Nelson announced an attendance figure of 48,500 for the week, short of the 60,000 the tournament drew last year. Next year's date will be Aug. 27-30, and in 2010, Nelson said the event will run concurrently with the 2010 U.S. Amateur at Chambers Bay Golf Course in University Place.