The Indianapolis Star from Indianapolis, Indiana • Page 9

The Indianapolis Star MONDAY, JUNE 22, 1992 I Obituaries Business Kite wiog a big one finally feteran stays on course as others fall by wayside in U.S. Open way with a two-shot lead and protected it with a closing par. "Today was my tournament to win and I won it," said Kite. "Obviously, going down the stretch, there were a lot of emotions and it's very difficult to keep all of the negative thoughts from popping into your head. I'm very proud of the Job I did In keeping them out, but I won't kid you, they pop in there every now and then." Kite led the 1989 Open Oak Hill Country Club in Rochester, N.Y., by three strokfea with 14 holes to play.

He faded to a 78 and tied for ninth. Not this time. Colin Montgomerie, who shot See KITE Page 4 man birdied No. 18), Kite was the only player on the leaderboard under par. "It may be the hardest conditions I've ever played in," said Sluman, the 1988 PGA champion.

"It was a matter of survival. You had to take each shot and do the best you could. You had to realize you were going to have a lot of 6- and 8-footers for par regardless or how well you were hitting It." Kite made most of his and hit the shots he needed. Kite saved bogey from the hazard at No. 9.

He holed a 35-foot birdie putt at No. 12 and made another at No. 14 after pitching to within 2 feet on the hardest, smallest green on the course. He took the triumphant march up the 18th fair par at the conclusion of 72 holes, at 1 -under 287. "He gave me a Father's Day present at dinner last night," said Tom Kite 75.

"I started to say, 'You could really give me a Father's Day present "I didn't say it. You know, the funny thing is he won the Atlanta Classic on Mother's Day." Kite earned $275,000 of the $1.5 million purse. Sluman made $137,500. Kite went into the round trailing Morgan by one stroke. With the wind, long rough and hard greens stretching out the field, Kite had a four-shot lead when he chipped in for birdie at No.

7. He maintained at least a three-stroke margin until a bogey at No. 17. For 11 holes (until Slu By PHIL RICHARDS STAR STAFF WRITER Pebble Beach, Calif. Gil Morgan played the first 43 holes of the 92nd U.S.

Open Championship 12 under par. Over-the-last 29, he was 17 over. That's how it went at Pebble Beach Golf Links. Morgan, the leader after each of the first three rounds, was blown away by high winds Sunday and most of the field went with him. Tom Kite handled extraordinarily tough conditions to shoot even-par 72 and win his first major championship by two strokes, Jeff Sluman shot 71 and was the only other player under i hi i irilin in --liiil- -aMMm" "MMMMMMMM'MMMMM'M''''M ASSOCIATED PRESS Tom Kite celebrates his victory in the U.S.

Open Sunday. Phil Richards Divers beat odds, qualify for Olympics Kite's mind wins out over matter By DAVID BENNER STAR STAFF WRITER These were the Trials born from tribulation,) In the first four days of the U.S. Olympic Diving Trials in the Natatorium at IUPUI, the sport saw Olympians rise from: Karen LaFace coming back from Injuries suffered when her bicycle collided with(a. pickup truck; Julie Ovenhouse and Ellen Owen cttan) bstifp retirement: Kent Ferguson coiMdM previous disappointments of beirig Wfy two go; and Mary Ellen Clark seelng'2 JRmjgtyjMjrS finally pay off. J.

Why should Sunday afternoon have been any different? It, appropriately, wasn't. As the trials concluded with the men's 10- meter platform finals, Matt Scoggin and Scott Donie collected their tickets for Barcelona, Spain and the Summer Olympic Games July 26-Aug. 4. They finished 1-2, but fell into an Olympic team mix of equal parts patience, perseverance, determination and talent. "I think there's a lot to be said about that," said Scoggin.

"When you are dealing with a situation that is very unpleasant, a bad turn of events or whatever, the last thing you think about is this will make me stronger, this will help me out. "Looking back at every disappointing thipg that's happened to me in this sport, bad performances, I think those situations in many cases make a person stronger and make them have their day one day." 1 One by one, they got their day. Sunday belonged to Scoggin and Donie. i Scoggin is 29 years old, has been diving for 17 years and coming In he "knew this was my last shot. I'm retiring after this summer.

I Just was Just ready, I wanted to give it my best shot and move on with my life, whether I made it or not." A veteran who has dominated U.S. platform diving the past three years, he had never been -the Olympics. On his third, and last shot, Scoggin made it a good one, taking the lead after the prelims with an Impressive 672.93 score (including eight 10s). 1 In the finals, he had slip on his fifth of -10 dives, but recovered to finish with 1,314.54 points, well ahead of Donie with 1,245.12 points. "When you miss a dive like that (36.66 poinfjs), it's totally devastating," said Scoggin, who lives jin Austin, Tex.

and dives for the Texas Diving Clijb. "Right before you do the dive, you don't imagine doing it that bad, you imagine doing it great. Thdn, all of a sudden, to go way over and hear the scoijes of 4 in a meet like this, it hurts. It's painful. "I shook it off, I realized I could take control and got after It." Next stop, Barcelona.

"It's a great feeling, it's something I've been dreaming about since I was 10 years old," he said. "It's bigr really. It Just means that everything Is See SCOGGIN Page 3 PEBBLE BEACH, Calif. Pebble Beach Golf Links was a uplayable lie Sunday. Par wasn't a victim.

It wasn't even a reference point. It was a rumor. Tom Kite was one of 22 players to tee off in the final round of the 92nd U.S. Open Championship within four shots of the lead. Fifteen shot 80 or worse.

Kite was one of 12 players to report to the firsttee under par. He shot even-par 72. The other 11 shot 100 over. In the Bing Crosby Pro-Am back in 1983, Kite set the Pebble Beach course record with a 10-under 62. This round was better.

"I'd say so. With these conditions, yes," said Open specialist Scott Simpson. "It sure means a lot more, doesn't it?" Amen. It gave Kite his first major1 championship. He's the 1992 U.S.

Open champion. Winning wasn't a matter of beauty and style points. Kite hit two greens in regulation on the front Jiine Sunday. He won on patience and poise and guts and determination. He refused to lose.

"It was gut-check time," said Kite. "Tee to green this wasn't the best tournament I ever had. It wasn't even close. But as far as hanging in in tough conditions on a very difficult golf course, it was my best." That's what wins the U.S. Open.

The wind howled Sunday at Pebble Beach. Flags snapped, nerves frayed and golf balls drifted in eccentric arcs and odd directions. The greens got granite hard. "It's Tom Kite 1, U.S. Golf Association 155," said Nick Faldo.

"They screwed up everybody but Tom Kite. "I hope they review the way they set up the golf course. If they want the greens that hard, I'm going to take up topless darts. It was like catching darts with your teeth out there." At 107 yards, No. 7 is the shortest hole In championship golf.

One player In the final nine twosomes hit the green. Four made par. One made birdie. See RICHARDS Page 4 STAR STAFF PHOTO PATRICK SCHNEIDER Matt Scoggin glides off the 10-meter platform en route to a spot on the U.S. Olympic diving team.

Storm surrounding Reynolds brings another race delay Scores te v. NASCAR test set for IMS STAR STAFF REPORT Several of NASCAR's top drivers, Including current point leader Davey Allison and defending champ Dale Earnhardt, will begin a 2-day Goodyear tire test this morning at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. Allison, Earnhardt, Darrell Waltrip. Kyle Petty, Bill Elliott, Rusty Wallace. Ernie Ricky Rudd, Mark Martin and Derrike Cope are expected to participate Testing is set to run from 11 a.m.

to 4 p.m. today and 9 a.m.-noon and p.m. on Tuesday. Admission is free but public access will be limited to the L6th Street gate only. Seating will be available in the infield bleachers between Turns 1 and 2 and a small portion Tower Terra(e.

orders to run in five meets since his suspension and is now armed with a ruling by U.S. Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens clearing him to run In the Olympic trials. Greenberg said Sunday he felt the IAAF now realizes that TAC could not defy an order from the Supreme Court. "We feel with some certainty not 100 percent that we will get that (contamination rule) waived," Greenberg told athletes and coaches meeting under a tent on the practice field Sunday. Enrico Jacomini, chief of staff of the IAAF.

said by telephone from Rome that he expected the polling of the council to be completed in time for a decision today. Two preliminary heats of the 400-meters are now scheduled for Tuesday, which was originally set aside as a rest day. Semifinals will be held Wednesday, when the finals were scheduled originally, and the finals will be Friday. Reynolds said he will run. "I'm not going to change my mind, now," he said.

See REYNOLDS Page 7 By AUSTIN WILSON ASSOCIATED PRESS New Orleans The worldwide governing body for track and field asked Sunday for another postponement of the men's 400-meter races so it could decide whether to waive the "contamination" rule that threatened to bar the top U.S. quarter milers from the Olympics. Frank Greenberg, president of The Athletics Congress, said he feels the rule will be waived. Primo Neblolo, president of the International Amateur Athletics Federation, asked for the delay so he could poll the 25-member International council about applying the rule in the Butch Reynolds case. The IAAF threatened to punish any quar-ter-miler running against Reynolds by suspending them from international competition.

Reynolds Is under suspension by IAAF, accused of using steroids, and track sources said the IAAF originally considered four-year suspensions for anyone running against Reynolds. Reynolds has obtained a series of court AMERICAN LEAGUE Minnesota 0 Milwaukee i ciemiand 2 Kansas City 9. Chicago California 4 Oakland 2 New York 8 Baltimore 2 Texas 3 Boston 2 NATIONAL LEAGUE Chicago 5 Philadelphia 2 Pittsburgh 5 Montreal 4 New York 6 St. Louis 2 Atlanta 2 Cincinnati 0 Houston 2 Los Angeles 1 San Francisco 1 San Diego 0 AMERICAN ASSOCIATION Indians 4 Bi 0 ASSOCIATED PRESS Butch and Jeff Reynolds jog on the practice field Sunday, awaiting worif on their race..