By John Erardi
Enquirer staff writer

KROGER CLASSIC

TPC at River's Bend Today: First round starts at 7:30 a.m. Saturday: Second round starts at 9:30 a.m. Sunday: Final round starts at 9:30 a.m. Directions: I-71 North, Exit 28 (Route 48), south on Route 48 (1.5 miles). Club entrance is on the right. Tickets: Call tournament office at (513) 932-6809 or 1-800-883-6538.

Former Ryder Cup captain and seven-time Ryder Cup player Tom Kite is among the favorites to win the Kroger Classic that tees off today at the Tournament Players Club at River's Bend.

"The guy who wins this week will have the whole package," Kite predicted. "The fairways are adequate, so you shouldn't miss too many fairways. But the rough is tough enough that you can't drive it in there and score well. You have to hit your irons to the proper section of the green and putt well."

Among the other favorites are the ageless three-time Champions Tour Player of the Year, Hale Irwin, defending and two-time Kroger Classic champion Gil Morgan, Champions Tour rookie Jerry Pate and third-year player Fuzzy Zoeller

"It (chasing the absent Craig Stadler for the million-dollar Schwab Cup) is invigorating," said Irwin, 59. "Perhaps it will (propel) my game out of the lethargic state it was in."

Stadler, who won the last two Champions events, didn't enter this event, but this is still one of the best fields in the 15-year history of the Kroger Classic.

Irwin, Kite and Morgan are Nos. 2, 3 and 4, respectively, on the Champions Tour money list. Pate (No. 16) has been striking the ball beautifully and scoring well and appears ready for his first Champions Tour victory. Zoeller (No. 22) figures to be buoyed by a lot of hometown support from nearby New Albany, Ind., where he grew up and near which he now lives in Floyds Knobs.

"If we get the decent weather that they're talking about ... there should be a lot of excitement going on out there with the crowd and the players," Kite said.

The par-5 finishing hole, No. 18, should provide good viewing, Kite said.

"There will be great opportunities for guys to knock it on that green in two, but, boy, they've got to hit a quality shot in," Kite said. "Distance isn't the problem. They've got to carve it around that tree out there and hit some sort of slice in there and not miss it too far left where you can have a difficult pitch shot."

Kite, a resident of Austin, Texas, who played in the pro-am Thursday morning, said the par-5s are playing a little longer than he recalls, probably because of the fairway softness and cool air. But the greens are receptive.

"I anticipate some fairly good scores this week," Kite said.

Kite, 54, attributes his resurgence - he has finished among the top seven in his last six tournaments - to a revamped "claw" putting grip.

"I knew I had to make a change," Kite said. "Craig (Stadler) had some great success with it, and so did Chris DiMarco and Mark O'Meara. Seeing those guys have that level of success gave me the confidence to try it."

The TPC, however, might claw back.

"These are big greens with a lot of undulations and lot of slopes," Kite said. "In a number of cases, you have a lot of little sections on the greens - a small area here, another small area over there divided by a ridge - and if you land your shot on the wrong side of the green, you have a long putt up and over a bunch of these humps."

Kite was 15-9-4 in Ryder Cup play from 1979 through 1993. Only four Champions Tour players have as many Ryder Cup points as Kite, and three of them - Arnold Palmer (22-8-2), Jack Nicklaus (17-8-3) and Lee Trevino (17-7-6) - each played on six Ryder Cup teams but were gone by the time the current Europe-U.S. tug-of-war began.

Lanny Wadkins was 20-11-3 in his eight Ryder Cups. Raymond Floyd was 12-16-3 in his eight.

The Ryder Cup is a hot topic of conversation here. It will be played next week at Oakland Hills Country Club outside Detroit.

E-mail jerardi@enquirer.com

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