AUGUSTA, Ga. (AP) -- While the rest of the 50-and-over crowd got dressed up for the Champion's Dinner at the Masters, Tom Kite made other plans.

At 52, he's never won the tournament. He's the oldest player to qualify for the Masters this week by earning his way on the golf course over the past year, not because he's a past champion.

"I never thought I'd get back in," Kite said recently.

He's back for the first time since 1998, based on his fifth-place finish at last year's U.S. Open. On Sunday of the Open, he shot a 64, the second-lowest round in the history of the tournament -- or any major -- and that sealed the invite back to Augusta.

"I'm proud of that finish at the Open," Kite said. "The course didn't give up many good scores that week, and I got one of them. I was pretty pleased."

The way Kite made it here is testament to the fact that he can't be ignored when the tournament starts Thursday. He's not ready to play ceremonial golf.

Although he plays mostly on the Senior PGA Tour now, Kite keeps showing he can hang with the younger guys.

At The Players Championship three weeks ago, he was on the leaderboard early and shot three rounds of par or better on one of the toughest courses on tour. A 79 on Saturday knocked him down, however, and he finished tied for 36th.

The Masters has always suited him well. He has 12 top-10 finishes in 25 appearances.

Yet he had never broken through, and has been relegated to the supporting cast in some of the best dramas in the tournament's history.

Here's some trivia:

Q: Who finished second in 1986 when Jack Nicklaus won his sixth green jacket at age 46?

A: Tom Kite, in a tie with Greg Norman.

Q: Who finished second when Tiger Woods made history in 1997 at the Masters?

A: Tom Kite.

He finished 12 strokes behind.

His other second-place finish came in 1983, when Seve Ballesteros won.

The close call in 1986 stings the most. Nicklaus closed the tournament with a 30 on the back-9, one of the most scintillating finishes in golf history. Kite, meanwhile, had a 10-foot putt to tie Nicklaus on No. 18, but he missed it.

"Jack shoots 30 on the back, even with a bogey at 12," Kite said. "It was ridiculous, the stuff that he did. That was a tournament where I did what I was supposed to do to win."

Kite has been eligible for the Senior PGA Tour for two years. With that tour struggling and taking public-relation hits for the sagging quality of play, Kite now takes his trips to the Masters, the U.S. Open and the rest of his stops on the regular tour as crusades for all the 50-something crowd.

"It's not over just because you turn 50," Kite said. "We can still play golf at this age."

Kite, whose only major victory came at the U.S. Open in 1992, doesn't believe this has to be his last trip to Augusta. He'll get an automatic invite back if he finishes among the top 16 this week.