Tom Kite finished a full 10 minutes ahead of Tiger Woods, but waited before leaving the 18th green late Sunday afternoon. As the U.S. Ryder Cup captain, he wanted to check out the newest team member and witness history.

``I obviously wanted to see him finish,'' said Kite, who finished second in the Masters Tournament for the third time in the past 14 years. ``And also to congratulate him on making the Ryder Cup team, because he has said on numerous occasions that one of his major goals this year was to make the team. Certainly, I'm pleased to have him on the team.''

By winning the year's first major, Woods earned 300 Ryder Cup points, which gives him 800, enough to make the team. The Ryder Cup, which pits a 12-member U.S. team against a 12-member European team will be held Sept. 26-28 in Cadiz, Spain.

Woods, a three-time U.S. Amateur champion, has plenty of match-play experience, but as Kite said, all that came before he turned pro last year.

``Not taking anything away from the guys that he beat in all those amateur championships, but they're not as good as the guys out here on tour,'' Kite said. ``And they're not as good as the guys on the European Tour. Those are predominantly college kids, and some of them will come over here on tour, and they will turn themselves into good players. But he hasn't played match play against the best players yet.''

By finishing second, his 11th top-six finish in 25 Masters, Kite earned 180 Ryder Cup points, which could help him become a playing captain. He has been a member of seven Ryder Cup teams. His runnerup finish is tied for second-most in tournament history.

``It's way too early to tell based on one tournament whether I'm in that position, but certainly I'm very encouraged with the way things are going,'' Kite said.

Kite finished tied for second with Ben Crenshaw in 1983, when Seve Ballesteros won his second title, and again in '86. That year, Jack Nicklaus won, leaving Kite and Greg Norman just one stroke back.

``This one, I never had a chance to win the golf tournament,'' said Kite, who pocketed $291,600 for his four-day total of 6-under 282, 12 strokes behind Woods' record-setting 270. ``Like we said, we decided that we were going to go out, all of us, and try to play for second place and hope beyond hope that somehow, something happened where we could get started and shoot a really good round and obviously get some help from him and maybe make a tournament out of it. Obviously, that didn't pan out.''

This showing is particularly pleasing to Kite, who finished fourth in '94, but has missed the cut three of the past four years. In 1993, he won twice early in the year but suffered a back injury at the Masters and missed the cut.

``It's been such a dry spell, really, since '93,'' he said. ``Obviously I can't say three years of back problems is not the deal. I mean, I got over my back problems. But I think it affected me a little mentally. I started pressing to try to force a win and I eventually got into a slump by trying too hard. It's taken me too long to come out of it.''