POTOMAC -- Kemper Open defending champion Grant Waite has withdrawn from today's shootout after returning home to Phoenix on Sunday to be with his wife, Lea, who is expected to give birth to their first child next week.

"She was having some pains," tournament chairman Ben Brundred Sr. said yesterday. "It's a possibility [he won't play], but he hasn't withdrawn yet."

Waite, a 29-year-old New Zealander who came out of nowhere to beat Tom Kite by a shot last year for his only PGA Tour victory, will be replaced in the shootout by either Blaine McCallister or Billy Ray Brown.