Kurt Kitayama turned in a record round on Sunday. Now has must wait and see if it’s enough.
Kitayama, beginning his day outside the top 60 and teeing off six hours ahead of the final paring, made seven birdies—including at the 18th—and went bogey free for a final-round 63. If that sounds good, it is, as it tied the major championship record for the lowest score in a final round.
“I felt like the first three days I was playing in such windy conditions, and it was so tough to get anything close. And today it was nice, wind was down,” Kitayama said. “Just felt so much easier when the wind was down. And made it a little easier to score, because the first two days it was so windy, and where the pins were you had to play wind on your putts, and that makes it so difficult to play.
“Today you could just kind of read it out they were and didn’t have to worry about any wind affecting it.”
At the time of finishing, Kitayama had jumped 57 spots on the board into T-7 at three under, six three back of 54-hole leader Alex Smalley. With more than 20 players within four shots of the lead, it’s likely Kitayama’s round won’t hold up among the leaders.
However, as we witnessed on Saturday at Aronimink, the afternoon can bring stronger wind and higher scores. Smalley has never won a PGA Tour or DP World Tour title, and only Jon Rahm has won a major at the group at four under.”I think if the weather stays like this, the wind is pretty light, there might be another one. But I don’t know, final rounds are tough,” Kitayama said. “I’m one of the first few groups. Less pressure for sure. I think we’ll see some more under-par scores maybe, overall. ”
Kitayama only has one career major top 10, but he entered Philadelphia playing well with two top 10s in signature events in the past month.
It is the 21st round of 63 or better in the PGA Championship. The last player to shot at 63 in the final round of a major was Tommy Fleetwood, who did it twice (2023 U.S. Open, 2018 U.S. Open). Xander Schauffele and Shane Lowry hold the overall PGA record with 62.
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Main Image: Andrew Redington
