With one hole remaining in the final round of the Arnold Palmer Invitational, there were as many as five players who had a chance to claim the title—and the $3.6 million prize money payout—in PGA Tour’s latest “designated” event.

Rory McIlroy was six shots off the lead when he made the turn at Bay Hill Club & Lodge Sunday but somehow was atop the leaderboard late in the day. Despite making four birdies on the final nine holes, he did not win.

Patrick Cantlay made eagle on the 12th hole then birdied three of the last four holes. But he didn’t win.

Jordan Spieth bogeyed three of four late in the round. He didn’t win, despite leading for a portion of the day. His putter turned ice cold at the worst possible time.

World No. 2 Scottie Scheffler barely missed birdie on the 17th hole and then bogeyed the last after his approach shot came up close and nearly found a watery grave. He did not win.

Third-round leader Kurt Kitayama led after eight holes but made triple bogey on the par-4 ninth after his tee shot landed an inch out of bounds. He made par on the next seven holes, rolled in a birdie on the par-3 17th from 13 feet, then finished with a par on the home hole after a two-putt from 48 feet, the first putt tantalizingly hanging on the edge of the cup.

He won. Go figure.

A 30-year-old from Chico, Calif., Kitayama outlasted all the aforementioned heavyweights to shoot even-par 72 at Arnie’s Place and collect $3.6 million for his first PGA Tour victory after several close calls. He was in contention all week, and many believed that he would find a way to let the pressure get the best of him. After the ninth-hole debacle—the second time over the weekend that Kitayama hit a drive OB—the vibe began to shift, with the gallery feeling the likes of McIlroy, Spieth or Scheffler would be donning the winner’s red cardigan sweater by day’s end.

Kitayama shot 67-68-72-72 for a nine-under 279 total. McIlroy and Harris English tied for second place at eight under. Cantlay, Spieth, Scheffler and Tyrrell Hatton tied for fourth place at seven under.

“It went south on 9 all of a sudden I’m not leading anymore,” said Kitayama, who went from two shots ahead to only one shot back. “I fought back, I fought back hard. I’m proud of that.

“I didn’t feel rattled at all.”

While McIlroy, Spieth and company were jockeying for position, Kitayama kept calm and managed pars on Nos. 10-16, although there were a couple holes where the score was in question. He stood on the 17th tee tied for the lead and hit a laser to 13 feet that he would convert for birdie to take a one-shot lead to the last.

On the 18th hole, Kitayama drove it left into thick rough. He did well to get his approach on the green and then from 48 feet he nearly made the birdie putt and tapped in for victory.

“Just get it on the green,” Kitayama said of the approach on 18. “Just wanted to give myself an opportunity to win.”

RELATED: Kurt Kitayama had the sauciest move when he marked his tap-in for $3.6 million

Kudos to Kitayama, who was ranked 46th in the world and previously finished second at the Genesis Scottish Open last summer and then last fall to McIlroy at the CJ Cup in South Carolina.

This time McIlroy finished second place to Kitayama. He seemingly came out of nowhere on the back nine after being well out of contention. He birdied 9, 10, 12, 13 and 16—with bogeys at 14 and 15—but he left a birdie putt low from 10 feet on the last hole that would’ve ultimately put him in a playoff.

“I feel like this week was much better than L.A. or Phoenix,” McIlroy said. “Definitely heading in the right direction.”

Then there is Spieth who was cruising through 13 holes and absolutely was the man to beat. He opened with four birdies in the first five holes to take the lead and then made birdies again on 10 and 13. But Nos. 14-17 were bizarre as Spieth missed four putts from inside eight feet on those four holes, resulting in three bogeys and a par on the par-5 16th hole.

“I wouldn’t have hit any of the putts differently,” Spieth said. “I hit my line on every single one of them. I misread all four by just barely.

“I feel really good about where things are. It’s no different than how I’ve been feeling over the last month.”

No one, however, left Bay Hill feeling better than Kitayama.

The post Kurt Kitayama overcomes triple bogey, outlasts heavyweights to collect first PGA Tour victory appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

By Christopher Powers
The PGA Tour makes its second-to-last stop of the season in Florida this week for the Arnold Palmer Invitational, held at Bay Hill Club & Lodge in Orlando. Tiger Woods is back in action for a second straight week, making his first start at Bay Hill since 2013 when he won the event for a remarkable eighth time. The combination of that past history and a strong showing at the Valspar Championship has made Woods an overwhelming favourite to win the tournament for a ninth time.

To do it, he’ll have to take down one of the stronger fields this season, featuring 10 of the top 20 players in the world, including fellow countrymen Jason Day and Marc Leishman, the last two winners at Bay Hill. It’s difficult to think of either player as a “darkhorse”, but with all the attention on Woods, the Aussie duo cannot be ignored this week. In five starts this year, Day has a victory at Torrey Pines, a T-2 at Pebble Beach and a pair T-11s at the CJ Cup @ Nine Bridges and the WGC-HSBC Champions. As for Leishman, he’s made seven of his eight cuts, including a solo second at the CJ Cup @ Nine Bridges and a T-8 at Torrey Pines.

Also in the field this week is Rory McIlroy, whose struggles on the PGA Tour have carried over into 2018 despite a strong start to his European Tour campaign. Perhaps this could be the week he gets back on the right track. In his three starts at the Arnold Palmer Invitational, McIlroy has finished T-11, T-27 and T-4.

TV Coverage

In the UAE, OSN Sports 3 HD will carry live coverage each day, Thursday through Sunday, from 9pm.

Leaderboard

Follow all the action from Orlando on the Golf Digest PGA Tour leaderboard.

Thursday Tee Times (all times ET). NOTE: UAE time is 8 hours ahead of Orlando time. 

No. 1 Tee

7:35 a.m. (3.35pm UAE time) — Nick Taylor, Beau Hossler, Satoshi Kodaira

7:47 a.m. — Hunter Mahan, Sung Kang, Sam Saunders

7:59 a.m. — Kevin Streelman, John Huh, Whee Kim

8:11 a.m. — Ted Potter, Jr., Kyle Stanley, Padraig Harrington

8:23 a.m. — Mackenzie Hughes, Jimmy Walker, William McGirt

8:35 a.m. — Patton Kizzire, Kevin Kisner, Brian Gay

8:47 a.m. — Grayson Murray, Brian Stuard, Vaughn Taylor

8:59 a.m. — Ryan Moore, Charley Hoffman, Shane Lowry

9:11 a.m. — Chesson Hadley, Martin Laird, Sean O’Hair

9:23 a.m. — Jason Kokrak, Anirban Lahiri, Tom Hoge

12:20 p.m. — Keegan Bradley, Francesco Molinari, Kevin Tway

12:32 p.m. — Kevin Na, Martin Piller, Yuta Ikeda

12:44 p.m. — Camilo Villegas, Louis Oosthuizen, Jamie Lovemark

12:56 p.m. — Henrik Stenson, Adam Scott, Tommy Fleetwood

1:08 p.m. — Marc Leishman, Rickie Fowler, Rory McIlroy

1:20 p.m. — Charl Schwartzel, Emiliano Grillo, Ernie Els

1:32 p.m. — Austin Cook, Hudson Swafford, Danny Willett

1:44 p.m. — Brian Harman, Davis Love III, Tyrrell Hatton

1:56 p.m. — Scott Brown, Bud Cauley, Peter Uihlein

2:08 p.m. — Aaron Wise, Sam Horsfield, Doc Redman

No. 10 Tee

7:35 a.m. — Robert Gamez, Brandon Harkins, Matthew Fitzpatrick

7:47 a.m. — Danny Lee, Alex Cejka, Tyrone Van Aswegen

7:59 a.m. — Scott Piercy, Ian Poulter, HaoTong Li

8:11 a.m. — Bubba Watson, Justin Rose, Patrick Reed

8:23 a.m. (4.23pm UAE time) — Jason Day, Hideki Matsuyama, Tiger Woods

8:35 a.m. — Brandt Snedeker, Graeme McDowell, Zach Johnson

8:47 a.m. — Ryan Armour, Si Woo Kim, Cameron Smith

8:59 a.m. — Russell Knox, Billy Hurley III, Alex Noren

9:11 a.m. — Ben Martin, Patrick Rodgers, Byeong Hun An

9:23 a.m. — Donny Lee, Curtis Luck, A.J. McInerney

12:20 p.m. — Paul Goydos, C.T. Pan, Kiradech Aphibarnrat

12:32 p.m. — Robert Streb, Scott Stallings, Tim Herron

12:44 p.m. — Harris English, Stuart Appleby, Ollie Schniederjans

12:56 p.m. — James Hahn, Smylie Kaufman, Chris Kirk

1:08 p.m. — D.A. Points, Matt Every, Charles Howell III

1:20 p.m. — Bryson DeChambeau, Luke Donald, Vijay Singh

1:32 p.m. — Billy Horschel, Cody Gribble, Sang-moon Bae

1:44 p.m. — Kevin Chappell David Lingmerth, Stewart Cink

1:56 p.m. — J.B. Holmes, Lucas Glover, Luke List

2:08 p.m. — Talor Gooch, Sam Burns, Collin Morikawa

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