In the interview area at Bay Hill, Rory McIlroy hunched over a small TV that sat on the ground inside a black plastic tub, watching just like so many others along with him, the moment that Kurt Kitayama finally proved himself to the golf world.

McIlroy had finished his 72 holes at the Arnold Palmer Invitational at eight under par, one shot back of Kitayama as the leader played Bay Hill’s famous par-4 18th. The Northern Irishman could have gone to the practice range to hit balls, anticipating a playoff. Instead, he remained, perhaps a show of faith in Kitayama that he would make par and close out the one-shot win.

A clutch approach from the thick left rough had Kitayama needing two putts from just inside 48 feet for victory. As the birdie try rolled toward the hole, 2019 Bay Hill champion McIlroy leaned forward to the TV. It looked for certain that the ball would disappear in the cup, only to hang on the edge, refusing to drop but leaving no doubt on the next stroke. Laughing, McIlroy mouthed, “Wow.” Kitayama marked his ball, tapping it in moments later to close out an eventful final-round 72, post a nine-under-par total and claim a $3.6 million payday, the biggest of the 30-year-old’s life.

It was a moment of relief for the UNLV graduate who in college was nicknamed “The Project” because his game needed so much work. In his pro career, he had competed on 10 tours around the world before earning a PGA Tour card. Now he was a PGA Tour winner in his 50th tour start and has jumped from 46 to 19 in the Official World Golf Ranking.

There were doubts, right until the end. Questions on Saturday night. How would Kitayama, the 54-hole leader, fend off charges from some of the world’s best players? On Sunday, McIlroy led midway through the back nine before bogeys at Nos. 14 and 15 sank him to a tie for second with Harris English. Jordan Spieth (70) made a valiant run, leading briefly on the back nine only to miss four consecutive putts inside eight feet to drop to a share of fourth. Patrick Cantlay (68), 2020 Palmer champion Tyrrell Hatton (72) and defending champ and World No. 2 Scottie Scheffler (73), shared fourth at seven under.

“You know who is near the top [of the leaderboard] and you just pay attention the whole day,” said Kitayama, clad in the red cardigan sweater given to the champion. “You can’t ignore it. You have to know where you’re at … and just embrace the whole situation.”

He certainly embraced a triple-bogey 7 he made at the difficult par-4 ninth, which appeared to everybody not named Kitayama that it was the beginning of the end for the only man inside the top 10 who didn’t already have a tour win to his credit. It was his second triple bogey of the weekend. But Kitayama’s caddie, Tim Tucker, who worked for Bryson DeChambeau when he won at Bay Hill in 2021, gave his boss a pep talk en route to the 10th tee.

“I said you’re tearing up the course; you’re a ball-striking machine,” an emotional Tucker said post-round.

“I still felt comfortable; it was one bad swing,” Kitayama said. “I didn’t feel out of place. Tim backed me up and that helped a lot.” (For the record, Kitayama became the first player on the PGA Tour winner to overcome a triple bogey in a final round since Viktor Hovland at the 2020 Puerto Rico Open.)

Kitayama survived Bay Hill’s brutal back nine with seven consecutive pars until the defining shot of the tournament. Sitting at eight under and tied with McIlroy, Scheffler, and English, he struck a perfect 6-iron from the tee at par-3 17th to 13 feet, then drained the putt to pull ahead. “It’s pretty amazing just to get your first win, I think is an unbelievable thing,” he said. “I’m lucky enough to have it at a very special place.”

Clutch birdie from @Kurt_Kitayama ?

He leads by one with one to play @APInv. pic.twitter.com/bjLuxCxIto

— PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) March 5, 2023

Kitayama is the first to acknowledge just how raw a player he was not that long ago. “Yeah, when I got into school I was struggling,” he said, “but the guys at the course saw me every day grinding, just working hard, and that’s kind of why they nicknamed me that.”

Improved after finishing school in 2015, Kitayama was no world beater however as he played his way around the world, competing anywhere and on any tour that would have him. “Canada, Korn Ferry Tour, PGA, Europe, Sunshine, Asian Tour. Asian Development Tour. Japan, Korea, and in India.”

Thankfully for him, Kitayama won on the Asian Tour and on its development circuit, before breaking through with two wins on the DP World Tour in 2018 and 2019. He then played on the Korn Ferry Tour, his performance pushing him to the PGA Tour in 2021.

Sam Greenwood

“You travel to every different country, dealing with logistics, food, the culture, language,” he said. “It helps you grow as a person and when you get into situations like this [Bay Hill], you know, there’s tougher things.”

He started to believe in himself when he racked up three runner-up finishes on the PGA Tour, most recently to McIlroy at the CJ Cup in South Carolina last fall.

“Finding those little successes around the world and making it out here, putting myself in contention there, you start to really believe in yourself, that you belong out here,” Kitayama said.

Finishing second to McIlroy by one shot at the CJ Cup at Congaree last October was the penultimate step in Kitayama’s journey. It was a full circle moment when four-time major winner McIlroy stayed around to congratulate the California native Sunday.

“Look at him; look at his smile,” Tucker said. “He got the monkey off his back, proving he can play with the big boys. I’m anxious to see what he can do the rest of this year.”

Now, “The Project” is complete.

The post How Kurt Kitayama went from ‘The Project’ to a PGA Tour winner appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

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.

If only everyone had an opportunity to figure out exactly how they’d react if they were about to win $3.6 million.

That’s the situation that Kurt Kitayama found himself in late Sunday at the Arnold Palmer Invitational, only a couple hours after it looked like an ugly triple-bogey 7 on the ninth hole had ruined his chances of winning for the first time on the PGA Tour.

But Kitayama, 30, a man nicknamed “Quadzilla” by Xander Schauffele because of his prodigious thighs, told his caddie Tim Tucker that he was not rattled and that he knew with nine holes remaining, that anything could happen.

It did. Rory McIlroy, Scottie Scheffler and Jordan Spieth were among a group of top-ranked players who had a chance to win the trophy at Bay Hill but each of them faltered. Ultimately, it was Quadzilla who only needed par on the last hole to win, which he did.

But even that was eventful.

After hitting his drive in the thick, left rough, Kitayama was able to punch out his approach and onto the green 48 feet from the hole. From there he only needed to two putt.

He sent the first putt on the way and as it was tracking it looked for a moment as if it was going to go in. But it stopped mere centimetres short.

And, yet, Kitayama marked it. That’s right he marked a putt from inside a half inch for $3.6 million. (Side note: Before this week Kitayama’s career earnings on the PGA Tour were $4.2 million, his biggest payday $1.13 million for his second at the CJ Cup.)

“I thought I was going to set it and it was going to just roll in,” Kitayama confessed.

A nice problem to have.

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Playing at the course from which the tournament takes its name, Kitayama followed up his brilliant Thursday 64 at Monterey Peninsula Country Club with a more modest, but perhaps harder earned 70. At nine-under, he holds a one-shot lead over the quartet of Keith Mitchell, Scott Stallings, Joseph Bramlett, and Hank Lebioda. It’s a terrific start for the 30-year-old, two-time European Tour winner as he seeks his first ever PGA Tour triumph. But on a day like Friday, even the tournament leader tipped his hat to the conditions.

“Today was really tough,” Kitayama said after his round, and went on to characterise his strategy for Saturday as “stay patient.”

Kitayama was born and raised in Chico, about 250 miles north east of this weekend’s tournament, and while Monterey Peninsula and Pebble Beach itself were not overly familiar to him as a youngster, he did get a good amount of time on Spyglass Hill, where he’ll play on Saturday. His familiarity is the good news; the bad news is that he already knows Spyglass is getting hit hardest by the weather and playing even tougher than the course he survived on Friday.

Like Kitayama, Lebioda was fortunate to have his Monterey Peninsula round on Thursday, and he took major advantage with a spectacular 63. But like Kitayama, things proved to be a little tougher at Pebble Beach, where he followed an opening birdie with nine straight bars, and watched his two-under round go up in smoke with a double bogey after a yanked tee shot on the par-3 fifth. He recovered with another birdie, but three-putted his closing hole to remain one back of Kitayama as he heads to Spyglass on Saturday. He’ll also be seeking his maiden PGA Tour win, but Friday’s challenges are only the start.

If a player makes a hole-in-one but there’s no video to commemorate it on the internet, did it really happen? That’s a question we can ask of Rose, who did just that on the 15th at Spyglass Hill, jarring the 12th ace of his career en route to an opening nine of 32.

“A special day always when you manage to have a hole-in-one,” he said, a master of understatement. “I believe it’s my 12th. Really fun to do, obviously in front of a couple friends, obviously James at Morgan Stanley. So really that was a nice moment.”

Nice, indeed. Less nice were the two bogeys late in his round that dropped him to six under for the tournament, three shots off the lead. Still, he had the worst of it on Spyglass Hill, a course that was playing extra long in the wind, and his 69 was a relative gem in those conditions.

Even better, he’ll head to MPCC on Saturday, which was once again the easiest of the three courses in the rotation, and should give him a chance to make up some ground on the leaders.

The post Kurt Kitayama leads, Justin Rose scores a quiet ace, Pebble takes and gives on a rainy Friday appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

The ending spoiled what was shaping up to be a runaway affair for the four-time major champion. He eagled two of the three par 5s, and birdied the other, playing them in five under. He wound up shooting a four-under 67, still good enough for solo first at 13-under heading into the final round.

Even better news? He’s now created an “easier” path to reclaiming the World No. 1 title, an honour he last enjoyed in July of 2020 before Jon Rahm swiped it from him (Rahm could thwart him on Sunday, but we’ll get to that later). Should McIlroy go on to win, he locks up the top spot, so long as Scottie Scheffler does not finish in solo second or in a tie for second. That’s a good bet, considering Scheffler’s three-over 74 on Saturday dropped him into a tie for 47th.

The other scenario: McIlroy finishes solo second, and Scheffler finishes worse than solo 34th. That’s not quite as much of a sure thing, as Scheffler could certainly go low and vault up the leaderboard. McIlroy, of course, would prefer to win and leave no doubt, while also avoiding a Scheffler 59.

“You know, the ranking will just take care of itself if I do what I want to do,” McIlroy said. “Ultimately, I just want to win this golf tournament. If I win the golf tournament, then everything will take care of itself.”

McIlroy not only looked poised to run away, but it looked like no one truly significant would be in his rearview mirror (no disrespect to two-time Byron Nelson winner KH Lee, but he ain’t Jon Rahm). Rahm, meanwhile, was sputtering, having shot an even-par 36 on the front and then going bogey-bogey to begin his back nine. Things, as you might imagine, were beginning to simmer.

Jon Rahm walks on the 17th hole during the third round of the CJ Cup. Kevin C Cox

A quick birdie at the par-5 12th flipped the momentum, and he picked up two more late birdies at 15 and 17 to climb all the way back to 12-under, putting him one back of McIlroy.

“A lot of battle today. I’m proud of it, very proud of it,” Rahm said. “I’m standing on 12th tee, I think I was four back with people looking at par 5s and the tee up on 15, I thought things could get ugly. But I just stayed on my own game and tried to make some birdies coming in and put myself in position for tomorrow.

“I managed the round and was able to scrap a round of 70, which I guess a lot of what this game is about, right?” he added. “It’s very easy when things are going your way. Today, nothing was really going my way and to salvage that 1 under and be one back tomorrow is going to be nice.”

Unfortunately, we won’t get Rahm-Rory in the final group, which allows Rahm to post a score first and make McIlroy sweat. Advantage, Rahm, who can pick up a victory in his second straight start after he won his national open in Spain earlier this month.

As nice as a Rahm-Rory duel would have been for us (and the PGA Tour, more importantly), there’s a very likely scenario where Lee surprises for his third tour win or Kurt Kitayama, who didn’t have his best stuff Saturday, picks up his first on the PGA Tour. Kitayama, a two-time DP World Tour winner — including the 2019 Oman Open at Al Mouj Golf Club — has had numerous opportunities over the last year, but none as prime as this one as he sits one shot back at 12-under, along with Lee and Rahm.

“Not really thinking about it right now,” Kitayama said when asked how he feels about Sunday. “I feel pretty good. I hit it well, gave myself some good opportunities. Just not going to think too much about today’s round. Overall, feel pretty good still.

“You want to play against the best and it’s a good leaderboard up there,” he said. “Going to have to play good tomorrow.”

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The post Rory creates ‘easy’ path to World No. 1, as KH Lee looks to spoil the party at CJ Cup appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

By Matt Smith
While Xander Schauffele was wrapping up his third title on the trot at the Scottish Open in North Berwick, there was another tussle going on which was a little under the radar.

The final four spots for the 150^th Open Championship were still to be decided — on both sides of the Atlantic.

The three top players not otherwise qualified or exempt at The Renaissance Club in North Berwick booked their ticket for the Old Course this week, and they were Scottish Open runner-up Kurt Kitayama, his fellow American Brandon Wu (-3) and Welshman Jamie Donaldson (-3).

Over in the US, the final Open place went toTrey Mullinax at the DP World Tour/PGA Tour-sanctioned Barbasol Championship. The American won the event on 25-under in Kentucky.

The 150^th Open Championship begins on Thursday.

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The post Kitayama, Donaldson, Wu and Mullinax tie up final Open Championship spots — on both sides of the Atlantic appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

By Tod Leonard
These days, it usually takes going exceptionally low to win on the PGA Tour, and it’s apparently no different in qualifying for the US Open.

In the first final qualifier played in North America on Monday at two courses in Dallas, 11-under for 36 holes was the number to be the medallist — and there were four players who achieved that — while seven-under was the score that got players into next month’s major at The Country Club in Brookline, Massachusetts.

In a qualifier that featured numerous PGA Tour pros, the top 13 out of 98 entrants advanced, and a six-man playoff was required for the final two spots. Those positions went to Davis Shore and Roger Sloan, while Adam Hadwin and Austin Cook were the first and second alternates, respectively.

The day’s low score was a 62 fashioned by Matthew NeSmith, who made nine birdies in the morning round at Royal Oaks Country Club. NeSmith, a third-year PGA Tour player who has competed in only one major, shot 69 in the second round at Lakewood Country Club and joined Americans Kurt Kitayama (65-66) and Sean Crocker (64-67), and Japan’s Jinichiro Kozuma (68-63) at 11-under.

Among the notables not advancing were 2010 US Open champion Graeme McDowell, Matt Kuchar, Aaron Baddeley, Rory Sabbatini and James Hahn.

The other more recognisable names to advance were Canadians Mackenzie Hughes (nine-under) and Nick Taylor (nine-under) and American Scott Stallings, who was solo 11th at eight-under.

There was one amateur who reached from this final: University of Texas junior Travis Vick, who shot nine-under. Vick was a semi-finalist at last year’s US Amateur at Oakmont.

The remaining nine final qualifiers — eight in the US and one in Canada — will be contested on Monday, June 6.

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The post US Open 2022: These scores were ridiculously low, even in a US Open qualifier appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

South African Richard Sterne leads after nine birdies in a brilliant 64, by a shot from American Kurt Kitayama. Plenty of big names lurk.

Get up to speed with all the first round reaction in our bumper 20-page OMEGA Dubai Desert Classic magazine, again produced by the Golf Digest Middle East team, here.

Scroll through the ISSUU link below and/or download Friday’s ODDC ‘Daily News’ to your favourite device to read offline and keep for prosperity.

This was a historic OMEGA Dubai Dubai Classic after all, the 30th edition held on the Majlis (after two editions at sister-club Dubai Creek in 1999 and 2000) as the UAE celebrates its Golden Jubilee.

The post Friday’s OMEGA Dubai Desert Classic Daily News is FREE here appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

By Kent Gray
Ashun Wu clearly didn’t receive the memo about Pink Day at the OMEGA Dubai Desert Classic. Clad from top to toe in black, save for a sparkling white glove, what the fashionably unfazed world No.366 didn’t leave in his hotel wardrobe on Saturday morning was that streaky good golf game of his.

With a brilliantly fluky eagle to open, a luckless finish and lashings of wedge wizardry and silky putting in between, Wu fired a memorable 67 on ‘moving day’ to snare the initiative at the $3.25 million event.

At -11, the Chinese 34-year-old will take a one-stroke lead over Frenchman Victor Perez into Sunday’s final round at Emirates Golf Club and the dream of adding the fabled Dallah trophy to his three previous European Tour titles, the last of them at the KLM Open in September 2018. A forecast promising winds gusting in excess of 40km/h won’t make turning that dream into reality easy, nor the names loitering nearby on a bunched leaderboard.

Perez will start the final round just a shot adrift of China’s Ashun Wu. (Photo by Andrew Redington/Getty Images)

After his breakthrough at the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship last September and a tie for second in Abu Dhabi last week capped by a closing 63, Dundee-domiciled Perez will take ominous momentum into Sunday. Englishman Tom Lewis and American Kurt Kitayama will likewise fancy their chances but perhaps not as much as defending champion Bryson DeChambeau who also lurks just two adrift at -9.

DeChambeau emerged from a frustrating day where every birdie gain seemed to be accompanied by a bogey give-back with a two-under 70. He still looks the player to beat with all of last year’s memories to draw on although Tommy Fleetwood, in a gaggle at four adrift, might have something to say about that. Out in the fourth to last two-ball with Nacho Elvira, Fleetwood could set a tasty clubhouse…target if he signs for anything like the 63 he also closed with in Abu Dhabi to share second with Perez last Sunday.

Wily old Wu shouldn’t be overly fazed, especially if he can conjure a repeat of Saturday and particularly the first flawless 15 holes.

A hole-out eagle two from the left-hand rough on the 1st and a deft chip-in on the 3rd were bonuses in a lighting start, more than compensating for the day’s only dropped shot when a chip from the deep rough beyond the 16th green stopped short in the jaws of the cup. But where Wu truly excelled was on and around the greens, his chipping sublime and a series of dead-weight, centre-cuppers making putting look easy on the slippery Majlis putting surfaces.

Tell us about that eagle, just the third in ODDC history on the par-4 first.

“Yeah, that’s my ‘Happy Chinese New Year Shot’, you know. …Second shot is unbelievable for me. I didn’t know I holed it and the gallery went wild and I knew I holed it, so I was very happy,” said Wu who led by as many as four strokes early on.

You certainly couldn’t miss the Chinese player in his Gary Player-esque outfit even if you probably didn’t see his ascent to the summit of the leaderboard coming after rounds of 77-74 saw him miss last week’s cut in Abu Dhabi by eight shots.

It’s set up a surprise Sunday where a lot of the guesswork could be in figuring out the forecast wind.

“Tomorrow is a great day for me, I think. I’m always happy to play the final round in the final group. So just enjoy the game and play your best, best game, best round tomorrow and let it happen, that’s it.”

The post With a dash of luck and some inspired wedge work and putting, Ashun Wu is the man to beat in Dubai appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.