For the second time in his PGA Tour career, Kurt Kitayama of Chico, California is a champion. On Sunday, Kitayama defeated Sam Stevens of Fort Worth, Texas to win the 2025 3M Open at the Tournament Players Club Twin Cities in Blaine, Minnesota.
Kitayama shot a four round score of -23 this past weekend. He had an opening round score of six-under-par 65, a second round score of even par 71, a remarkable third round score of eleven-under-par 60, and a fourth round score of six-under-par 65.
Kitayama’s most impressive round was on Saturday, when he had 12 birdies and one bogey. It was one of two rounds of -11 in the tournament. Canadian Adam Svensson of Surrey, British Columbia also had an eleven-under-par 60 in round one on Thursday.
There were four other golfers in contention during the 3M Open, as there was a four-way tie for third place at -20. Those golfers three strokes back of Kitayama were American Jake Knapp of Costa Mesa, California, Matt Wallace of Hillingdon, England, David Lipsky of Los Angeles, California, and Pierceson Coody of Plato, Texas. Pierceson Coody is the grandson of Charles Coody of Stamford, Texas, who won the 1971 Masters Tournament.
As previously mentioned, Kitayama has won on the PGA Tour once before. He previously won the 2023 Arnold Palmer Invitational at Bay Hill. Kitayama posted a four-round score of -9 and beat American Harris English and Northern Ireland’s Rory McIlroy by a stroke.
With the win in Minnesota, Kitayama moved from 97th place to 39th place in the Official World Golf Rankings. That is a spike of 58 places.
