Kurt Kitayama of Chico, California is a PGA Tour champion for the first time. On Sunday, he won the 2023 Arnold Palmer Invitational in Orlando, Florida.
Kitayama won a very competitive tournament after shooting a four-round score of -9. Eight other golfers were in contention. Rory McIlroy of Northern Ireland and Harris English of the United States were tied for second place at -8. Americans Scottie Scheffler, Jordan Spieth, and Patrick Cantlay, along with England’s Tyrrell Hatton of England were tied for fourth at -7. Meanwhile, Americans Trey Mullinax and Davis Riley were tied for eighth at -6.
Of the eight contenders were three major champions. McIlroy won the 2011 United States Open, the 2012 and 2014 PGA Championship, and 2014 British Open. Spieth won the 2015 Masters and United States Open, and 2017 British Open. Scheffler won the 2022 Masters.
Kitayama had a solid first two rounds and then hung on to win the title with average golf on Saturday and Sunday. He posted scores of five-under-par in round one, and four-under-par in round two, before back-to-back scores of par in the third and fourth rounds.
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Kitayama took the Arnold Palmer Invitational despite posting a score of double bogey and triple bogey on two separate holes. He had a score of seven on a par five on the fourth hole in round three, and a score of seven on a par four on the ninth hole in round four.
The world’s best golfers will stay in the state of Florida. The 2023 Players Championship starts on Thursday, in the northern part of the state outside of Jacksonville.
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