Nobody can claim Kurt Kitayama earned his maiden PGA Tour win the easy way. The Californian recovered from a triple bogey at the 9th hole of his final round on Sunday and held off the challenge of Rory McIlroy at the Arnold Palmer Invitational. For his efforts, $3.6m (£2.99m) and high praise from an otherwise rueful McIlroy.
“It was a great back nine, it was great to be involved in,” said McIlroy. “I’m really happy for Kurt. He’s been playing well for a while now and I’m happy to see him get his first win.”
At the last, Kitayama, 30, rolled a glorious 48ft putt within millimetres of the cup. McIlroy, watching from the scoring area, knew his eight under par total – Harris English shared that aggregate – would be insufficient for a playoff. Kitayama’s birdie two at the penultimate hole proved the key moment of a gripping finale. At one stage, not long before close of play, five shared the lead at minus eight. Kitayama’s fortitude prevailed.
“It was really hard,” he said. “I’m going to sleep well tonight. It was everything I mentally prepared myself for. It was pretty much as hard as I expected. I’ve always dreamed of winning on tour and to finally do it, it’s pretty amazing..”
At 11 under, Kitayama led by two when taking to the 9th tee. Chaos followed. He whacked his drive out of bounds and found a horrible bunker lie with his third. By the time he tapped in for a seven, the leader was Jordan Spieth. Kitayama also took seven at the 4th on day three. Without these wild aberrations, he could have won with a little to spare.
Bogeys on three of the closing five holes ensured Spieth finished at minus seven. Patrick Cantlay, Tyrrell Hatton and Scottie Scheffler finished on the same score. Scheffler – the defending champion – bogeyed the last, with Kitayama’s finish rendering that less painful than could have been the case. “I haven’t really had a real lead on Sunday late in quite a while,” said Spieth. “So it was nice to be able to see where things are in those moments and learn from them.”
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McIlroy attacked the par three 14th not knowing his birdie at the previous hole had given him a one-stroke lead. “I wouldn’t have tried to play the shot I played,” he said. McIlroy had bogeyed his first two holes, but steadied himself to the point of three under for the day after 13. Bogeys at the next two stalled his run but he came within a whisker of reaching nine under with a birdie try at the last.
“I still wish I could have had a couple of shots back today, but I guess everyone would say the same thing,” said McIlroy. “It’s one of those days and one of those courses where you’re going to rue missed opportunities and a couple of missed putts here and there.
“I need to take the positives from it, which there are a lot of. We’ve got a massive event next week [the Players Championship] and I’ll try to bring that momentum into Sawgrass.”
Kitayama, English and Davis Riley earned spots at the Open Championship on account of their Bay Hill finishes.
