Kurt Kitayama breaks through to win Arnold Palmer Invitational
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[March 06, 2023]
Kurt Kitayama overcame a triple bogey and beat out a star-packed
field to win the Arnold Palmer Invitational for his first PGA Tour
victory on Sunday in Orlando, Fla.
Kitayama recovered to shoot an even-par 72, making a vital birdie at
No. 17 and a memorable par at No. 18 at Arnold Palmer's Bay Hill
Club & Lodge, finishing 9-under 279 to beat star Rory McIlroy of
Northern Ireland and Harris English by a single shot.
The likes of Scottie Scheffler (73 Sunday), Patrick Cantlay (68),
Jordan Spieth (70) and Englishman Tyrrell Hatton (72) were tied for
fourth two back at 7 under.
The 30-year-old from California had won tournaments on the Asian and
European tours, but his best showings on the PGA Tour were three
runner-up finishes.
"I'm going to sleep really well tonight," Kitayama said. "Yeah, it's
everything I kind of mentally prepared myself for. It was pretty
much as hard as I expected."
Kitayama also shot a 72 Saturday to maintain a one-shot lead through
54 holes. He made three birdies and a bogey over his opening seven
holes Sunday before hitting trouble at the par-4 ninth.
He hit his tee shot far left and out of bounds, and after hitting a
provisional tee, his fourth shot missed the green. He missed a
17-foot double bogey putt, settling for a triple-bogey 7. That
knocked him down to 8 under for the tournament, behind new
co-leaders Spieth and Hatton at 9 under.
"I told (caddie Tim Tucker) I didn't feel rattled at all," Kitayama
said on the NBC broadcast. "He said, ‘Yeah, I know. You look good,
and we're gonna just keep chugging along and we'll get it back.'"
Spieth had birdied four of his first five holes to start the day and
got to 10 under for the event with a birdie at No. 13. He proceeded
to bogey the par-3 14th and the par-4 15th after off-target tee
shots.
"I didn't have my ball-striking on the weekend that I've had my last
few tournaments," Spieth said. "It's really hard to go around this
place without it, but if you can, the way I did it today was how you
do it, making putts and making chips and it was great."
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Spieth's drop led to a five-way tie for the lead at
one point, featuring himself, McIlroy, Hatton, English and Kitayama
at 8 under.
While most of those players couldn't buy a putt during the final few
holes, Kitayama responded to his triple bogey by making seven
straight pars. At the par-3 17th, his tee shot settled inside 14
feet of the cup and he drained the birdie to take the outright lead.
Kitayama missed the fairway left on his tee shot at the par-4 18th
and his approach from the rough to the green left him 47 feet.
Needing a two-putt par from that distance to win outright,
Kitayama's first putt was on a perfect line and stopped right on the
edge of the cup.
"He's done really well," McIlroy said of Kitayama. "He's sort of
persevered and played wherever he could get starts and all of a
sudden he's won one of the biggest events on the PGA Tour. So good
for him."
McIlroy finished with a colorful card featuring five bogeys,
including each of his first two holes, and seven birdies. He said he
would rue his tee shot at the par-3 14th, which became plugged in a
greenside bunker and led to the first of consecutive bogeys.
Scheffler, the defending champion and world No. 2, had a difficult
front nine with a double-bogey 6 at No. 8, two bogeys and two
birdies. He got back to 8 under for the tournament by birdieing Nos.
12 and 16 but gave one back at the last hole, when his second shot
barely cleared the water hazard and landed shy of the green.
"Got a little gust or something," Scheffler said. "With the heat and
everything, it's pretty much a stock wedge, and I actually trapped
it a little bit. It just got caught up in the wind."
--Field Level Media
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