Friends call golfer Kurt Kitayama “Kitty.”
During a pressure-cooker Sunday at the Arnold Palmer Invitational, the world’s top players, Bay Hill’s boisterous, well-lubricated galleries and a national TV audience learned why.
Kitayama has nine lives. And like the nickname suggests, he always found a way to land on his feet during an 18-hole thriller featuring stomach-turning plot twists and heartbreak.
The 30-year-old Californian with victories in Europe, Asia and Africa now has a win on home soil. An even-par 72 left him 9-under 279 for the week and a shot clear of Rory McIlroy and Harris English and two ahead of defending champion Scottie Scheffler, Jordan Spieth, Patrick Cantlay and Tyrrell Hatton.
“It’s pretty amazing,” Kitayama said. “Just to get your first win is an unbelievable thing.”
Unexpected, too, even though he was the 54-hole leader.
Six different players either held or shared the lead, three of them former API winners (McIlroy, Hatton, Scheffler) and another a three-time major champion (Spieth). The fifth, Harris English, is a multiple winner on the PGA Tour.
When the tournament entered the final hour of regulation, a playoff seemed forthcoming with five leaders tied at 8-under. Each had his chances down the stretch. Only Kitayama capitalized.
On the daunting par-3 17, playing 217 yards, he followed a 6-iron to just inside 15 feet with a clutch putt for what proved to be the winning margin. A wedge out of the deep rough left of the 18th fairway found the putting surface. Kitayama followed with a two-putt, including a tap-in as his golf ball hung on the edge.
“Going into the day you know who is near the top and you just pay attention the whole day,” he said. “You can’t ignore it. Just embrace the whole situation.”
Following the tap-in, Kitayama turned and embraced caddie Tim Tucker, the former looper for Bryson DeChambeau — the 2021 API winner now on the rival LIV Tour. This was just the third tournament together for the 2023 API-winning tandem.
Before Tucker arrived on the scene, Kitayama already had experienced his share of close-calls. He lost by a shot to McIlroy, Jon Rahm and Xander Schauffele during high-profile events.
Kitayama was on his way to more Sunday suffering after a triple-bogey 7 on the exacting 9th hole, the toughest of the week playing .377 strokes over par. A tee shot out-of-bounds quickly erased a 2-shot lead and left him 1 behind Spieth and Hatton.
Amid a whirlwind of emotions, Kitayama again turned to Tucker.
“I just wanted to let him know how I felt,” Kitayama recalled. “I still felt comfortable. I didn’t feel out of place. It was just one bad swing. He kind of backed me up.
“He said, ‘I know. You look fine.’ And that helped.”
Kitayama received plenty of unexpected help during another chaotic back 9 at a tournament characterized by wild finishes.
Contenders came unglued as quickly they appeared in control on an emotionally charged day at a prestigious tournament with a $3.6 winner’s purse at stake.
No one looked as destined to win as Spieth.
Starting 4 shots behind Kityama, Spieth birdied four of his first five holes. He seized the lead at 10-under-par with a birdie putt at the par-4 13th just inside 15 feet, giving him 120 feet of made putts.
But Spieth, a 29-year-old fan favorite cut in the same swashbuckling mold as the late Palmer, soon lost his touch. Consecutive misses from just outside 5 feet led to bogeys on 14 and 15 and a par on the par-5 16th. After Spieth’s tee shot in the 217-yard par-3 17th found the primary rough, he chunked a chip and missed an 8-footer for par.
“That really stinks ... I wouldn’t have hit any of the putts differently,” he said. “I misread all four by just barely.”
The emotive Hatton, the 2020 winner at Bay Hill, had been one of the hottest putters all week but cooled off when it counted. He bogeyed three holes (12, 13, 17) during a six-hole stretch to end his hopes.
Paired together, McIlroy and English each had a chance to move to 9-under before Kitayama, but each did not give makeable 72nd-hole birdie chances enough speed to hold the line and missed low.
The last chance to catch Kitayama was left to Scheffler, Spieth’s former teammate at Texas who established himself last season as one of the game’s best closers. The 26-year-old overcame a shaky start, including two bogeys on his three holes, to position himself to repeat at Bay Hill.
Trailing by a shot, he hit a perfect drive on No. 18, leaving him 144 yards. But his approach just cleared the water hazard and his ball spun back into the rough leading to a bogey.
“At the end of the day I put up a good fight,” Scheffler said. “I didn’t have my best stuff. I still gave myself a chance. But Kurt played fantastic golf today.
“To birdie 17 and par 18 to finish and win by one is pretty special.”
The well-traveled Kitayama played on 10 tours by his count before finally earning his PGA Tour card for the 2021-22 season. After Sunday’s win, he moved to No. 19 in the world rankings.
On a day featuring U.S. Open-like conditions and contenders, Kitayama quietly stayed the course, accepted his fate and finally was rewarded.
“A little bit of luck finally went my way,” he said. “When it’s that close at the top, that’s what you need. Anyone probably could have won it.
“Luckily it just happened to be me.”
