Weekly Recap: Kitayama Captures Win No. 1

Jordan Spieth and Viktor Hovland were among those who held the lead during Sunday's final round of the Arnold Palmer Invitational. Then two of the top three players in the Official World Golf Ranking, Rory McIlroy and Scottie Scheffler joined the fray. Even former top-10 players Tyrrell Hatton and Harris English had a share at one point

Oh, and there was also Kurt Kitayama.

In the most pressure-filled moments against some of the sport's heavyweights, the 30-year-old journeyman wobbled but remained the last man standing at the end of a madcap day of golf at Bay Hill Club and Lodge.

The 30-year-old Californian -- no slouch but clearly not of the stature of the others mentioned --  drained a 13-footer for birdie on No. 17 to claim the solo lead at 9-under-par, then hit a lag putt for the ages to par 18 and secure his first PGA Tour title. Kitayama rolled a 47-footer to what the Tour said was two inches, but with half of the ball hanging over the hole, it was more like point two inches.

Some two hours earlier, Kitayama withstood a haymaker in the form of a triple-bogey seven on No. 9, blowing a two-stroke lead and opening the door for a half dozen guys to play musical chairs atop the leaderboard.

This was another battle royale, the third straight in a designated tournament on the PGA Tour -- four if you want to include the exciting Honda Classic. But unlike the first two, in which Scheffler and Jon Rahm won, this time the script deviated.

Kitayama was ranked No. 46 in the world and had a number of recent near-misses. He finished second to Rahm in Mexico last spring, then runner-up to good pal Xander Schauffele in Scotland over the summer. And recently, he began the final round at Pebble Beach in the last group only to tumble out of the top 25, a disappointment that steeled Kitayama for Sunday.

He finally closed the deal, and on one of golf's biggest stages, to climb into the top 20 in the world rankings at No. 19.

Maybe the fact that he's a little older than your typical first-time winner allowed Kitayama to keep his composure. His new caddie, Tim Tucker, clearly helped. Then again, the calm must've been a welcome change for Tucker, former bagman for Bryson DeChambeau. 

Beginning in 2016, Kitayama traveled the globe playing golf on tour after tour. He went from Canada to the Korn Ferry Tour -- he actually lost his card there -- to the Asian Tour, China, South Africa, the Middle East and eventually to the DP World Tour before finally securing his PGA Tour card for 2021-22.

Not too many golfers who lose their KF Tour card ever end up winning a PGA Tour event and landing a top-20 spot in the rankings.

"Right when I got out of college, I struggled," Kitayama told reporters in Orlando, Fla. "I don't know, it's been hard. I don't know, you just keep grinding away and you just keep building the level of confidence to finally feel like I belong out here."

That's how Kitayama described his career. But it also describes his Sunday at Bay Hill.

MONDAY BACKSPIN

Rory McIlroy
McIlroy had a 12-footer for birdie on 18 that would've gotten him to the winning score of 9-under, but it just slid by. He actually had the lead by himself after a birdie on 13, but then bogeyed 14 and 15. McIlroy surprisingly said he didn't know he had the lead, and he would've played 14 differently. It's remarkable that McIlroy didn't know the situation with a golf tournament on the line on Sunday. Other than that, after two straight lackluster performances at Phoenix and Los Angeles, McIlroy looks in fine form heading to THE PLAYERS as one of the favorites.

Harris English
We've written a lot about English, and how he had not been the same since returning from hip surgery last year. An occasional good finish but many bad ones. For instance, he had missed four of his past five cuts coming into Bay Hill, along with a T12 at the Genesis. This shared runner-up was his best showing since winning the 2021 Travelers. Maybe English will still mix clunkers with good results, but this week showed he can still play at his past heights or at least come close. He jumped from 79th in the world to 39th.
 
Scottie Scheffler
The defending champion was right there again at the end, sharing the lead until Kitayama's birdie on 17. Scheffler wound up bogeying 18 to fall into a tie for fourth. In his past seven starts, his worst finish has been a tie for 12th. Like Jon Rahm and Rory McIlroy, Scheffler could win any week he tees it up (though he's gone MC-T55 in his two trips to THE PLAYERS Championship).

Jordan Spieth
The leaderboard shows that Spieth tied for fourth. What it doesn't show is that he had at least a share of the lead for a good chunk of Sunday before bogeys on 14, 15 and 17 (along with a par on the easy par-5 16th) torpedoed his round. Spieth missed four putts inside of eight feet, all within inches, turning his best chance to win in about 10 months into utter heartache. As Spieth noted afterward, "I hadn't really had a real lead on Sunday late in quite a while." Presumably, Spieth will handle it better next time.

Tyrrell Hatton
Hatton's histrionics on every shot aside, he's a darn good golfer, nowhere better than at Bay Hill. Hatton tied for fourth, his fourth top-four showing in this event that he won in 2020. He's not the longest driver of the golf ball, but he's far from short and he is one of the straightest, making him a perfect fit for this tournament.

Patrick Cantlay
Cantlay's 4-under 68 was the best round of the day among any of anyone with a realistic shot at winning. But unlike the others, he never grabbed a share of the lead. He tied for fourth and, on top of his solo third last time out at Riviera, he is peaking at the right time heading into THE PLAYERS. That said, Cantlay has missed three straight cuts at TPC Sawgrass.

Davis Riley
Riley burst upon the scene with a great first half of 2022, then fell off a cliff for the rest of the year and into 2023. But he recently changed caddies, had a good week going at the Honda until a Sunday fade and now tied for eighth at Bay Hill. He's up to career-best 61st in the world and doesn't appear to be done climbing.

Trey Mullinax
Mullinax tied for eighth to move to a career-high 77th in the world rankings. He's a good driver and did well on a course you have to drive well on. This is his third top-12 in an elite field since last season's playoffs, when he did it twice at the FedEx and BMW. Mullinax has a lot of clunkers. Just look for a week with a strong emphasis on driving and he could help your lineup.

Viktor Hovland
Hovland is all the way down here, tied for 10th, after having the lead on the front nine. A double on the par-4 eighth where he flubbed a bunker shot still didn't end his chances. Finding the water from 178 yards on the easy par-5 16th did. With TPC Sawgrass asking golfers to use every club in their bag, it's unlikely that Hovland's wedge play, while improving, will be good enough.

Jason Day
Another week, another top-10 for Day. He tied for 10th, giving him a fourth straight top-10. He's up to 43rd in the world heading into Sawgrass, where he won in 2016 and has had two other top-eights.
 
Ryan Fox
The New Zealander might be the most anonymous golfer in the top-50 OWGR. He was No. 32 entering his Stateside debut in 2023. At Bay Hill, his tie for 14th showed his ranking is not, um, internationally enhanced. Fox is another long driver, which makes Bay Hill a good spot for him. Fox is also in THE PLAYERS, but Sawgrass might not be such a good fit.

Ben Griffin
A shoutout to Griffin for quietly tying for 14th. He had had a pair of top-25s already in 2023, but they came at the Sony and the Honda. Not exactly nothing, but to do it in this elite field is next level. Already inside the top-100, Griffin is up to No. 78 in the world.

Pierceson Coody
Coody, the grandson of 1971 Masters champion Charles Coody, is a two-winner on the Korn Ferry Tour. He got into the Honda last week and made the cut. At Bay Hill, he did far better, tying for 14th. We'll likely see a little more of him in lesser fields, which may give him the chance to make the leap to PGA Tour membership.

Rickie Fowler
Fowler's string of three straight top-20s ended, but his tie for 31st gave him a fifth straight made cut to start the year. He now heads the scene of his greatest glory as a golfer, TPC Sawgrass, where he won THE PLAYERS Championship in 2015.

MISSED CUTS

Collin Morikawa
Morikawa has missed two of his past three cuts and now heads to a tournament where he missed the cut last year and tied for 41st in his only other visit, and to a course where he'll need to improve his short game and putting to contend.

Sam Burns
Burns has missed two cuts in a row after results of T11 and T6. This is beginning to look like this will be Burns' career arc – wildly inconsistent. Hard to stomach that for Burns backers, for sure.

Billy Horschel
In six events in 2023, Horschel has missed three cuts with a top showing of T30 – and that came in the 39-man Tournament of Champions.

Hideki Matsuyama
The neck issue that was a concern throughout 2022 for Matsuyama remains a concern. He's missed two cuts in a row.

Cam Davis
There were high hopes for Davis coming into 2023, a player who took strides last year and appeared ready to get to the next level. Not so fast. Davis has missed five straight cuts and it's fair to wonder if the tougher fields are showing us where Davis really stands on the PGA Tour.

Brian Harman
Like Davis, Harman is struggling. He closed the fall season with back-to-back runners-up. But in six starts in 2023, he's missed three cuts with his only top-30 coming in the 39-man TOC, where he tied for 16th.

Eric Cole
Cole, who came within an eyelash of defeating Chris Kirk to win the Honda Classic a week ago, shot 72-80 to miss the cut. The good news for Cole is, he's right back at it this week at THE PLAYERS.

PUERTO RICO OPEN

Nico Echavarria, a PGA Tour rookie making just his his 11th career start, won the tournament. The No. 406-ranked player from Colombia by way of the University of Arkansas had missed four straight cuts but also had a tie for 12th at the Sony. The win will get the 28-year-old Echavarria into this week's PLAYERS Championship. He's now ranked 287th. The biggest news for fantasy purposes to come out of the tournament, however, was 21-year-old Akshay Bhatia finishing solo second to secure Special Temporary Membership to the PGA tour. Bhatia notably bypassed college a few years back to turn pro, and he had a few lean years. But the move now appears to be paying off. We should see Bhatia next at the Valspar in two weeks. He's ranked 274th.