Kurt Kitayama rules front 9 on way to 3M Open win, his second PGA Tour victory
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Kitayama was in 44th place as the third round began Saturday in Minnesota. Then, he birdied seven of nine holes to open with a front-nine 28 on his way to tying the course record with a 60, a record set two days earlier by Adam Svensson.
Still, Kitayama trailed the co-leaders Akshay Bhatia and Thorbjorn Oleson with 18 holes to go.
No problem. Kitayama again dominated the front with a 29 to take the lead, while Bhatia and Oleson struggled, making Kitamaya the first player since Charley Hoffman in 2015 to open with sub-30s on consecutive days.
When Kitayama bogeyed No. 11 to fall back to 22-under, it appeared to give the field a chance, until Kitayama birdied 12 and 14 to again take control and ultimately put it away despite a late run from Sam Stevens.
This win joins Kitayama's 2023 Arnold Palmer Invitational victory, a signature win that briefly put Kitayama in the top 20 of the Official World Golf Ranking. That same year, he finished T4 at the PGA Championship at Oak Hill and had a good enough season to qualify for the BMW Championship, the second leg of the FedEx Cup Playoffs.
Then Kitayama's golf took a dip. During the 2024 regular season, he earned just one top-10 and two top-20 finishes as he failed to make the playoffs. In 2025, he qualified for just one major championship. But things have been trending in the right direction since May, as he finished fifth at both the CJ Cup Byron Nelson and the John Deere Classic. This win — his third consecutive week in the top 20 — catapults Kitayama up the FedEx points list from No. 110 to No. 53, putting him in good position to qualify for the first leg of the playoffs in Memphis.
Kitayama was the only golfer to finish in the top 10 with a single round above 70, when he shot a second-round 71 for even par. That helps quantify just how good his final two rounds were, winning the entire tournament on the back of a 60 and 64 despite a round three shots worse than anyone else in contention. Two rounds in a row, he gained more than three strokes on the field on the approach, according to DataGolf.
Next week, the tour goes to the Wyndham Championship for the final tournament of the regular season before the playoffs begin.
(Top photo of Kurt Kitayama: Matt Krohn / Imagn Images)
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