Kurt Kitayama claimed only his second ever PGA Tour win by holding off Sam Stevens to win the 3M Open and in doing so, wrote his name into the record books.
Kitayama’s last and only win on the PGA Tour came at the Arnold Palmer in 2023 and completes a remarkable turnaround.
The California native finished up at the 3M at -23 to hold off a strong field behind him that included the likes of Jake Knapp, Matt Wallace, and Alex Noren.
Still, while Kitayama’s result was impressive enough given he was close to losing his PGA Tour card not so long ago, the way he got over the line was even more impressive.
Indeed, in winning the 3M, Kitayama managed something not seen on TOUR in over 40 years.
Kurt Kitayama goes into the PGA Tour record books by winning the 3M Open
It’s great to see Kurt Kitayama back in contention and after finishing 5th and T14 in his last two starts, it is a further move in the right direction for the 32-year-old.
Kitayama will be delighted to be back in the winner’s circle but he might be even happier with how he did it.
In fact, in a stat shared by golf analyst Justin Ray on X, Kitayama actually achieved something not seen on TOUR for decades.
As explained by Ray, Kitayama made a whopping 20 birdies over the weekend to win the 3M Open and marks the most by any player over two days over the last 40 years.
While the field was missing some of the big hitters like Scottie Scheffler and Rory McIlroy, it was still a well-stacked field for Kitayama to win out on.
Indeed, had the big names been involved, his 20 birdies in just two days might have been too much for anyone to handles.
Kurt Kitayama’s PGA Tour record in numbers
The American has always been a more than capable player and anyone winning an event like the Arnold Palmer Invitational deserves their flowers.
However, he’s never quite kicked onto the heights some expected when he emerged.
That win at the Arnold Palmer and now at the 3M makes it just a pair of victories on the PGA Tour so far and for a player with his talent, it’s not quite good enough.
Nevertheless, he’s made a solid career out of golf.
| Metric | |
| Events played | 107 |
| Cuts made | 63 |
| Wins | 2 |
| Top tens | 13 |
| Money earned | $13,081,329 |
10 top five finishes and a further 13 top tens mean he’s done more than ok on the TOUR, while more than $13m in earnings will soften any blow of not winning as much.
Hopefully, this can be the start of another run for Kitayama and it would be interesting to see him up against the elite with his current form.
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