Luck finally goes Kitayama’s way in a wild finish at Bay Hill
ORLANDO, FLA.>> Kurt Kitayama only had to look around at the players next to him in the practice area and right below him on the leaderboard at Bay Hill to know what he was up against Sunday in the Arnold Palmer Invitational.
“You can’t ignore it. You got to know where you’re at and you know who is there and just embrace the whole situation, I guess,” Kitayama said after a final two hours of pure theater for his first PGA Tour win.
He got the result he desperately wanted in a fashion he never imagined.
First came the wild tee shot that sailed out- of-bounds on the ninth hole that led to triple bogey and let an All- Star cast — Rory Mcilroy, Jordan Spieth, Scottie Scheffler, Tyrrell Hatton and Harris English — back into the tournament.
And then the 30-year-old Californian, who has played on 11 tours around the world to hone is game, delivered the winner.
Part of a five-way tie for the lead with three holes to play, he drilled a 6-iron to just inside 15 feet on the par-3 17th and holed it for birdie to take the lead. From the gnarly rough left of the 18th fairway, he gouged an 8-iron onto the green to 50 feet. Needing two putts to win, the first one stopped an inch from the cup.
The tap-in for an even-par 72 was the easiest shot he faced all day, giving him a one-shot win
over Mcilroy and English.
The soft- spoken Kitayama was due. Over the last year he finished one shot behind to Jon Rahm in Mexico, to Xander Schauffele in Scotland, to Mcilroy in South Carolina.
“I think just a little bit of luck finally went my way,” Kitayama said.
He finished at 9-under 279 and earned $3.6 million, moving to No. 19 in the world.
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He tied the tournament record at 21-under 267.
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