Career day gives Kitayama early lead at Honda Classic

PALM BEACH GARDENS, Fla. — UNLV product Kurt Kitayama came into the Honda Classic with 25 previous appearances on the PGA Tour, most of them ending by missing the cut.

He’s on track to do a bit better this week in the Honda Classic.

Kitayama — ranked No. 289 in the world — was nearly flawless at PGA National on Thursday, shooting a 6-under 64 to take a one-shot lead over Daniel Berger, Chris Kirk and Rory Sabbatini. It was Kitayama’s best score in 69 rounds on the PGA Tour, fueled by a career-best run of four consecutive birdies on his second nine.

And he qualifies as a surprise leader, considering even he didn’t expect a start like this.

“Maybe not a start like that, but I felt like I’ve been playing well, and I’ve started to figure out my putting to kind of find this kind of round,” said Kitayama, a California native who has missed cuts 64 percent of the time in tour events.

Berger also was bogey-free, and missed an 8-foot birdie try on the par-5 18th to settle for 65.

Peter Uihlein and Danny Willett were among the group at 67. Brooks Koepka, a Palm Beach County native basically playing a home game this week, was in a group at 68. And Joaquin Niemann, who won the Genesis last week at Riviera, was 4 under through 12 before giving it all back and settling for an even-par 70.

“I didn’t do anything to really deserve to be 4 or 5 under,” Koepka said. “That’s a great score here. Just kind of ho-hummed it around.”

Kitayama started on the back nine, opened with three consecutive birdies, then had the run of four consecutive birdies — capped by a 20-footer from just off the green on the 6th, his 15th hole of the day.

“Conditions of the course are perfect,” Kitayama said. “It’s just really tough.”

He made it look easy. So did Sabbatini and Berger.

Sabbatini, the 2011 Honda winner, had a bogey-free round of 65. It was the first time Sabbatini played PGA National as a pro without making a single bogey.

Berger was 5 under through 11, then finished with seven consecutive pars.

Lynne Sladky The Associated Press Former UNLV player Kurt Kitayama tees off from the ninth hole in the first round of the Honda Classic on Thursday in Palm Beach Gardens, Fla.