Kurt Kitayama

ELIGIBILITY: The first 50 players on the OWGR for Week 21, 2024.]

Kitayama was a well-respected junior player in California. Was the Northern California Player of the Year for JGANC in 2009 and was on Junior America's Cup team in 2009 and 2010. He finished T-3rd at the 2009 Callaway Golf-Junior World Golf Championships at Torrey Pines South Course with a four-day total of 293, leading the tournament after three rounds. He led the field with 20 birdies in that event.
Kitayama attended the University of Nevada-Las Vegas from 2011 to 2015.
After turning pro, he traveled worldwide, playing events across Asia and Europe and also in South Africa and Australia. At the end of 2015 made it to the final stage of the Korn Ferry Tour Q-School and finished T-106th to get limited status on the Korn Ferry Tour in 2016.
2016 Korn Ferry Tour Summary: Tournaments Entered - 9; Rounds Played - 22; In Money - 2; Top-10 Finishes - 0; Scoring Average - 70.68 (Rank N/A); Regular Season Money - $14,203 (Rank 153rd); Best Finish - T-13th, Air Capital Classic. Returned to Q-School and finished T-42nd.
2017 Korn Ferry Tour Summary: Tournaments Entered - 20; Rounds Played - 60; In Money - 10; Top-10 Finishes - 0; Scoring Average - 70.98 (Rank 91st); Regular Season Money - $41,009 (Rank 101st); Best Finish - T-11th, The Bahamas Great Abaco. Kitayama was disappointed in his year and took advice from his friends David Lipsky and Alex Kang to check out the Asian Tour. This was very important for him because his good play set him up.
2018 Notes: Qualified for the Asian Tour and played in 14 events. He made the cut in all of them and had four top-ten finishes. His first top-ten was a T-4th at the ISPS Handa New Zealand Open. His next top-ten was a T-2nd at the Royal Cup, he was six shots back of winner Justin Harding. He then was T-4th at the Asia Pacific Diamond Cup. The following week was T-13th at the Mercuries Taiwan Masters.
While playing in Asia, he also was trying to gain his European Tour card and had to go through all three stages of European Tour Q-School. His first visit to European soil ended in victory as he won the First Stage at Golf d'Hardelot. He didn't have a caddie in the first two stages and put his bag on a pushcart. For the final stage at Lumine, he had a caddie whose player didn't qualify. Kitayama finished T-3rd to gain his card. Kitayama had his European Tour card, and the following three events were co-sanctioned with the Asian Tour. Still, it was a bit confusing because the events counted on the Asian Tour for 2018 but were on the 2019 schedule for the European Tour. First, he finished his Asian Tour year with a T-45th at the Honma Hong Kong Open, his first win at the AfrAsia Bank Mauritius Open, and then a T-15th at the South African Open. He finished 8th on the Asian Tour Order of Merit with $369,347. When Kitayama began in 2018, he was 1,173rd in the Official World Golf Ranking. Before the Mauritius win, he worked his way up to 362nd in the ranking, and after the Mauritius win was 198th.
2019 Notes: Played in 31 European Tour events, making 24 cuts with five top-ten finishes. He was 14th in the Race to Dubai. The AfrAsia Bank Mauritius Open victory came in his third start on the European Tour. He took on a full schedule and played in the first 10 events. The 11th event was the WGC-Mexico, and since he was 205th in the world rankings, he didn't qualify and had the week off. But he played the next week in Oman and won for the second time in 12 weeks. He birdied two of his last three holes for the one-shot win. He became the fastest player to have two wins in European Tour history when he won the Oman Open in only his 11th career start. After the Oman victory, he climbed to 105th in the world rankings, which helped him get to the PGA Championship, where he finished T-64th. He was 3rd in the Italian Open, four shots back of winner Bernd Wiesberger, and the following week was 4th at the French Open, three shots back of winner Nicolas Colsaerts. He was T-2nd at the Turkish Airlines Open, losing to Tyrrell Hatton in a six-man playoff.
2020 Notes: Played in eight European Tour events, making five cuts with one top-ten. Was 126th in the Race to Dubai. He was T-6th at the Dubai Desert Classic, three shots back of the Lucas Hebert/Christiaan Bezuidenhout playoff. But Kitayama's complex situation reared its head with the worldwide pandemic. Kitayama is based in the United States, so traveling to Europe and quarantining for two weeks was challenging for him to commit to. So, with Kitayama being at home in Las Vegas when golf restarted, he decided to try to qualify on Monday or get sponsor exemptions into PGA Tour events. He was able to qualify for the Rocket Mortgage Classic and Barracuda Championship but missed the cut. Was T-51st in the PGA Championship, then decided to return to Europe, missing the cut at the Celtic Classic and T-59th at the Handa Wales Open. He ended his year missing the cut at the U.S. Open, Corales Puntacana, and BMW PGA Championship.
2021 Notes: Played in 17 European Tour events, making nine cuts with three top-ten finishes. He finished 88th in the Race to Dubai. He was T-12th at the Saudi International, then T-9th at the Commercial Bank Qatar Masters, and then 2nd at the Magical Kenya Open, two shots back of winner Justin Harding. Shot 64-68 over the weekend to finish T-8th at the Made In Himmerland. Earned enough non-member FedExCup points to play in the Korn Ferry Finals, was T-32nd at the Albertsons Boise Open and T-11th at the Korn Ferry Tour Championships, earning his PGA Tour card by finishing 23rd in the Finals.
2022 Notes: Played in 24 PGA Tour events, making 12 cuts with three top-ten finishes. He was 41st in the final FedExCup standings. He played in seven DP World Tour events making five cuts with two top-ten finishes. Was 39th in the Race to Dubai. He entered the final round a shot back of the lead at the Honda Classic, shot 68 in the final round, but finished 3rd, two shots back of winner Sepp Straka, who shot a final round 66. Shot 66-68 over the weekend at the Mexico Open to finish T-2nd, a shot back of winner Jon Rahm. Shot a final-round 66 at the Genesis Scottish Open to finish 2nd, a shot back of winner Xander Schauffele. He claimed one of the three final spots to play in the British Open at St. Andrews. He was T-72nd at the Old Course. In the FedExCup playoffs, missed the cut at the FedEx St. Jude and T-19th at the BMW Championship. On the DP World Tour, he was 7th at the Italian Open and finished his year with a T-42nd finish at the DP World Tour Championship.
2023 Notes: Played in 25 PGA Tour events, making 15 cuts with four top-ten finishes. He was 36th in the final FedExCup standings. Held a share of the lead after the second round of The CJ Cup in South Carolina and finished 2nd, a shot back of winner Rory McIlroy. He held a one-shot lead after the second round of the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am and finished T-29th. He earned his first PGA Tour victory at the Arnold Palmer Invitational in his 50th career start. He beat Rory McIlroy and Harris English by a shot. In his tournament debut, he became the first player to win the Arnold Palmer Invitational since Robert Gamez in 1990. He made a triple bogey at the par-4 ninth in the final round, becoming the first player to record a triple bogey in the final round and go on to win since Viktor Hovland at the 2020 Puerto Rico Open. In the WGC-Dell Match Play, Kitayama got out of group play when he birdied the second playoff hole to beat Adrian Meronk. He defeated Andrew Putnam 6 & 5 in the round of 16 and lost to Cameron Young 1 up in the quarterfinals to finish T-5th. Shot a final round 65 at the PGA Championship to finish T-4th, six shots back of winner Brooks Koepka. In the FedExup playoffs, was T-52nd at the FedEx St. Jude and T-41st at the BMW Championship.
2024 Notes: T-8th at the WM Phoenix Open.
One last note on Kitayama: he eats candy the night before every round as a superstition.