Kurt Kitayama got off to a blazing start and then held on at the end while his two closest competitors melted down at the final hole to win the PGA Tour’s 3M Open on July 27 at the TPC Twin Cities in Blaine, Minn.
Kitayama, a 32-year-old native of Chico, Calif., and a former high school point guard, birdied six of his first eight holes and went on to post a 65 and win by one shot over Sam Stevens at 23-under-par 261.
Kitayama, whose older brother Daniel caddied for him, had to execute a difficult bunker shot at the last, hitting from a downhill lie to within 17 feet of the hole.
He needed only two putts from there to win.
Kurt Kitayama jumps on FedEx Cup, money lists
The victory sent Kitayama soaring up the PGA Tour FedEx Cup point lists (110th to a projected 57th) and the money list (103rd to 55th with a $1,512,000 first-place check to give him $2,532,696 for the season).
His ascent on the FedEx Cup point list was crucial: There is only one more regular-season event left to crack the top 70 and qualify for the FedEx Cup Playoffs, next week’s Wyndham Championship in Greensboro, N.C.
The 2023 Arnold Palmer Invitational winner, who got into contention with a career-low 60 in the third round, had a three-shot lead over Jake Knapp with four shots to play, which shrank to one over Stevens after a three-putt bogey at the par-3 17th hole and Stevens’ making five 3s in a row between Nos. 13 and 17, three birdies and two pars at par-3s.
But Stevens (66) parred the par-5 18th hole after hitting three consecutive shots into high rough and finished at 22-under and Knapp (68) hit his second shot into the water fronting the green and made bogey to fall in a tie for third at 20-under with Matt Wallace (64), David Lipsky (64) and Pierceson Coody (67).
Kitayama made 20 birdies on the weekend, the most on the PGA Tour since 2003. He bogeyed two of his last three holes in the second round and made the cut by only one shot. He came from a tie for 44th and eight shots off the lead to the victory.
Kitayama had a two-shot lead at the turn and after he bogeyed the 11th hole, 10 players were within four shots. But he birdied two of his next three holes, with a 6-foot putt at No. 12 and a 2-footer at No. 14, after hitting his second shot from a fairway bunker.
54-hole leaders Bhatia, Olesen fall out of contention early
Akshay Bhatia and Thorbjorn Olesen, the 54-hole leaders, ran into trouble from the beginning and were never a factor.
Bhatia bogeyed three of his first four holes and shot 75, finishing in a tie for 25th at 14-under. Olesen bogeyed three of his first eight holes and finished with a 73 to tie for 14th at 16-under.
This article originally appeared on Florida Times-Union: 3M Open: Kurt Kitayama gets off to hot start, holds on at the end to beat Sam Stevens by one
Reporting by Garry Smits, Jacksonville Florida Times-Union / Florida Times-Union
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