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BLAINE, Minn. – A year ago, Kurt Kitayama brought his big brother, Daniel, back on the bag at the 3M Open and they only had one disagreement.
In the third round, Kurt was in the zone and had a chance at the par-5 18th to shoot 59 if he made eagle. Kurt wanted to take dead aim from the rough with his second shot, a carry across water, but his brother said he had one job at that moment: “Just make sure he didn’t make a dumb mistake,” Daniel said. “I didn’t like the lie for a 5-iron. I talked him out of going for it. He laid up with a 9-iron.”
Big brother knew best. Kurt settled for a career-low 60, the lowest round score by a PGA Tour winner last season, and has the tournament trophy on a shelf at his home in Las Vegas to show for it. He surged from T-44 and trailing by eight at the midway point to winning for the second time on Tour in his 108th career start.
“To have a round like that is pretty special,” he said on Tuesday in his 3M Open pre-tournament press conference.
TPC Twin Cities fits Kitayama’s game to a T. He is a cumulative 36 under in eight rounds at the course.
The stats do not lie about how well he played last year.
On the weekend, Kitayama averaged 24 feet, 1 inch in proximity to the hole, over eight feet closer than the field (32 feet, 8 inches) and the best in the final two rounds by a winner since Aaron Rai at the 2024 Wyndham Championship.
Kitayama hit 28 of his 36 approach shots inside 25 feet in both the third and final rounds, five more than the next best in the field.
Kitayama shot back-to-back sub-30 rounds on the front nine in the third (28) and final (29) rounds, joining three other players to do this during the ShotLink Era.
He also was deadly in his approach game, +9.67Strokes Gained: Approach-the-Green, the most of any winner at the 3M, and the second most in his Tour career. He did most of his damage on the front nine: +10.81total strokes gained in the front nine, and gained 7.58 more strokes in the front nine than the back nine.
Since 2019, Kitayama is one of six winners at the 3M Open to have ranked inside the top 10 Strokes Gained: Approach the Green, one of 12 events on Tour to have six or more winners rank inside the top 10 in this category. Winners at the 3M Open have gained +53.42 strokes Approaching the Green, the most of any winners at a Tour event from 2019-2025. Now the question is: can Kitayama channel those good memories again? He is seeking to become the first player to successfully defend their title at this event since its debut in 2019. This is Kitayama’s second title defense attempt of his Tour career and hopefully it will go better than the last one – he missed the cut at the 2024 Arnold Palmer Invitational.
Adam Schupak is a senior writer for Golfweek, covering the PGA Tour.
This article originally appeared on Golfweek: The numbers don't lie: Inside how Kurt Kitayama dominated at the 3M Open
Continue reading...
In the third round, Kurt was in the zone and had a chance at the par-5 18th to shoot 59 if he made eagle. Kurt wanted to take dead aim from the rough with his second shot, a carry across water, but his brother said he had one job at that moment: “Just make sure he didn’t make a dumb mistake,” Daniel said. “I didn’t like the lie for a 5-iron. I talked him out of going for it. He laid up with a 9-iron.”
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Big brother knew best. Kurt settled for a career-low 60, the lowest round score by a PGA Tour winner last season, and has the tournament trophy on a shelf at his home in Las Vegas to show for it. He surged from T-44 and trailing by eight at the midway point to winning for the second time on Tour in his 108th career start.
“To have a round like that is pretty special,” he said on Tuesday in his 3M Open pre-tournament press conference.
TPC Twin Cities fits Kitayama’s game to a T. He is a cumulative 36 under in eight rounds at the course.
The stats do not lie about how well he played last year.
On the weekend, Kitayama averaged 24 feet, 1 inch in proximity to the hole, over eight feet closer than the field (32 feet, 8 inches) and the best in the final two rounds by a winner since Aaron Rai at the 2024 Wyndham Championship.
You must be registered for see images attach
Kitayama hit 28 of his 36 approach shots inside 25 feet in both the third and final rounds, five more than the next best in the field.
Kitayama shot back-to-back sub-30 rounds on the front nine in the third (28) and final (29) rounds, joining three other players to do this during the ShotLink Era.
He also was deadly in his approach game, +9.67Strokes Gained: Approach-the-Green, the most of any winner at the 3M, and the second most in his Tour career. He did most of his damage on the front nine: +10.81total strokes gained in the front nine, and gained 7.58 more strokes in the front nine than the back nine.
Since 2019, Kitayama is one of six winners at the 3M Open to have ranked inside the top 10 Strokes Gained: Approach the Green, one of 12 events on Tour to have six or more winners rank inside the top 10 in this category. Winners at the 3M Open have gained +53.42 strokes Approaching the Green, the most of any winners at a Tour event from 2019-2025. Now the question is: can Kitayama channel those good memories again? He is seeking to become the first player to successfully defend their title at this event since its debut in 2019. This is Kitayama’s second title defense attempt of his Tour career and hopefully it will go better than the last one – he missed the cut at the 2024 Arnold Palmer Invitational.
Adam Schupak is a senior writer for Golfweek, covering the PGA Tour.
This article originally appeared on Golfweek: The numbers don't lie: Inside how Kurt Kitayama dominated at the 3M Open
Continue reading...
