– Kurt Kitayama (-23) has won the 3M Open with a final round of 65 strokes at TPC Twin Cities (Blaine, Minnesota), six under par for the day, securing victory by just one stroke over Sam Stevens (-22, today a round of 66).
– Kitayama thus achieves his second victory on the PGA Tour after that remarkable triumph at the Arnold Palmer Invitational in 2023, where he triumphed over the cream of the global golf scene. The Californian, a somewhat inconsistent player but with immense resources, has secured his participation in the first of the FedEx Cup play-offs, moving from 110th to 53rd place. It will be the third time Kitayama enters this final phase of the season, although he has yet to compete in the Tour Championship, the last of the three play-offs. It is not guaranteed this time either, but at least he seems to be in great form to continue his climb.
– A player with immense resources, as we said. For example, he may have won this tournament on the 14th hole, where he drove into a fairway bunker and from there, over 170 metres from the flag, hit a masterful second shot to leave the ball half a metre from the cup. It was to be the last birdie of his round, but he didn’t need much more. He even allowed himself the luxury of missing a short par putt on the 17th and finishing with a par on the 18th, a par 5.
– The wind blew a bit more today over the Minnesota course, but good scores were still abundant, to the point that only thirteen players handed in cards over par. Curiously, and unusually, two of those thirteen were Thorbjorn Olesen (-16, round of 73) and Akshay Bhatia (-14, round of 75), the two men who started in the leading group and therefore with the best chances of victory. There is no doubt that their disappointing performance made things easier for the winner. Bhatia, in fact, started with three bogeys in the first four holes, while Olesen went through the first nine with a two-over-par score. All this, moreover, in the face of Kitayama’s blazing start, who was playing just ahead of them and had already carded five birdies in the first six holes…
– The Dane missed a great opportunity to get into the play-offs, although he will still have one last chance next week at the Wyndham Championship, an event in which, barring any last-minute changes, Kitayama will also be present… And Adam Scott, who couldn’t make a comeback today and still has work to do to get into the first of the play-offs.
