Kurt Kitayama wins 3M Open with 1 key swing (and 20 weekend birdies)

BLAINE, Minn. — Let’s go to the par-4 14th hole at TPC Twin Cities, where Kurt Kitayama is in a fairway bunker.

He has 192 yards to the hole. He has water in front of him. There’s water left of the green. He leads by two. In the pairing ahead, Jake Knapp and Sam Stevens aren’t going away.

Kitayama pulls 7-iron, waggles, swings… Ballgame.

Kitayama fired a laser over the water that never left the flag. It thumped hard in front of the pin, rolled out and landed just two feet away. Birdie. Three-stroke lead.

“That was a very big shot,” Kitayama said. “Fairway bunker from 190 and to hit it how I hit it, it was unbelievable.”

That fairway bunker shot turned out to be the pivotal one of Kitayama’s second career PGA Tour victory, which he earned on Sunday after shooting a six-under 65 to win the 3M Open.

At 23 under overall, he finished a shot clear of Stevens, who closed with a 66 on Sunday.

Kitayama’s second PGA Tour victory comes two years after his first, when he won the Arnold Palmer Invitational at Bay Hill. It also goes a long way in extending his season. He jumps from 110th to 53rd in the FedEx Cup standings with just next week’s Wyndham Championship remaining in the regular season. The top 70 head to the following week’s FedEx Cup St. Jude Championship, the playoff opener, with the top 50 advancing to the BMW Championship and top 30 to the Tour Championship, where Kitayama has yet to play.

He has found success in Minnesota, though. He tied for 6th here last year and tied the course record (11-under 60) on Saturday. Throw in his Sunday 65, and Kitayama’s 20 birdies made over the weekend are the most by a PGA Tour winner in the last two decades.

On Sunday, with low scores all week, it was supposed to be a shootout, but some of the contenders faded early.

In the final pairing, the two 54-hole leaders, Akshay Bhatia and Thorbjorn Olesen, struggled. Bhatia bogeyed three of his first four and shot 75. Olesen made just two birdies all day and shot 73.

Kitayama, 32, was one of four players who started the day a shot off the lead, but he slowly pulled away, keeping the momentum going after Saturday’s record-tying round. He birdied the first three and turned in six-under 29.

“I just think I was in control of my irons … my wedges got me into those positions,” Kitayama said. “I hit them tight. Kind of trusted that early on and took advantage of the shorter holes with the wedges. You know, you don’t expect to come out like that after shooting 11 under, and to come out like that was special.”

His lead was two when he reached the dogleg par-4 14th and found the fairway bunker, but the unlikely birdie from there pushed his advantage to three shots with four to play.

Turns out he needed the extra cushion.

Leading by two on the par-3 17th, Kitayama played well right of the pin tucked near the water but three-putted for bogey from 65 feet. He reached the 18th tee leading Stevens by one.

The par-5 18th is a tricky final test, especially with the wind suddenly gusting (up to 25 mph) left to right, directly toward the water that comes into play off the tee. While eagle is possible, so is disaster. Joel Dahmen hit two into the water and made an 8 earlier in the day. Chris Gotterup hit into the water on 18 in three of his four rounds. Knapp, hoping for an eagle look, hit his in the drink, too.

Kitayama grabbed 3-wood and laced one safely down the middle. Stevens made 5 to take the clubhouse lead at 22 under, meaning Kitayama needed par to win. From 219 yards out, he pulled 5-iron and hit it into the bunker right of the green, although he had an awkward stance with the ball on a downslope.

“When I got up there with the lie, I figured if I can just chunk it out, I knew it wasn’t going to spin, and having the wind into it I could be fairly aggressive,” he said. “So I did kind of keep it a little right. I knew if I just got on the green it would roll out.”

He splashed out to 17 feet and needed two putts to win. The second was a mere tap-in.