Kitayama caps scorching weekend with 65 to win 3M

BLAINE, Minn. — Kurt Kitayama completed a scorching weekend with a final-round 65 to win the 3M Open on Sunday, beating Sam Stevens by one stroke for his second PGA Tour victory.

Kitayama, who shot a career-best and tournament-record-tying 60 on Saturday to enter the ultimate spherical inside one of many leaders, birdied six of the primary eight holes to construct a cushion on a 91-degree afternoon on the TPC Twin Cities.

“Getting off to a begin like that sort of helps settle you down,” Kitayama mentioned. “Remaining spherical, second-to-last group, there’s undoubtedly some nerves.”

Kitayama took bogey on the par-3 seventeenth gap for the third straight day, which shrunk his result in one whereas taking part in within the second-to-last group. Stevens was one group forward and did not birdie the reachable par-5 18th.

After hitting his strategy on the closing gap right into a greenside bunker, Kitayama safely blasted to 18 ft and simply two-putted for par, ending at 23-under 261 together with his older brother, Daniel, caddying for under the second time this season.

“He helped me keep calm on the market, make good choices,” Kitayama mentioned. “It simply helps having household on the bag.”

Matt Wallace, David Lipsky, Pierceson Coody and Jake Knapp tied for third, three strokes again.

Kitayama, who beforehand gained the Arnold Palmer Invitational at Bay Hill in 2023, bought a 500-point increase within the FedEx Cup standings to maneuver inside the highest 70 and safe a spot within the playoffs. He was projected to leap from a hundred and tenth to 53rd.

Kitayama, who tied for sixth on the 3M Open final yr, has missed seven cuts this season. He tied for fifth twice, on the John Deere Traditional and the CJ Cup Byron Nelson. This win was projected to bump his world rating from 97th to thirty ninth.

The 32-year-old native of Chico, California, had his strategy recreation in prime kind. He hit a 7-iron from a fairway bunker on the par-4 14th from a fairway bunker inside 2 ft of the opening for the final of his 20 birdies on the weekend, probably the most in a PGA Tour occasion since 2003.

Stevens made 5 birdies on the again 9, persevering with his sturdy season that features three top-three finishes. He was second on the Farmers Insurance coverage Open. The 29-year-old native of Fort Value, Texas, remains to be looking for his first win, however this end pushes him from forty fourth to twenty ninth within the FedEx Cup with one occasion left within the common season.

“With Kurt capturing 29 on the entrance 9, it is like, effectively, I am six or seven again, no matter it was on the time. I can simply play as freely and as aggressively as I need to,” Stevens mentioned. “I actually did not really feel that many nerves on the again 9, which is sweet. Usually I get very nervous, so I had a variety of peace on the market right this moment.”

Knapp, taking part in with Stevens, was in competition till his second shot on the 18th splashed into the water, resulting in his solely bogey of the day in his third top-five end this yr.

Akshay Bhatia and Thorbjorn Olesen had been the co-leaders going into Sunday, however the closing pairing had a disappointing end. Bhatia shot 75 and tied for twenty fifth, and Olesen shot 73 to fall to a six-way tie for 14th that included first-round chief Adam Svensson.

Svensson, whose 60 on Thursday was matched two days later by Kitayama, bounced again from a 75 on Friday with a 68-65 weekend.

Defending champion Jhonattan Vegas had his finest spherical of the event (67) and completed in a tie for forty fourth at 11-under.