BRAINE, Minnesota – Kurt Kitayama finished a hot weekend with the final round of 65 to win the 3M Open on Sunday, beating Sam Stevens by one stroke for his second PGA Tour victory.
Kitayama, who entered the final round within one of his leaders, filming the 60 that recorded tournament records at his career best on Saturday, birded six of his first eight holes to build cushions in a 91-degree afternoon at TPC Twin City.
“Downing to that kind of start will help calm you down,” Kitayama said. “The final round, the second group, there’s definitely some nerves.”
Kitayama scored a bogey on the par 3 17th hole for the third day in a row. Stevens was one group first and failed to reach the reachable par 5 18th place.
After hitting the approach in a closed hole to the greenside bunker, Kitayama safely blows up to 18 feet, puts twice with ease, finishing with his brother Daniel with 23 under 261, caddying for the second time this season.
“He helped me settle there and make good decisions,” Kitayama said. “It just helps put your family in your bag.”
Matt Wallace, David Lipsky, Piercen Coody and Jake Knapp were tied up for the third stroke.
Kitayama, who won the Arnold Palmer Invitational at Bayhill in 2023, helped him boost the FedEx Cup standings by 500 points, moving within the top 70 and securing a spot in the playoffs. He was predicted to jump from 110th to 53rd.
Kitayama, who finished sixth in the 3M Open last year, missed out on seven cuts this season. He tied his fifth twice with the John Deere Classic and CJ Cup Byron Nelson. The victory was predicted to knock his world rankings from 97th to 39th.
The 32-year-old native of Chico, California had his approach game in prime format. He slammed seven irons from a par 4 14th place fairway bunker from a fairway bunker within the last two feet of a 20 birdies over the weekend.
Stevens made five birdies on the back nine and continued his strong season, including three top three finishes. He was second in the Farmers Insurance Open. The 29-year-old native from Fort Worth, Texas is still sought for his first victory, but this finish pushes him from 44th to 29th in the FedEx Cup, leaving one regular season event behind.
“It was like I was back six or seven times back then, as Kurt shot a 29 at the front nine. I’m free and as aggressive as I want,” Stevens said. “I really didn’t feel a lot of nerves in the back nine. That’s a good thing. Usually I’m very nervous, so there was a lot of peace today.”
Nap, who is playing with Stevens, was competing until his 18th second shot was splashed into the water, reaching his only bogey of the day in his third top five finish this year.
Akshay Bhatia and Thorbjorn Olesen were co-leaders going on Sunday, but the final pairing was a disappointing finish. Batya shot 75 to tie him in 25th place, while Olesen shot 73 to fall into a six-way tie in 14th place, including first-round leader Adam Svenson.
Svenson, whose 60 coincided with North Korea on Thursday on Thursday, Thursday, bouncing off 68-65 weekend from 75 on Friday.
Defending champion Jonattan Vegas had the best round (67) in the tournament, finishing 44th at 11 under.
