American Kitayama leads PGA Honda Classic, SA-born Sabbatini lurks

American Kurt Kitayama, seeking his first PGA Tour title, fired a six-under par 64 to seize a one-stroke lead through Thursday's opening round of the Honda Classic.

The 29-year-old Californian, twice a champion at the DP World Tour, made birdie runs of three and four holes against a lone bogey at PGA National in Palm Beach Gardens, Florida.

"Anything under par out here is really good. You've just got to watch the wind and see what happens," Kitayama said.

"I drove it well, hit 14 greens. I think that's really important out here. Then my putter was pretty hot in those birdie stretches. Everything felt really solid."

Daniel Berger missed an eight-foot birdie putt at the par-5 18th hole that would have matched the lead and settled for a 65 to share second with Slovakian Rory Sabbatini, the Tokyo Olympic silver medallist, and fellow American Chris Kirk.

"I'm very comfortable. I played a lot of junior tournaments here," said Berger, who lives nearby. "It's nice to get off to a good start and I hope to do the same thing tomorrow."

Darkness fell with three players on the 18th hole. They will finish the first round Friday.

Kitayama, ranked 284th in the world, missed the cut in his past five PGA starts. He won the 2018 Mauritius Open and 2019 Oman Open on the DP World Tour but his best finish in 25 prior PGA starts was 17th at the 2017 Puerto Rico Open.

Kitayama started on the 10th tee and birdied his first three holes on putts of 17, eight and 12 feet.

"Just getting off to a start like that helps you relax. It takes a little pressure off. Starting off that way kind of calms me down," Kitayama said.

"I felt like I've been playing well and I've started to figure out my putting to find this kind of round."

His lone bogey came at 14 when he