Kurt Kitayama looks good in red, Jon Rahm is human - Five things we learned from the Arnold Palmer Invitational

Kitayama can mix it with the best of them When Kurt Kitayama’s ball finally found the bottom of the cup on his seventh attempt at the par-4 9th hole, he could have been forgiven for accepting it wasn’t going to be his day. Ad In a flash, his hard-earned, two-shot lead vanished and he slipped down a leaderboard featuring some of the world’s best players in the form of Rory McIlroy, Scottie Scheffler and Jordan Spieth — all of whom know how to get the job done on the PGA Tour. Arnold Palmer InvitationalMolinari recalls ‘monster’ putt to win Arnold Palmer Invitational in 201901/03/2023 AT 12:59 But to that list, we can now add Kitayama.

The 30-year-old steadied the ship and followed a clutch birdie on No. 17 with another stunning effort on the final hole to set up the easiest-ever putt to win a title — and his first in this exalted company. “It was really hard,” said the champion.

“I’m going to sleep really well tonight. It was everything I kind of mentally prepared myself for. It was pretty much as hard as I expected.

I’ve always dreamed of winning on tour and to finally do it, it’s pretty amazing. It’s pretty unbelievable, really.” Jon Rahm is fallible Okay, okay, maybe a T35 finish doesn’t spell the end of Jon Rahm’s recent dominance but his failure to follow up a sparkling opening round 65 will at least offer some hope to the rest of the field teeing it up at TPC Sawgrass this week for The Players Championship. The Spaniard looked on course for what would have been his fourth PGA Tour title of the year after taking a two-shot lead in Round 1 but the Bay Hill layout snapped back and consecutive rounds of 76 scuppered his latest challenge.