Who wanted it most? As it happened, Kurt Kitayama did. After a day of pure drama around the testing Bay Hill Club & Lodge in Orlando, the 30-year-old American – who rebounded from a potentially card wrecking triple bogey mid-round – secured his breakthrough win on the PGA Tour with a finishing 72 for nine-under-par total of 279 to outlast everyone in the Arnold Palmer Invitational.
In a fascinating final round to the tournament, with a jampacked leader board featuring any number of potential winners, Rory McIlroy was one of those with a chance to lay claim to the title even after a bogey-bogey start seemed to have ruled him out of the mix almost from the get-go.
Not quite. McIlroy’s rollercoaster round of 70 for 280 – featuring seven birdies and five bogeys – saw him fight back and had him within touching distance right to the death, where a 12 foot birdie putt on the 18th hole grazed the hole and refused to drop which left the Northern Irishman in tied-second alongside Harris English, a shot behind Kitayama who scooped the €3.4 million winner’s cheque.
A number of players, not just McIlroy, will reflect on what might have been. Jordan Spieth with a disobedient putter. Viktor Hovland on putting his approach to the 16th into the water. Scottie Scheffler. Tyrrell Hatton too.
When it came to it, though, it was Kitayama who two-putted the last for the par required to avoid a playoff and to claim the title which also moved him to sixth in the FedEx Cup standings.
Kitayama recovered brilliantly from a triple-bogey seven on the ninth – where he pulled dis drive left, inches beyond the cart path which marked the out-of-bounds – to cover the back nine without dropping another shot.
“I went south on nine (with the triple bogey) and just fought back hard, I am proud of myself for that,” said Kitayama. Of his thought process playing the 18th and of his approach shot to 35 feet, he explained: “Just get it on the green, give myself an opportunity to two-putt for the win.” As it happened his putt stopped on the cusp of the cup and he marked the ball before finally finishing off the shortest of putts to claim the win.
For the other three Irish players in the field, all also headed to The Players, it proved to be a day to forget: Pádraig Harrington finished with a 75 for 290, two-over-par, for tied-53rd; Shane Lowry, after a horrendous 80 on Saturday scuppered any ambitions, signed for a closing 71 for 293 in 67th, while Séamus Power finished last of the 72 players who survived the cut after a 78 for 300.
“I’m still trying to figure out Bay Hill,” tweeted Lowry after his latest examination there, at least making the cut for the first time in five appearances.
