Kurt Shun Kitayama (born January 14, 1993) is an American

professional golfer A professional golfer is somebody who receives payments or financial rewards in the sport of golf that are directly related to their skill or reputation. A person who earns money by teaching or playing golf is traditionally considered a "golf pr ...

who plays on the

PGA Tour The PGA Tour (stylized as PGA TOUR by its officials) is the organizer of professional golf tours in North America. It organizes most of the events on the flagship annual series of tournaments also known as the PGA Tour, the PGA Tour Champion ...

. On the

European Tour The European Tour, currently titled as the DP World Tour for sponsorship reasons, and legally the PGA European Tour or the European Tour Group, is the leading men's professional golf tour in Europe. The organisation also operates the European ...

, he won the

AfrAsia Bank Mauritius Open The AfrAsia Bank Mauritius Open is a men's professional golf tournament co-sanctioned by the European Tour and Sunshine Tour, and formerly by the Asian Tour The Asian Tour is the principal men's professional golf professional golf tours, t ...

in December 2018 and the

Oman Open The Oman Open is a European Tour golf tournament, held at Al Mouj Golf in Muscat, Oman. When founded in 2018, it was one of five European Tour events to be staged in the Arabian Peninsula, but is currently one of six. Though it was the first Europ ...

in March 2019. In March 2023, he won the

Arnold Palmer Invitational The Arnold Palmer Invitational is a professional golf tournament on the PGA Tour. It is played each March at the Bay Hill Club and Lodge, a private golf resort owned since 1974 by Arnold Palmer in Bay Hill, a suburb southwest of Orlando, Florid ...

on the PGA Tour.

Early life

Kitayama was born in

Chico, California Chico ( ; Spanish language, Spanish for "little") is the most populous city in Butte County, California, United States. Located in the Sacramento Valley region of Northern California, the city had a population of 101,475 in the 2020 United Sta ...

, some 87 miles north of

Sacramento Sacramento ( or ; ; ) is the capital city of the U.S. state of California and the seat of Sacramento County. Located at the confluence of the Sacramento and American Rivers in Northern California's Sacramento Valley, Sacramento's 2020 p ...

, and graduated from Chico High School in 2011. Although his height was just 5–6, he was the Senior co-captain and starting point guard on the basketball team, while leading the Panthers to a 27–2 record and the 2011 California Northern Section Title. In the Championship Game, he scored 31 points and had 6 assists as Chico beat city-rival Pleasant Valley High School by a score of 67–54. Kitayama's older brother Daniel played golf 2007–2008 at the University of Hawaii at Hilo and later came to work as a professional caddie.

Amateur career

In 2009, Kitayama finished tied 3rd at the

Callaway Junior World Golf Championships The Uswing Mojing Junior World Golf Championships are held in San Diego, California, United States, each year, currently in July, and conducted by the San Diego Junior Golf Association. They include tournaments for six age groups ranging from unde ...

, 15–17 age category, at the 2008 U.S. Open course Torrey Pines, South Course,

San Diego, California San Diego ( , ) is a city on the Pacific coast of Southern California, adjacent to the Mexico–United States border. With a population of over 1.4 million, it is the List of United States cities by population, eighth-most populous city in t ...

, against an international field including

Bryson DeChambeau Bryson James Aldrich DeChambeau (born September 16, 1993) is an American professional golfer who currently plays on the LIV Golf League. He formerly played on the PGA Tour, and has won two major championships, the 2020 and 2024 U.S. Open. A ...

. Kitayama was appointed 2009 Player of the Year by The Junior Golf Association of Northern California. After high school, Kitayama attended the University of Nevada-Las Vegas from 2011 to 2015, where he was named to the Academic-All Mountain West team three consecutive years. He won the Jackrabbit Invitational held in Primm,

Nevada Nevada ( ; ) is a landlocked state in the Western United States. It borders Oregon to the northwest, Idaho to the northeast, California to the west, Arizona to the southeast, and Utah to the east. Nevada is the seventh-most extensive, th ...

, in 2014 as well as 2015. Kitayama's best World Amateur Golf Ranking was 47th.

Professional career

Kitayama turned professional in 2015. He played mostly on the

Web.com Tour The Korn Ferry Tour is the developmental tour for the U.S.-based PGA Tour, and features professional golfers who have either not yet reached the PGA Tour, or who have done so but then failed to win enough FedEx Cup points to stay at that level. T ...

in 2016 and 2017 with little success and was ranked 1174 in the world at the end of 2017. In 2018, Kitayama played mostly on the

Asian Tour The Asian Tour is the principal men's professional golf professional golf tours, tour in Asia except for Japan (which has its own Japan Golf Tour). It is also a full member of the International Federation of PGA Tours. Official money events on ...

. He played a single

Asian Development Tour The Asian Development Tour, founded in 2010, is a professional golf tour. It is the development tour for the Asian Tour. Players who fail to earn Asian Tour cards through qualifying school may play on the tour. Currently, the top ten players on th ...

event, the PGM Darulaman Championship in Malaysia, which he won. He had some good finishes on the Asian Tour, including tied for 4th in the

New Zealand Open The New Zealand Open is the premier men's golf tournament in New Zealand. It has been a regular fixture on the PGA Tour of Australasia tournament schedule since the 1970s. The 2019 event was the 100th edition of the tournament. Since 2014 it has ...

, joint runner-up in the Royal Cup and joint 4th in the

Asia-Pacific Diamond Cup Golf The is a professional golf tournament on the Japan Golf Tour. Founded in 1969, the event has been hosted at different courses throughout Japan, including on all four major islands. In 2022, the purse was Japanese yen, ¥100,000,000, with ¥20,00 ...

, an event co-sanctioned with the

Japan Golf Tour The Japan Golf Tour () is a prominent professional golf tour. It was founded in 1973 and as of 2006, it offered the third-highest annual prize fund out of the regular (that is not for seniors) men's professional tours after the PGA Tour and the ...

. In November 2018, he finished tied for 3rd place in the

Q-School to earn a place on the

2019 European Tour The 2019 European Tour was the 48th season of the European Tour, the main professional golf tour in Europe since its inaugural season in 1972. Changes for 2019 Rule changes From January 1, 2019 onwards, tournaments followed the new rules releas ...

. In just the second event of the season, the

, played in late 2018, he won by two strokes. The event was co-sanctioned with the

Sunshine Tour The Sunshine Tour is a men's professional golf tour based in Southern and East Africa. For much of its early history it was known either as the Southern Africa Tour or Sunshine Circuit; through sponsorship deals, it has also been known as the F ...

and the

. The win lifted him into the top 200 of the world rankings. In March 2019, he became the fastest player to two wins in European Tour history when he won the

in only his 11th career appearance. In September 2021, he earned his

card by finishing 23rd in the

Korn Ferry Tour Finals The Korn Ferry Tour Finals is a series of four golf tournaments that conclude the season on the Korn Ferry Tour. The finals are contested in a playoff format, similar to the FedEx Cup playoffs on the PGA Tour, with players eliminated after each o ...

. In February 2022, he recorded a 3rd place finish at

The Honda Classic The Cognizant Classic is a professional golf tournament on the PGA Tour in south Florida. It was founded in 1972 as "Jackie Gleason's Inverrary Classic". Prior to a schedule change in 2021, this was frequently the first of the Florida events in ...

. In May 2022, Kitayama improved upon this performance, recording a T2 finish at the Mexico Open. In March 2023, he earned his first PGA Tour victory by winning the

Amateur wins

*2014 Jackrabbit Invitational *2015 Jackrabbit Invitational

Professional wins (4)

PGA Tour wins (1)

European Tour wins (2)

¹Co-sanctioned by the

and the

European Tour playoff record (0–1)

Asian Tour wins (1)

¹Co-sanctioned by the

and the

Asian Development Tour wins (1)

¹Co-sanctioned by the Professional Golf of Malaysia Tour

Results in major championships

''Results not in chronological order in 2020.'' CUT = missed the half-way cut
"T" = tied
NT = no tournament due to

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

Summary

*Most consecutive cuts made – 3 (2023 Open Championship – 2024 PGA) *Longest streak of top-10s – 1 (2023 PGA)

Results in The Players Championship

CUT = missed the halfway cut
"T" indicates a tie for a place

Results in World Golf Championships

¹Canceled due to

COVID-19 Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by the coronavirus SARS-CoV-2. In January 2020, the disease spread worldwide, resulting in the COVID-19 pandemic. The symptoms of COVID‑19 can vary but often include fever ...

pandemic
NT = No tournament
QF, R16, R32, R64 = Round in which player lost in match play
"T" = Tied
Note that the Championship and Invitational were discontinued from 2022. The Champions was discontinued from 2023.

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Kitayama, Kurt American male golfers UNLV Rebels men's golfers Asian Tour golfers European Tour golfers PGA Tour golfers Korn Ferry Tour graduates American sportspeople of Japanese descent Sportspeople from Chico, California 1993 births Living people 21st-century American sportsmen

Early life

Amateur career

Professional career

Amateur wins

Professional wins (4)

PGA Tour wins (1)

European Tour wins (2)

Asian Tour wins (1)

Asian Development Tour wins (1)

Results in major championships

Summary

Results in The Players Championship

Results in World Golf Championships

See also

References

External links