BLAINE, Minn. – Shooting even par 71 during Friday’s second round of the 2025 3M Open at TPC Twin Cities, Kurt Kitayama said he felt like he didn’t have any control of his golf game, slipping into the weekend one shot inside the cutline.
A late range session and a chat with his coach, Chris Como, translated into a tournament-tying score of 11-under 60 during his third round Saturday.
Kitayama birdied five of his first six holes to begin the final round Sunday, on his way to a 6-under 65 to earn a one-stroke victory over Sam Stevens for his second PGA Tour victory in three seasons.
“It feels amazing to come out on top—it's awesome,” Kitayama said Sunday. “I think what I've been working on is starting to kind of show overall. I feel like my ball-striking kind of dipped a little bit earlier this year and now it's starting to come into form.
“Last year I felt like I hit it really well and my putting kind of let me down last year. Now it's starting to feel a lot better, starting to see some results there. That's been the last probably month or two months that I've kind of noticed.”
A win Sunday translates into a massive jump in the standings for Kitayama, who entered the week ranked No. 110 in the FedEx Cup to qualify for the first two playoff events at No. 53.
The top-30 players in the standings advance to the Tour Championship at East Lake Golf Club.
“I've been pretty far out this entire year, and with only two events left, I just keep looking to improve and try and make my way in,” Kitayama said. “Lucky I was able to get the win and that jumped me up huge.”
Winner of the 2023 Arnold Palmer Invitational, Kitayama entered the final round one shot back of the lead in a share of third place before moving in front in a hurry, carding six birdies over his first nine holes to move in front at 23-under par for the championship.
Carding his first bogey of the round at the 11th, Kitayama rebounded with a birdie at the 12th and would convert his eighth birdie of the final round from tap-in distance at the 14th.
His lead was trimmed to one following a three-putt bogey at the 17th, but he’d get up-and-down from a greenside bunker with a two-putt par at the last to give the 32-year-old Kitayama his second PGA Tour victory in his 108th career start.
“Getting off to a start like that kind of helps settle you down,” he said. “Final round, second last group, there's definitely some nerves. To come out like that will definitely help kind of settle the nerves a bit and get you more comfortable throughout the round.
“I just think I was in control of my irons, especially getting off to the start today was my wedges got me into those positions. I hit them tight. Kind of trusted that early on and took advantage of the shorter holes with the wedges. You know, you don't expect to come out like that after shooting 11 under, and to come out like that was special.”
In 19 starts this season, the former University of Nevada-Las Vegas golfer has three top-5 finishes and has collected more than $2.5 million in earnings.
Kitayama, originally from Chico, Calif., finished in a tie for fifth place at both the CJ Cup Byron Nelson and the John Deere Classic earlier this season. He also improves on a sixth-place finish at the 3M Open last season.
Carding rounds of 5-under 66 each of his last two rounds this week, Stevens earned his second runner-up finish of the season, previously finishing one stroke behind Harris English at the Farmers Insurance Open in San Diego.
“I'm very pleased. I needed a good finish here in the last couple weeks to kind of move solidly inside the Top 50, which is a big deal for next year, and I would think that I'm in a good spot for that now,” Stevens said following his final round Sunday. “Now I'm in the Top 30 in the FedEx Cup; I'm happy about that. Get to tee it up again next week and give it another crack, so that's good.”
Entering the final round tied with Kitayama at 17-under, one shot off the lead, Stevens played his opening nine in even par before stringing together five birdies over his first seven holes of his inward nine to reach 22-under for the tournament.
Back-to-back pars at the 17th and 18th would give Stevens the third runner-up finish in his third season on tour.
“I had a pretty good attitude today,” Stevens said. “I got off to a bit of a slow start.There's been a couple times when I've done that when I've been in or around contention let it bother me a little bit, but I think I did a really good job of just kind of being okay with it.
“I mentioned it earlier in the week, there's so many birdies out here, you can kind of get on a run at any time and I did that kind of on the back nine today. So just kind of stayed patient, stayed positive even when I didn't have my best stuff through six or seven holes today was a step in the right direction for me.”
England’s Matt Wallace fired a final-round 64 Sunday to finish in a share of third with Americans Jake Knapp, David Lipsky and Pierceson Coody at 20-under 264.
The PGA Tour heads to Greensboro, N.C. for the 2025 Wyndham Championship beginning Thursday, the final regular-season event before the start of the FedEx Cup Playoffs.