| Kurt Kitayama | |
|---|---|
| Personal information | |
| Full name | Kurt Shun Kitayama |
| Nickname | Quadzilla, The Project[1] |
| Born | (1993-01-14)January 14, 1993 (age 32) Chico, California, U.S. |
| Height | 5 ft 7 in (1.70 m) |
| Weight | 170 lb (77 kg) |
| Sporting nationality |  United States |
| Career | |
| College | University of Nevada-Las Vegas |
| Turned professional | 2015 |
| Current tours | PGA Tour European Tour |
| Former tours | Asian Tour Web.com Tour PGA Tour Canada PGA Tour China Asian Development Tour |
| Professional wins | 5 |
| Highestranking | 19 (March 5, 2023)[2] (as of November 16, 2025) |
| Number of wins by tour | |
| PGA Tour | 2 |
| European Tour | 2 |
| Asian Tour | 1 |
| Sunshine Tour | 1 |
| Best results in major championships | |
| Masters Tournament | T35: 2024 |
| PGA Championship | T4:2023 |
| U.S. Open | CUT: 2020, 2022, 2023, 2024 |
| The Open Championship | T41: 2024 |
Kurt Shun Kitayama (born January 14, 1993) is an Americanprofessional golfer who plays on thePGA Tour. On theEuropean Tour, he won theAfrAsia Bank Mauritius Open in December 2018 and theOman Open in March 2019. In March 2023, he won theArnold Palmer Invitational on the PGA Tour. In July 2025, he won the3M Open tournament for his second PGA Tour victory.
Kitayama was born inChico, California, some 87 miles north ofSacramento, and graduated fromChico 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.[3] In the Championship Game, he scored 31 points and had 6 assists as Chico beat city-rivalPleasant Valley High School by a score of 67–54.[4]
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.
In 2009, Kitayama finished tied 3rd at theCallaway Junior World Golf Championships, 15–17 age category, at the2008 U.S. Open courseTorrey Pines, South Course,San Diego, California, against an international field includingBryson DeChambeau. Kitayama was appointed 2009 Player of the Year by The Junior Golf Association of Northern California.
After high school, Kitayama attended theUniversity of Nevada-Las Vegas from 2011 to 2015, where he was named to the Academic-All Mountain West team three consecutive years.[5] He won the Jackrabbit Invitational held inPrimm,Nevada, in 2014 as well as 2015.
Kitayama's best World Amateur Golf Ranking was 47th.
Kitayama turned professional in 2015. He played mostly on theWeb.com Tour 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 theAsian Tour. He played a singleAsian Development Tour event, the PGM Darulaman Championship in Malaysia, which he won. He had some good finishes on the Asian Tour, including tied for 4th in theNew Zealand Open, joint runner-up in theRoyal Cup and joint 4th in theAsia-Pacific Diamond Cup Golf, an event co-sanctioned with theJapan Golf Tour.
In November 2018, he finished tied for 3rd place in theEuropean TourQ-School to earn a place on the2019 European Tour. In just the second event of the season, theAfrAsia Bank Mauritius Open, played in late 2018, he won by two strokes.[6] The event was co-sanctioned with theSunshine Tour and theAsian Tour. 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 theOman Open in only his 11th career appearance.[7]
In September 2021, he earned hisPGA Tour card by finishing 23rd in theKorn Ferry Tour Finals.[8]
In February 2022, he recorded a 3rd place finish atThe Honda Classic. In May 2022, Kitayama improved upon this performance, recording a T2 finish at theMexico Open.
In March 2023, he earned his first PGA Tour victory by winning theArnold Palmer Invitational.[9]
In July 2025, he earned his second PGA Tour victory at the3M Open.[10] In the third round, he shot a career-best and tournament-record-tying 60 that put him within one of the leaders.[11] The win moved him into the top 70 in theFedEx Cup standings and secured a spot in theFedEx Cup Playoffs.[12]
| Legend |
|---|
| Designated events (1) |
| Other PGA Tour (1) |
| No. | Date | Tournament | Winning score | Margin of victory | Runner(s)-up |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Mar 5,2023 | Arnold Palmer Invitational | −9 (67-68-72-72=279) | 1 stroke |  Harris English, Rory McIlroy |
| 2 | Jul 27,2025 | 3M Open | −23 (65-71-60-65=261) | 1 stroke | Sam Stevens |
| No. | Date | Tournament | Winning score | Margin of victory | Runners-up |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Dec 2, 2018 (2019 season) | AfrAsia Bank Mauritius Open1 | −20 (65-65-70-68=268) | 2 strokes |  S. Chikkarangappa, Matthieu Pavon |
| 2 | Mar 2, 2019 | Oman Open | −7 (66-74-71-70=281) | 1 stroke |  Jorge Campillo, Maximilian Kieffer,Clément Sordet, Fabrizio Zanotti |
1Co-sanctioned by theAsian Tour and theSunshine Tour
European Tour playoff record (0–1)
| No. | Year | Tournament | Opponents | Result |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2019 | Turkish Airlines Open |  Tyrrell Hatton,Benjamin Hébert,Victor Perez, Matthias Schwab, Erik van Rooyen | Hatton won with par on fourth extra hole Kitayama eliminated by birdie on third hole Hébert, Perez and van Rooyen eliminated by birdie on first hole |
| No. | Date | Tournament | Winning score | Margin of victory | Runners-up |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Dec 2,2018 | AfrAsia Bank Mauritius Open1 | −20 (65-65-70-68=268) | 2 strokes | S. Chikkarangappa,Matthieu Pavon |
1Co-sanctioned by theEuropean Tour and theSunshine Tour
| No. | Date | Tournament | Winning score | Margin of victory | Runner-up |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Jan 27,2018 | Darulaman Championship1 | −21 (63-70-64-70=267) | 2 strokes | John Catlin |
1Co-sanctioned by theProfessional Golf of Malaysia Tour
Results not in chronological order in 2020.
| Tournament | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 | 2025 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Masters Tournament | CUT | T35 | |||||
| PGA Championship | T64 | T51 | CUT | T4 | T26 | CUT | |
| U.S. Open | CUT | CUT | CUT | CUT | |||
| The Open Championship | CUT | NT | CUT | T72 | T60 | T41 |
CUT = missed the half-way cut
"T" = tied
NT = no tournament due toCOVID-19 pandemic
| Tournament | Wins | 2nd | 3rd | Top-5 | Top-10 | Top-25 | Events | Cuts made |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Masters Tournament | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 1 |
| PGA Championship | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 6 | 4 |
| U.S. Open | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 0 |
| The Open Championship | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 3 |
| Totals | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 17 | 8 |
| Tournament | 2023 | 2024 | 2025 |
|---|---|---|---|
| The Players Championship | CUT | T19 | T33 |
CUT = missed the halfway cut
"T" indicates a tie for a place
| Tournament | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 | 2023 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Championship | T53 | ||||
| Match Play | NT1 | QF | |||
| Invitational | |||||
| Champions | T28 | NT1 | NT1 | NT1 | |
1Canceled due toCOVID-19 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.