Kurt Kitayama

Kurt Shun Kitayama (born January 14, 1993) is an American professional golfer who plays on the European Tour. He won the AfrAsia Bank Mauritius Open in December 2018 and the Oman Open in March 2019.

Kurt Kitayama
Personal information
Full nameKurt Shun Kitayama
Born (1993-01-14) January 14, 1993
Chico, California
Height5 ft 7 in (1.70 m)
Weight170 lb (77 kg)
Nationality United States
Career
CollegeUniversity of Nevada-Las Vegas
Turned professional2015
Current tour(s)European Tour
Former tour(s)Web.com Tour
Asian Tour
Professional wins3
Highest ranking66 (January 26, 2020)[1]
(as of February 7, 2021)
Number of wins by tour
European Tour2
Asian Tour1
Sunshine Tour1
Other1
Best results in major championships
Masters TournamentDNP
PGA ChampionshipT51: 2020
U.S. OpenCUT: 2020
The Open ChampionshipCUT: 2019

Early life

Kitayama was born in Chico, California, some 87 miles north of Sacramento, 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.[2] 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.[3]

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, 15–17 age category, at the 2008 U.S. Open course Torrey Pines, South Course, San Diego, California, against an international field including Bryson DeChambeau. 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, were he was named to the Academic All-MW team three consecutive years at.[4] He won the Jackrabbit Invitational, at Primm, Nevada, in 2014 as well as in 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 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. He played a single Asian 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 the New Zealand Open, joint runner-up in the Royal Cup and joint 4th in the Asia-Pacific Diamond Cup Golf, an event co-sanctioned with the Japan Golf Tour.

In November 2018, he finished tied for 3rd place in the European Tour Q-School to earn a place on the 2019 European Tour. In just the second event of the season, the AfrAsia Bank Mauritius Open, played in late 2018, he won by two strokes.[5] The event was co-sanctioned with the Sunshine Tour and the Asian 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 the Oman Open in only his 11th career appearance. [6]

Amateur wins
  • 2014 Jackrabbit Invitational
  • 2015 Jackrabbit Invitational

Professional wins (3)

European Tour wins (2)
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 the Asian Tour and the Sunshine Tour

European Tour playoff record (0–1)

No.YearTournamentOpponentsResult
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

Asian Tour wins (1)
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 the European Tour and the Sunshine Tour

Asian Development Tour wins (1)
No. Date Tournament Winning score Margin of
victory		 Runner-up
1 Jan 27, 2018 PGM Darulaman Championship −21 (63-70-64-70=267) 2 strokes John Catlin

Results in major championships

Results not in chronological order in 2020.

Tournament 20192020
Masters Tournament
PGA Championship T64 T51
U.S. Open CUT
The Open Championship CUT NT
  Did not play

CUT = missed the half-way cut
"T" = tied
NT = No tournament due to COVID-19 pandemic

Results in World Golf Championships
Tournament20192020
Championship T53
Match Play NT1
Invitational
Champions T28 NT1

1Cancelled due to COVID-19 pandemic

  Did not play

NT = No tournament
"T" = Tied

See also

References
  1. "Week 4 2020 Ending 26 Jan 2020" (pdf). OWGR. Retrieved January 27, 2020.
  2. "Chico 2010-11 Basketball Schedule". Retrieved July 31, 2020.
  3. "2011 California Northern Section Boys Basketball Playoff". Retrieved July 31, 2020.
  4. "UNLV 2014-15 Men's Golf Roster Kurt Kitayama". unlvrebels.com. Retrieved December 2, 2018.
  5. "Kitayama claims maiden victory in Mauritius". European Tour. December 2, 2018. Retrieved December 2, 2018.
  6. "Meet Kurt". Retrieved October 21, 2019.
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