Kurt Kitayama mastered blustery circumstances to seize a two-shot lead within the second spherical of the PGA Tour’s Arnold Palmer Invitational on Friday.
Despite gusts of as much as 30mph lashing the Bay Hill course early on, Kitayama reeled off 5 birdies on his approach to a four-under-par 68 to maneuver to 9 below following his opening 67 on Thursday.
The lone blemish on the Forty sixth-ranked Californian’s spherical got here on the par-five sixteenth, the place he wanted 4 pictures to achieve the inexperienced and two-putted for a bogey six.
Kitayama will head into the weekend rounds two pictures away from Jordan Spieth, who carded a three-under-par 69 to maneuver to seven below.
Canada’s Corey Conners fired the low spherical of the day with a six-under-par 66 to maneuver right into a two-way tie for third on six below alongside Xander Schauffele.
Justin Thomas, Matt Fitzpatrick, Patrick Cantlay and Davis Riley are an extra shot again on 5 below.
“It’s at all times a enjoyable problem preserving your self within the second,” Kitayama mentioned later of his profitable duel with the testing circumstances.
“I really feel like whenever you get circumstances like this it is easy to form of let issues get away from you – for me it is simply preserving myself centered your entire means.”
– Spieth lurking –
Kitayama, 30, has taken a circuitous path to the PGA Tour, taking part in on the developmental Web.com Tour with little success after turning skilled in 2015 earlier than shifting to the Asian Tour in 2018.
He moved to the European Tour in 2019, the place he has two gained twice, earlier than lastly incomes a PGA Tour card in 2021.
Kitayama mentioned the challenges of making an attempt to forge his profession abroad have helped him develop his aggressive temperament.
“Not discovering success early (in US) was disappointing, nevertheless it took me some other place to develop,” Kitayama mentioned.
“Just coping with adversity, actually. When you are in a random nation in Asia and you do not know what you are doing or the place you are going, it is fairly irritating and actually form of scary slightly bit.”
“So I believe that helps you simply develop, simply form of be taught from that have of being in an uncomfortable scenario.”
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Three-time main winner Spieth in the meantime is lurking menacingly on Kitayama’s shoulder. The Texan might need been nearer to the lead had it not been for a bogey on the 18th, when his 18ft par putt simply caressed the cup earlier than rolling previous.
“I believed something below par can be a terrific rating,” mentioned Spieth, including that improved placing would maintain the important thing to his possibilities of success this weekend.
“Tee to inexperienced I’m doing what I have to do to have the ability to win the golf event,” Spieth mentioned. “Just attempt to gap some extra putts.”
– Rahm blown off track –
While Kitayama breezed by means of Friday’s treacherous circumstances, world primary and in a single day chief Jon Rahm was blown off track as he struggled round Bay Hill.
The Spaniard had taken a two-shot lead on Thursday with a seven-under-par 65 however tumbled down the leaderboard on Friday with a four-over-par 76 to go into the weekend on three below, six adrift of Kitayama.
Teeing off on the tenth, Rahm bogeyed his second gap of the day however then birdied the 14th to achieve the flip at stage par.
But Rahm’s spherical went pear-shaped down the stretch with three bogeys and a double-bogey seven in his ultimate 5 holes.
Asked how he would characterize his spherical, Rahm jokingly dropped an F-bomb earlier than replying: “It’s agency, it is quick and it is blowing 30 miles an hour. It’s a really troublesome golf course.
“For a lot of the day I managed it. It’s simply the final 5 holes, despite the fact that I did not really feel like I used to be making dangerous swings, I simply could not fairly get it going and completed poorly the final stretch …
“Luckily I shot seven-under yesterday and I’m not too far off.”
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