Winner: Kurt Kitayama
Around the wider world of golf: Nico Echavarria won the Puerto Rico Open, the alternate field event on the PGA Tour; after a year fighting injuries, Jin Young Ko defended her title at the HSBC Women's World Championship on the LPGA; David Toms on the Cologuard Classic on the Champions Tour; Lily May Humphreys won the Joburg Ladies Open on the LET; Agathe Laisne won the Florida's Natural Charity Classic on the Epson Tour; Brendan Jones won the 102nd NZ Open on the Asian Tour; and Mathilde Claisse won the individual title and LSU the team title at the NCAA's Darius Rucker Intercollegiate.
Well... it wasn't the win I hoped for but my Twofer Tuesday picks did pretty well at Bay Hill. I had Scottie Scheffler (T4) and Patrick Cantlay (T4). Two Top5s in one event? That's a cause for celebration!
- Top10s: 7 for 18 (6 Top5s 1 Top10)
- Winners: 2 for 9 events
- Top20s: 8 for 18
Well, the Arnold Palmer Invitational didn't have the weather drama the ladies had to deal with in Singapore, where rain came down so hard that the greens went from dry land to inland lakes in literally the time it took to walk from the tee to the green. But Bay Hill always brings the hurt in its own way, and Sunday's final round was a great example.
Until the pros managed to get to the 17th tee, we weren't even sure which pros had the best chance to win. For example, Jordan Spieth was -10 when he left the 13th green, only to fall two short of Kitayama's -8 winning score by the end. Rory McIlroy was -9 leaving the 13th, only to come up one short at the end. Players shuffled in and out of contention as fast as the balls zipping across the putting green.
And it wasn't as if Kurt didn't try to help them win. After a triple on the 9th it looked as if he was done for the week — and added to Saturday's double on the 4th, he probably should have been. But Kurt proved the old saying that golf is a game played on the five-inch fairway between your ears. Playing the last three holes in -2, he took the event by the throat and walked away with the Red Sweater and his first-ever win on the PGA Tour.
And the API is quite a win to pick up anytime, let alone for your first one!
I don't know how he'll do at THE PLAYERS next week — it's hard to follow up any win the next week — but I wouldn't be too quick to write him off. Kurt just picked up one hell of a Limerick Summary and, when he's that tough mentally, there's no telling what he might do next!
Though doubles and triples abound
At Arnie’s Place, Kurt hung around
Outlasting the best
(Everyone made a mess!)—
So he ended up sweatered, not crowned.
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