Kurt Kitayama etched his name into the record books with a remarkable round on Sunday.
He’s now in suspense at the 2026 PGA Championship, held at Aronimink Golf Club in Newtown Square, Pennsylvania.
Kitayama delivered an impressive 7-under 63, matching the lowest final-round score ever recorded in a major tournament.
This stellar performance brought the 33-year-old to a 3-under total for the championship, trailing leader Alex Smalley by three strokes.
Beginning the day outside the top 60, Kitayama teed off six hours prior to Smalley, securing seven birdies, including a clutch one on the 18th hole, all while maintaining a flawless, bogey-free round.
However, with more than 20 players within four shots of the lead, Kitayama’s chances seem slim.
The impressive Sunday performance saw Kitayama jump 57 spots on the leaderboard into a tie for seventh at the time he finished.
“I felt like the first three days I was playing in such windy conditions, and it was so tough to get anything close. And today it was nice, wind was down,” Kitayama said. “Just felt so much easier when the wind was down. And made it a little easier to score, because the first two days it was so windy, and where the pins were you had to play wind on your putts, and that makes it so difficult to play.
“Today you could just kind of read it out they were and didn’t have to worry about any wind affecting it.”