Blaine, Minnesota – Kurt Kitayama barely holds on in a testy finish as the 2025 3M Open Champion. Kurt outlasted a crowded leaderboard at TPC Twin Cities to bring home the $1.5 million winner’s prize money and a full exemption on the PGA Tour.
This week’s tournament in Minnesota continues to build the pressure for players wanting to get into the 2025 FedEx Cup playoffs. Now that all four majors have concluded, all eyes are on the top 70 players in the rankings, so good finishes at this week’s 3M Open can propel anyone into a playoff spot. 2022 3M Open Champion Tony Finau failed to make the cut after posting rounds of 69 and 77 while 2025 Cognizant Classic winner Joe Highsmith also missed the cut with rounds of 73 and 67. Byeong An and Keith Mitchell were both near the FedEx Cup bubble but are now outside the top 70 after also missing the cut this week.
On the other hand, both Rickie Fowler and Mackenzie Hughes had solid weekends after making the cut and cementing themselves well within the top 70 players to make the first playoff.
FedEx Cup aside, Zac Blair made headlines this week after going viral with his undercover driver fitting between rounds. Zac parlayed his viral video into a great week at TPC Twin Cities, finishing inside the top 45.
While the well known players like Australian Adam Scott and Max Homa both played well with a top 25 finish this week, this leaderboard was full of lesser known players. Thorbjorn Olesen would have won his first tournament on American soil but his slow start on Sunday led to three bogeys in his first eight holes, to which he wasn’t able to recover. Both Chris Gotterup and Alex Noren posted top 10 finishes with final rounds of 69 and 68, respectively. The closest competitors on Sunday to catching Kitayama were Sam Stevens and Jake Knapp. Knapp had a bogey free final round going until his final hole when he dumped his second shot in the water trying to gain a shot or two on Kitayama. His bogey on the 72nd hole pushed him into a tie for third. A similar story for Stevens with a chance to do something at the last but ultimately ended with a par which just wasn’t enough.
Kurt Kitayama was the last player standing with eight birdies to just two bogeys in his final round. It was a stressful final hole as his second shot barely made it over the water into the greenside bunker. The downhill bunker lie was no easy task, especially with the tournament on the line. Thankfully for Kurt, he played it perfectly and two putted for a one shot win. This is Kurt’s second win on the PGA Tour and his first in over two years.
Next week, the PGA Tour heads back East to North Carolina for the final regular season even at the Wyndham Championship where Aaron Rai is the defending champion.
Kurt Kitayama’s What’s In the Bag:
Driver: Titleist GT3 11 degrees (Graphite Design Tour AD VF 7 TX)
Fairway wood: Titleist GT1 14.5 degrees (Graphite Design Tour AD DI 8 X)
Fairway wood: Titleist GT1 21 degrees (Graphite Design Tour AD DI 9 X)
Irons: TaylorMade P7MC (4), TaylorMade P7MB (5-PW) (True Temper Dynamic Gold X100)
Wedges: Titleist Vokey SM10 (52-12F, 56-14F); Vokey WedgeWorks Prototype (60-K) (True Temper Dynamic Gold S400 shafts)
Putter: Scotty Cameron Newport 2 Tour Prototype
Ball: Bridgestone Tour B X Mindset
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