Kurt Kitayama


Kurt Shun Kitayama 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.

Amateur career

Kitayama graduated from 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. 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.
After high scool, Kitayama attended the University of Nevada-Las Vegas from 2011 to 2015.

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. 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.

Amateur wins

European Tour wins (2)

1Co-sanctioned by the Asian Tour and the Sunshine Tour
European Tour playoff record
No.YearTournamentOpponentsResult
12019Turkish 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)

1Co-sanctioned by the European Tour and the Sunshine Tour

Asian Development Tour wins (1)

Results in major championships

Results not in chronological order in 2020.
CUT = missed the half-way cut
"T" = tied
NT = No tournament due to COVID-19 pandemic

Results in World Golf Championships

1Cancelled due to COVID-19 pandemic
NT = No tournament
"T" = Tied