Rory McIlroy

Kurt Kitayama won his maiden PGA Tour title, enduring a tumultuous final round to edge challenger Rory McIlroy and win the Arnold Palmer Invitational on ...

I felt like I hung in there really well, I just came up one short in the end. "My heart was pumping, but being in those situations in the past definitely helped. For the most part, I was feeling in control.

Rory McIlroy believes his game is showing signs of progress ahead of The Players after narrowly missing out on victory and a return to world No 1 at the ...

"I ended up making bogey there and then a bad swing off the tee on 15 and a bogey. "I still gave myself a chance after a few pretty bad mistakes on the front nine, but Kurt [Kitayama] played fantastic golf today. "I birdied 13 and got on to 14 tee and I honestly thought I was still like one or two behind the lead. If I had of known that, I wouldn't have tried to play the shot that I played on 14, which was unfortunate. "I need to take the positives from it, which there is a lot of. "I still wish I could have had a couple of shots back today, but I guess everyone would say the same thing," McIlroy said.

Kurt Kitayama fended off a star-studded and crowded leaderboard to clinch his first PGA Tour win with victory at the Arnold Palmer Invitational on Sunday.

Live coverage of the opening round begins on Thursday from 11.30am on Sky Sports Golf! I felt like I hung in there really well, I just came up one short in the end. "My heart was pumping, but being in those situations in the past definitely helped. I've been close and to finally get it done feels Rory McIlroy: We have to be 'aspirational'](https://www.skysports.com/golf/news/12176/12822861/pga-tour-to-introduce-radical-no-cut-events-in-2024-rory-mcilroy-we-have-to-be-aspirational) "Ecstatic," said Kitayama.

Kitayama took down a stacked leaderboard to nearly double his career earnings on Sunday at Bay Hill.

It was a brutal finish for Spieth as he missed numerous short-range putts including ones on 16-17. [@PGATOURComms]…if Kitayama gets in via subsequent criteria (almost certainly OWGR top 50 cutoff), they will retroactively go back to API leaderboard for last spot. Rahm finished next to last in the field in driving and didn't sniff the title even though he putted it well above average on the week. With a wedge in hand, the Texan ultimately missed the green when a birdie would have given him the outright lead and a par would have tied him with McIlroy and English in the clubhouse. The frustrating part for him was that he lost over a stroke to the field with his putter (thus the nickname)." He led for a while on the back nine, but the putter -- his nemesis for a while now -- hurt him late and he faded to finish just beyond the leaders. Now he goes to The Players Championship with some juice as he is once again hurtling toward the Masters with momentum and supreme confidence in his game. The vast majority of the time, the Kitayamas and Taylors of the world fall short to the McIlroys and Schefflers. Kitayama's career earnings of $4.1 million will nearly double as he adds the $3.6 million top prize from winning at Bay Hill. Their efforts ultimately fell short when Kitayama connected from just outside 13 feet on the par-3 17th, jumping into the solo lead with his first birdie of the back nine. Two more birdies on his outward half put him in control before a wayward tee shot fell out of bounds on the par-4 9th resulting in a triple bogey. A rollercoaster affair Sunday at Bay Hill culminated with the perhaps the most unsteady of the bunch, Kurt Kitayama, donning the red cardigan as winner of the 2023 Arnold Palmer Invitational.

To look at the leaderboard, or not to look at the leaderboard: that is the question.

“If I look back on today the one thing I'll rue is the tee shot on 14,” McIlroy said after his round. As I was walking to the 14th green, I looked behind me at the scoreboard, and I was leading by one. “I feel like I figured out the driver a little bit more this week. Rory McIlroy stepped on to the 14th tee thinking he was a shot or two back of the lead and needed to be aggressive with his tee shot at the par 3. He was unable to get up and down from there, making bogey and ultimately finishing one shot back of champion Kurt Kitayama. Everyone around him on the leaderboard had faltered, allowing him to vault up said board much more quickly than he anticipated.

30-year-old Kurt Kitayama has claimed his first-ever PGA Tour win with a stunning victory at the $20m USD Arnold Palmer Invitational, beating Rory McIlroy ...

It was a battle all day, I felt like I hung in there really well but just came up one short.” It also rockets him up 33 spots on the FedExCup hunt into sixth place ahead of the Players Championship this week. I feel like I gave myself a great chance …

Birdie on 17th enough to secure first PGA Tour title for Kurt Kitayama.

“I went south on nine (with the triple bogey) and just fought back hard, I am proud of myself for that,” said Kitayama. A number of players, not just McIlroy, will reflect on what might have been. Viktor Hovland on putting his approach to the 16th into the water.

McIlroy missed a ten-foot birdie putt on the final green to post the clubhouse lead at nine-under-par.

He reached the par-five 16th hole in two to set up a birdie and regain a share of the lead, but Kitayama, whose round included a triple-bogey on the par four 9th hole, would not be denied. But the Holywood man came fighting back with a string of birdied and was on the lead when standing on the par three 14th hole. McIlroy missed a ten-foot birdie putt on the final green to post the clubhouse lead at nine-under-par.

The Holywood golfer led the tournament at one stage on Sunday but eventually lost out to Kurt Kitayama.

The American posted pars in eight of the last nine holes, with his birdie at 17 proving the difference. Kitayama carded a level-par final round of 72, and made his decisive move on the 17th hole with a birdie two. Another bogey at seven was erased with a birdie at the ninth, with McIlroy approaching the turn on level par for the day and seven under for the tournament. A birdie at the 16th raised McIlroy's hopes once more but he couldn't find any more joy in the final two holes, edging a birdie putt just past the hole on the 18th to finish the tournament on -8. Three more birdies in the opening four holes in the back nine saw McIlroy surge into the lead, but back-to-back bogeys on 14 and 15 stalled his progress. McIlroy bogeyed the opening two holes on Sunday, but recovered with two birdies on the fourth and fifth holes.

ORLANDO — Despite being six shots off the lead when making the turn Sunday at the Arnold Palmer Invitational, Rory McIlroy was in the lead by one shot while ...

On the par-5 15th, McIlroy hit his drive way left, but it found a tree and fell down into gnarly rough. “If I look back on today the one thing I'll rue is the tee shot on 14,” McIlroy said. McIlroy subsequently produced his worst swing of the day, one he desperately wishes he could have back.

Rory McIlroy is feeling good about his game a month before the Masters but he was left to rue a bad start and an untidy finish as the unheralded Kurt ...

"But I guess everyone would say the same thing. He added: "But it was a good week. "I birdied 13 and got on to 14 tee and I honestly thought I was still like one or two behind the lead. It just missed on the low side" he said. He then found heavy rough at the 15th and dropped another shot to slip one behind Spieth and Kitayama but while he would regain a share of the lead with Kitayama after a two-putt birdie at the par-five 16th, he couldn’t birdie the last. "I'm going to sleep really well tonight.”

Bay Hill played difficult on Sunday. As a result, fans got to see a back-and-forth event with the leaderboard constantly in flux for much of Sunday's final ...

Charles Kelley what’s in the bag accurate as of the Pebble Beach Pro-Am. Michael Hopper what’s in the bag accurate as of the WM Phoenix Open. “And he actually can still hit the ball pretty well.” “Poor fella. “Obviously, poor Tiger, unfortunately. IMO Rory is out of touch with the audience here. What’s the problem? fest golf. golf. What separates players is not the easy but the challenging, fair but demanding. We like when it’s hard! We like when it's hard!