Kurt Kitayama and the Sticky Bandits

Allow me to approach this one with a slightly different flavor.

If you’ve ever seen Home Alone 2: Lost in New York, you’re familiar with the Sticky Bandits, Harry and Marv. Sure, they were once the wet bandits, but that wasn’t quite working for them, and the rebrand was more than necessary.

In the world of world class thieves and burglars, one might look at Harry and Marv and think to themselves… who are these guys?

No offense to the likes of Pierceson Coody, Takumi Kanaya, Noah Goodwin, and Mac Miessner, but I found myself asking that same question as I glanced at the leaderboard throughout the weekend.

These gentlemen are professionals, and I mean them no shame or harm. Perhaps their time is coming for them to be mentioned among the likes of Danny Ocean, Neal Caffrey… Flynn Ryder? I digress.

Kurt Kitayama won the 3M Open on Sunday, deservedly so.

It was clean and poised on Thursday and Sunday, a rollercoaster from Friday to Saturday—he stayed out of trouble for the most part and had an all-time day on Saturday. It’s his second PGA Tour win, this one over a wildly different field than his first.

A 60 (-11) on Saturday propelled him from the making money tier to the my goodness, is this guy going to win tier.

A stat worth noting: Kitayama’s 71 on Friday was the worst round of ANYONE who finished in the top 10. Of those who finished in the top 26, only Bhatia (+3 in R4… poor guy) and Olesen (+1 in R4) carded worse rounds than Kitayama’s 71 over the span of the entire tournament.

It’s a redemptive story, as many of the good ones are. For Kurt to follow his 71 with a course-record tying 60 on Saturday. Brilliant.

Kurt Kitayama is local to Chino, CA, not far from where I once lived. I won’t call him the hometown kid for my sake, but I can’t say I’m not proud of him.

First, he’s a professional golfer. He’s beaten the absolute best before. And on any given day, any of these guys can rip through a golf course like they designed it for themselves. But of course, there’s more.

No Scottie, Rory, JT, Sepp, Henley, English, Griffin, Spaun, Fleetwood, Bradley.

Outside of Maverick McNealy (ranked 11th in FedEx Cup points) no one in the world top 20 was competing. By the way, Maverick didn’t make the cut.

The tournament sits in a strange pocket of the schedule — wedged between the emotional hangover of The Open and the looming lift of the FedEx Cup Playoffs. For the stars, it’s often a rest week. But for everyone else?

It’s oxygen. It’s a chance.

You can feel the shift in confidence from the field. When the very best players in the world aren’t teeing it up, no one is untouchable.

I think about Erik van Rooyen who shot a -23 at the CJ Cup Byron Nelson, finishing second… only to lose to Scottie Scheffler by 8 strokes.

8 strokes.

That’s not happening in weeks like this.

Outside the top ten or so players in the world, the distance between “tour player” and “tournament winner” is quite thin.

Guys like Kurt Kitayama know that, and he took advantage.

Let me reiterate that Kurt Kitayama is a good golfer. When he won the Arnold Palmer invitational in 2023, this is what the Top 7 looked like:

So let’s not chalk this win up only to a poor field. Kurt can win in a strong field and a weaker one.

Despite my last sentence, I will go back to the field because though the field wasn’t the reason Kurt won, it was a contributor. When the ceiling of the field comes down just a few notches, the floor seems to rise.

And while that’s good for storylines — great for the careers of some middle-of-the-pack golfers, even… I do wonder what it means for the shape of the sport.

If we only get the very best in the same room ten or twelve times a year, I’m not so sure it’s good for the game. How do we incentivize these guys to play more tournaments? I understand that a couple weeks in Europe may have the Europeans feeling a little cozy, taking some well-deserved time to be with their people over the pond. But for for the handful of Americans who are sitting out, I’d love to see more of you.

Regardless, I’m happy for Kurt.

Not every tournament needs to be a major. But every tournament should matter to someone.

This one did.

And perhaps that’s enough for the 3M Open. Though part of it left me wanting a little more.

Cheers,

Luke ManganOn Golf