Kurt Kitayama

33-Year-Old Golfer

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2026 Stats

Rank

Winnings

$4,608,501

Winnings/Entry

$242,553

Entries

Rounds

2026 Fantasy Outlook

Kitayama started fast in his rookie season of 2022, earning over $2.5 million and landing in the top 50 at season's end. His second season was even better as he picked up his first PGA Tour win, earned over $6 million and made the TOUR Championship. Season three saw some regression, but he worked his way back this past season and looks to be on track again. A win at the 3M Open certainly helped in his effort to get back on track, and perhaps now that he's got win number two under his belt, he can think about getting back to the TOUR Championship. A promising sign for Kitayama is how he played down the stretch after he won at the 3M Open. Kitayama posted a top 10 at the St. Jude Championship and he followed that up with a top 20 at the BMW Championship. Kitayama has enough upside to be considered as a salary cap play this season and could be a sneaky play as someone who is generally under the radar. Read Past Outlooks

Handedness Right

Status Pro

Height 5'7"

Weight 170 lbs

DOB 1/14/1993

Birthplace Chico, California

College UNLV

Country USA

T40 at The Open

July 21, 2026

Kitayama closed with a one-under 69 on Sunday at The Open Championship to finish one-under and tied for 40th.

ANALYSIS
Kitayama ranked seventh among the field in SG: Around-the-Green and 14th in SG: Tee-to-Green throughout his week at Royal Birkdale, but he also lost 0.57 strokes with the flat stick per round. He drops three spots to No. 32 in the FedExCup standings ahead of his upcoming title defense effort at TPC Twin Cities, having won last year's 3M Open by one shot over runner-up Sam Stevens.

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PGA Stats

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Tournament Results

Scoring

FanDuel

DraftKings

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PGA Advanced Stats

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Projected PGA Tournament Status

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Recent RotoWire Articles Featuring Kurt Kitayama See More

PGA

Weekly Fantasy Golf Preview: 3M Open

Greg Vara

Yesterday

PGA

FanDuel PGA DFS Picks: 3M Open Cash and GPP Strategy

Ryan Andrade

Yesterday

PGA

DraftKings PGA DFS Picks: 3M Open Cash and GPP Strategy

Len Hochberg

Yesterday

PGA

Major Power Rankings: 2026 Open Championship Field

Len Hochberg

10 days ago

Recent RotoWire Articles Featuring Kurt Kitayama See More

Weekly Fantasy Golf Preview

Weekly Fantasy Golf Preview: 3M Open

Greg Vara

Yesterday
FanDuel PGA DFS Picks

FanDuel PGA DFS Picks: 3M Open Cash and GPP Strategy

Ryan Andrade

Yesterday
DraftKings PGA DFS Picks

DraftKings PGA DFS Picks: 3M Open Cash and GPP Strategy

Len Hochberg

Yesterday
Major Power Rankings

Major Power Rankings: 2026 Open Championship Field

Len Hochberg

10 days ago

Past Fantasy Outlooks

2025

2024

2023

2022

After unexpectedly winning a signature event and capturing more than $6 million in earnings in 2024, there was really nowhere to go but down for Kitayama, but the depths of which he sank was a little surprising. Kitayama was a sneaky sleeper heading into 2023, but not many could have predicted the season he had. The task in 2024 was to back up that season and that didn't really happen. Kitayama didn't fall off the map, but missing the top-70 was not in the plans. With that said, there is an opportunity here in salary cap leagues to find some value. Kitayama is not a $6 million guy, but he's better than $2 million. Whether he finishes closer to 2023 or 2024 is the question. He will be better this season, but anything more than $4 million might be a bit optimistic.

The majority of Kitayama's earnings in the 2022-23 season came in four starts. Those were a runner-up at the CJ Cup, win at the API, T5 at the WGC-Match Play and a T4 at the PGA Championship. Kitayama had just three other top-25s along with 10 missed cuts. He ended up just barely inside the top-100 in SG: Total and was outside the top-50 in scoring average. The 30-year-old is simply too inconsistent to project him to finish anywhere close to the $6.8 million he made in 2022-23.

Kitayama's success as a rookie on the PGA Tour came as a bit of a surprise this past season. After all, he was a 29 year-old rookie that was lacking much success on the lower tours, so when he posted two runner-ups in the span of a couple months this past season, it caught some attention. There's nothing wrong with being a late bloomer, there's no reason that Kitayama can't be wildly successful on the PGA Tour, it's just creates a little doubt when looking ahead. Kitayama got off to a very slow start this past season, but his play from February on was pretty solid. As such. he looks like a decent salary cap candidate this season.

The American-born UNLV product has won twice on the European Tour since 2018, but he'll now be eligible for more stateside events after securing a PGA Tour card via the Korn Ferry Tour Finals. Kitayama was ranked as high as 66th in the Official World Golf Ranking in early 2020, but he's since fallen just outside the top 150.

More Fantasy News

Season-high SG: Putting in Scotland

July 13, 2026

Kitayama fired a two-under 68 on Sunday at the Genesis Scottish Open to finish three-under and tied for 44th.