Kitayama ties – Kurt Kitayama matched the lowest final-round mark in major championship history, signing for a 7-under 63 Sunday at the PGA Championship. The Californian’s bogey-free card—powered by sharp putting and a fast start—tied the standout week’s record and placed him
NEWTOWN SQUARE, Pa. — Kurt Kitayama’s charge on Sunday at the PGA Championship ended with a number that belonged in the record books. He tied the lowest final-round score in major championship history by firing a 7-under 63.
Playing in the fourth group off in the morning. Kitayama vaulted up the leaderboard with the lowest score recorded at Aronimink Golf Club during the final round.. His 63 tied him with the ninth player to shoot that score in a major’s final round. and it marked only the second time in PGA Championship history that the feat has happened.
The standard for majors remains 62, which has been shot five times. The most recent instances came from Shane Lowry and Xander Schauffele at the 2024 PGA Championship at Valhalla.
Kitayama, listed at 5-foot-7, is known far beyond the fairway.. From California. he was an accomplished basketball player at Chico High School. where he helped lead the team to a pair of section titles. and he earned the nickname “Quadzilla” for his large legs.. During the PGA Championship. he averaged 313 yards off the tee. but it was his play on the greens that pushed him toward major-record territory.
The 33-year-old credited the putter for a bogey-free round in which he used 28 swings with the flat stick to make more than 141 feet of putts. “I felt like I was holding the world out there,” Kitayama said. “What my eye saw that’s what the ball was doing. And that’s a good feeling.”
He started fast with a 5-under 30 on the front nine. beginning with three straight birdies and adding two more at the sixth and par-5 ninth.. On the inward nine. he made three straight pars before saving his momentum with a bunker up-and-down on the reachable par-4 13th. where he rolled in a 13-foot birdie putt.
Still, the round wasn’t flawless in the way that record runs sometimes are. At No. 16—the only par 5 on the back that played as the second-easiest hole this week—his drive found the right rough. He played out to just over 90 yards to the green, hit wedge to 37 feet, and then two-putted for par.
That moment kept his hopes for tying the 62 alive only briefly. He missed the chance at the record at the par-3 17th, where a two-putt par from 40 feet ended the stretch run. But he closed strongly, making birdie on the 18th from just outside 12 feet.
Sunday’s 63 also echoed other major milestones.. Brad Faxon had the only other 63 on Sunday in the PGA Championship in 1995 at Riviera. a score that earned him a spot on the Ryder Cup team.. Johnny Miller was the first to shoot 63 on Sunday in a major. doing it at Oakmont in 1973 when he won the U.S.. Open.. Henrik Stenson shot 63 at Royal Troon in 2016 when he won his duel with Phil Mickelson.. Tommy Fleetwood has matched 63 on Sunday in the U.S.. Open twice, in 2018 at Shinnecock Hills and in 2023 at Los Angeles Country Club.
Across the round, the same story repeats through the details: a fast front nine with five-under 30 and three straight birdies, followed by a greens-focused stretch that stayed bogey-free, then a record bid that tightened at No. 16 and ended at the par-3 17th before finishing with a birdie on 18.
By the end of the day, Kitayama’s 7-under 63 left a permanent mark at Aronimink, tying the major championship low for a final round and placing him in the small club of players to reach 63 when it matters most.
Kurt Kitayama PGA Championship Aronimink Golf Club 63 major championship record putting par-3 17th Ryder Cup