Fresh off his dominant win at the 2025 3M Open, Kurt Kitayama sits down with Bridgestone Golf to break down his weekend surge and how trusting his TOUR B X with MindSet technology gave him the edge.
From a record-setting Saturday 60 to clutch birdies on Sunday, Kurt shares how precision, confidence, and the right golf ball helped him close it out in style.
All right, Kurt Kittyama, congratulations on the incredible victory at the 3M Open by one shot, shooting 23 under. It’s your second PGA Tour victory. Congratulations and thank you so much for taking time to chat with Bridgestone. Thank you. Thanks for having me. Uh I I want to start with your course record that you shot on Saturday. You shot a 60 some phenomenal golf. How would you describe the difference in mindset during a round like that when it comes to your level in focus and visualization to be able to shoot such a low round? Yeah. Um I don’t know. It just felt like it came out of nowhere really. Um but then like as the round kind of kept going along and I was getting more comfortable and I was trusting the shots I was hitting, um it just it just kind of flows. You know, it’s it’s nice. you’re in twosome, so that the pace is is going well. It helps you keep the rhythm. Um, and then you kind of just start thinking about your last like four or five holes. That’s when you kind of start thinking the possibility and you just try and keep it together a little bit and stay foc focus, not try and get ahead of yourself. And that’s kind of what I was trying to do. When did the possibility of shooting 59 come into fruition? You had your brother Daniel on the bag. Did he help you out with that at all? What was that experience like? Yeah, definitely kind of helped me stay focused. Um, probably after my birdie on 15, I saw that they had moved the tea up on 16 and I had a par five left. Um, and I was just trying to still try not to think about, you know, making birdie here, making bird in the par five. I was trying to focus on 16 a hand. Then Bur 16 and then um you know you’re definitely thinking about it. Then you got the water’s short, the pin’s kind of tucked. You want to stay left but the wind’s off the left. Um and yeah, I just hit in that bunker. It was a tough shot to get up and down. Um and I got to 18 and I thought I was going to be in the fairway. I walk up and it’s like a foot in the rough and in and like a just kind of iffy lie and um you know part of me wanted to go for it but at the same time um you don’t want to mess up bad round a good round like that by hitting in the water. So kind of just ultimately took my medicine and uh gave myself a wedge shot. Yeah. Well at the end of the day you’re trying to win a golf tournament which you did by one. So playing smart on that final hole was extremely important. And on Sunday, you started out just as hot. You birdied six of your first eight holes under the pressure of trying to win for the first time in two years. What was the message to yourself to maintain a strong mindset through the rest of the round when it got super tight down the stretch? Um, you know, I think when the pressure’s on, you know, there’s nerves going. Um, a lot of it is breathing and and slowing down. You know, you want to you’re amped up, you want to move fast, you want to walk fast, you breathe, you know, more shallow. And so, kind of walking slower, um, taking, you know, deeper breaths um, kind of was the main focus there. And on top of having that great mindset, your ball striking was stellar. You averaged just over 10 feet proximity to hole on Sunday. Uh the ball, the Bridgestone ball you play is a TORVX mindset. How does that ball allow you to control your trajectory and be aggressive when you want to fire at flags? Um just knowing that um you can trust the ball to fly in the window that you’re that you’re normal normally used to seeing and controlling how it’s going to react on uh on the green and trusting that definitely helps. Um you know, you kind of see the shot that you want to hit and when it comes out the right window, um that’s nice to see and and trust. And specific to the TorvX mindset part of the golf ball, the visual cue of choosing your target, visualizing the shot, and focusing on that green dot on 14 on Sunday, you hit a really gutsy approach shot that became pivotal for your one-shot victory. What were the details of that shot and how did you use the mindset process to help you pull it off? Yeah. I mean, just like kind of going through that process, it it’s nice because once you pick your target and you see your shot, it’s like, all right, just trust what you’re doing and and just just go and and you know, just um just did it, you know, and and you because you’re trying to minimize as many thoughts as possible and and that’s kind of how the process helps you do that. Uh, can you describe kind of how far you had into the hole, what the lie was like, and just kind of the steps you went in that moment? Almost recreate it for us, if you will. Um, yeah, I walked up, I saw a pretty good lie in the bunker. Um, luckily the lips, it wasn’t, it’s kind of more of a shallow bunker, so I wasn’t too worried about the lip and it just happened to be a perfect seven iron um, from 190, like little help. And so from there it was just kind of just trusting my swing and and hit the shot. What kind of shot were you visualizing or you just knew, okay, it hit my yardage. I’m able to just hit a full compressed shot. And what were the nerves like in that moment too trying to pull it off? Because you hit it just to a couple feet. Yeah. Um I was looking a little left of the pin and hit like kind of my stock cut. Um, I think the biggest thing was just to hit it solid because, you know, out of the bunker, it’s easy to hit it fat. And I did have a lot of green, but you know, depending on how well you hit it, if you hit it too fat, like there’s there’s still water to cover. Um, and so yeah, once I picked out my shot, it was just kind of just hit a solid. And when it comes to winning on the PJ tour, it’s so critical to trust your equipment, like you’ve mentioned. What elements of the TorvX mindset ball make it the best fit for your game to allow you to trust your golf ball in big moments like a PJ tour victory? Yeah. Um, I think just, you know, I’ve spent the whole year using it and, you know, when I’m swinging it well, it’s coming out in the window I want with the spin that I want and, you know, reacting on the greens, how I, you know, you kind of you always guessing to see what it’s going to react like and um, and how it reacts has been kind of really close to what I’ve imagining in my head as I’m going through shots. and be able to trust that consistently is been been big. And you had some uh big- time hope this week from your older brother, Daniel. This is only the second time this season that he’s cattied for you. At what point did you decide that he would be your caddy and how would you describe sharing the winning moment with him on the 18th green? Um well so my caddy left me um after John Deere and so you know with only I guess at that time three events left it’s kind of hard it would have been tough to find someone that you know that I knew well enough to you know trust going down those last three tournaments or adjusting to like how they their caddy style and I you know I’ve had success with my brother and he’s been around a lot. Um he’ll come to events and just hang out and so I figured this would be the best fit to finish out the season and to pull out the victory was was amazing especially with him and having them there was was really special. That’s so awesome. What would you say you’ve been working the most on in your game that’s led to this victory? Um, I’d say probably my putting. Um, last season was a real struggle. I felt like I hit it amazing and, uh, this season, you know, putting was kind of my main focus this year. Um, just trying to keep improving and I think the last couple months I’ve seen a trend there and, uh, that’s kind of what was really big for me. What kind of tweaks or adjustments did you make? Um, well, I mean, I was hitting it a lot out of the heel and so that was kind of a big adjustment like move. I would set it off the um off the toe a little bit and I’d kind of swing it kind of weirdly like in and then come back out. And so I started to set it up on the center even a little bit off the heel so it kind of go if anything it rerouted under um to hit more solid putts and I think that’s helped with like speed control which is you know a big thing you know and uh just kind of starting online. That’s a little glimpse into the all the hours that you put in to be a PJ tour winner and it’s not just you but it takes an entire team. What how does this validate all the work that you’ve put in getting this win late in the season? Yeah. Um it’s just nice to know like you try not to focus on results. Um when you’re, you know, working on stuff, you want to see just kind of like a a incline, you know, improvement. And for it to finally pay off, it’s nice to know that everything that I’ve been working on um is working. Yes, that’s very true. And heading into the FedEx Cup playoffs very soon, what is your mindset? What’s your going to be your focus mentally and the goals that you want to achieve as you wrap up the season? Um, I think just the same mindset that I’ve been doing, you know, kind of keep trusting the process, keep working hard, um, and just hope the results are going to show. Um, I think it’s always a goal to be in the tour championship. Um, and now I’ve kind of put myself in a good position, uh, with, you know, I got this week in Memphis and just kind of, you know, I guess the next step is making to, um, the BMW championship and then from there Tour Championship. So, just kind of hopefully just ride this um, good play. And what does trusting in the process look like for you? Is it setting many goals? Is it focusing just really much on what you need to practice day in and day out? Yeah, I think kind of right now my game feels really good. So, it’s kind of maintaining uh the level like doing little checks, um you know, basic checks, you know, setup, uh alignment, making sure that’s at least on point, and then making adjustments from there. Last question, Kurt, before we let you go. What was your most memorable shot that you hit at the 3M Open or most memorable moment? Um, I would probably that that bunker shot on 14 was really good. You know, uh, obviously a lot lot of pressure coming down and um, you know, I think making par on 18 was was really big. Um, but I think that shot on 14 was kind of the biggest shot there. Yeah, that shot on 14 is going to be in a lot of replays. It already is. Kurt, thank you so much for taking the time to chat with Bridgestone. We wish you the best of luck into the season and into the FedEx Cup playoffs. Thank you.
