Kurt Kitayama holds off McIlroy to win thrilling Arnold Palmer Invitational

Nobody can claim Kurt Kitayama earned his maiden PGA Tour win the easy way. The Californian recovered from a triple bogey at the 9^th hole of his final round and held off the challenge of Rory McIlroy to prevail at the Arnold Palmer Invitational. For his efforts, $3.6m (£2.99m) and high praise from an otherwise rueful McIlroy. “It was a great back nine, it was great to be involved in,” said McIlroy. “I’m really happy for Kurt. He’s been playing well for a while now and I’m happy to see him get his first win.”

At the last, Kitayama, 30, rolled a glorious 48ft putt to within millimetres of the cup. McIlroy, watching on from the scoring area, knew his eight under par total – Harris English shared that aggregate – would be insufficient for a playoff. Kitayama’s birdie two at the penultimate hole proved the key moment of a gripping finale. At one stage, not long before close of play, five golfers shared the lead at minus eight. Kitayama’s fortitude prevailed.

“It was really hard,” said the champion. “I’m going to sleep really well tonight. It was everything I kind of mentally prepared myself for. It was pretty much as hard as I expected. I’ve always dreamed of winning on tour and to finally do it, it’s pretty amazing. It’s pretty unbelievable, really.”

At 11 under, Kitayama led by two when taking to the 9^th tee. Chaos followed. He whacked his drive out of bounds and found a horrible bunker lie with his third. By the time he tapped in for a seven, the leader was Jordan Spieth. Kitayama also took seven at the 4^th on day three. Without these wild aberrations, he could have won with a little to spare.

Bogeys on three of the closing five holes ensured Spieth finished at minus seven. Patrick Cantlay, Tyrrell Hatton and Scottie Scheffler finished on the same score. Scheffler – the defending champion – bogeyed the last, with Kitayama’s finish rendering that less painful than could have been the case. “I haven’t really had a real lead on Sunday late in quite a while,” said Spieth. “So it was nice to be able to kind of see where things are in those moments and learn from them.”

McIlroy attacked the par three 14^th while not knowing his birdie at the previous hole had afforded him a one-stroke lead. “I wouldn’t have tried to play the shot that I played,” he admitted. The Northern Irishman had bogeyed his first two holes but steadied himself to the point of three under for the day after 13. Bogeys at the next two stalled his run but he came within a whisker of reaching nine under with a birdie try at the last.

“I still wish I could have had a couple of shots back today but I guess everyone would say the same thing,” said McIlroy. “It’s one of those days and one of those courses where you’re going to rue missed opportunities and a couple of missed putts here and there. I need to take the positives from it, which there are a lot of. We’ve got a massive event next week [the Players Championship] and I’ll try to bring that momentum into Sawgrass.”

Kitayama, English and Davis Riley earned spots at this summer’s Open Championship on account of their Bay Hill finishes.