
Ludvig Aberg of Texas Tech fired back-to-back rounds of 70 to climb into a share of 10th place at the halfway point. 1 in the professional ranks may not be inside the top 10, but the No. Imagine aiming like this /AzmEqXi930- Christopher Powers MaBig day for a different No. If he's not careful, one of those names could upend him once again. Collecting three runner-up finishes in his last 23 starts, Kitayama fell short to Rahm at the Mexico Open, Schauffele at the Scottish Open and Rory McIlroy at The CJ Cup in South Carolina. Kitayama has shown flashes of brilliance but only to be outdone by one of the game's elites. Securely inside the top 50 to begin the week, the 30-year-old continues to put himself in position for his first PGA Tour victory. This time last year, Kitayama was ranked outside the top 250 in the Official World Golf Rankings. Presidents Cup teammates Xander Schauffele, Patrick Cantlay, Justin Thomas, Cameron Young and Scottie Scheffler on the first page of the leaderboard. While he is Kitayama's closest competition, this is just one of the many big names within arm's reach joining them are U.S. This number would hold steady for the remainder of the day despite the forecasted strong winds laying down late in the afternoon.ĭuring this time, Jordan Spieth made a charge to 7 under to position himself directly behind Kitayama. Kitayama was the man up to the task in the early hours on Friday, signing for a second-round 68 to reach 9 under for the tournament.


With Rahm dropping from 7 under to 3 under in the span of a hour, the field was given new life after the hottest player in the world may have graciously opened the door for someone else to win a golf tournament. 1 Jon Rahm in command of the lead ends with Kurt Kitayama atop the leaderboard at the 2023 Arnold Palmer Invitational.
