When Kurt Kitayama stood on the ninth tee of Bay Hill Club and Lodge on Sunday during the final round of the Arnold Palmer Invitational, he held a two-shot lead. That, in itself, was improbable. Kitayama took an unorthodox path to the PGA Tour, gaining status overseas on the Challenge Tour and then the DP World Tour before finally earning full PGA Tour status for the 2022-23 season. And he has taken advantage, earning a couple of runner-up finishes in the young season. But he was still chasing the elusive PGA Tour win.

Kitayama tugged his tee shot left, and the ball wound up out of bounds by inches. He was suddenly dropped into a heated battle with several superstars, including Rory McIlroy, Jordan Spieth, and Scottie Scheffler. But Kitayama was unflappable on the back nine, playing it even par while many of the other contenders dropped shots. Then, on the tough par-3 17th hole, Kitayama hit a beautiful long iron to 13 feet and sank the birdie, which allowed him to retake the lead with a hole to play. A par on the last awarded him his first PGA Tour win.

Kitayama is a member of TaylorMade's tour staff and plays a bag of primarily TaylorMade clubs: