Kurt Kitayama and caddie Tim Tucker on Friday at the Arnold Palmer Invitational.
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Tim Tucker stood with the flagstick propped aloft towards his left shoulder, then his proper. About 25 toes away, his boss was lining up one in all the greatest putts of his life, however Tucker and Michael Greller, Jordan Spieth’s caddie, didn’t appear overly involved and they whispered away. At one level, Tucker handed one thing to Greller.
Seconds later, he handed him the flagstick. Kurt Kitayama had birdied.
There’s some coolness to the Kitayama proceedings this week, isn’t there? Leader to start out Saturday at the Arnold Palmer Invitational? Sounds good. Double bogey early at Bay Hill to drop out of the lead? OK. The chief to start out Sunday, with a PGA Tour all-star crew giving chase? Great. Granted, Kitayama is often this fashion. One of his pursuers, Xander Schauffele, joked with reporters earlier this week about the dimension of his buddy’s legs, and these bouquets aren’t given to the extra critical of us. “Yeah, Kurt, we call him Quadzilla or the Quadfather,” Schauffele mentioned. “He’s got really big legs. So I call him Quadz with a ‘Z’ at the end. He’s a good dude. He’s a really good player. He hangs tough and he’s got a good head on his shoulders.” When instructed about all of it, Quadzilla laughed.
But you want a rock to drag off one thing like Kitayama is on the verge of. Let’s return to that scene at the high. On the 18th inexperienced, after the putt, Kitayama turned proper to Tucker. Player and caddie held a fist-bump for a second. They launched.
They went proper into the yardage guide. It gave off an on-to-the-next-one vibe. On the NBC broadcast, John Wood had an concept what they have been speaking about.
“After Kitayama made that putt, he came over to the side of the green, and obviously Tim Tucker congratulated him and said good putt,” mentioned Wood, himself a longtime caddie. “But I guarantee you, being as experienced as he is, he is getting him ready for tomorrow right now, telling him you are better than anybody out here this week and we are going to go take them apart tomorrow.”
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You might know a few of the Tucker story already. A looper for a couple of gamers over the years, he’s perhaps greatest identified for being Bryson DeChambeau’s bagman, a stretch that noticed Tucker caddie throughout a 2020 U.S. Open victory. An Arnold Palmer Invitational win two years in the past, too. When DeChambeau took an adventurous, over-the-lake route on Bay Hill’s par-5 sixth throughout the third and fourth rounds that yr, it was Tucker he met at the bag. They’d break up later that yr, although — the sides will inform you it was peaceable — and Tucker, a former Bandon Dunes caddie, went again to the Oregon resort, opened a shuttle service, and he’s carried every now and then.
The Kitayama story, although, is extra winding. For brevity’s sake, we’ll share that the 30-year-old Californian has performed globally, and that at the first of his three worldwide victories, he was paid with a bag of money. So he’s seen some issues. In the fall of 2021, he joined the PGA Tour full-time, and he’s had a collection of notable also-rans: a tie for second eventually yr’s Mexico Open, the place Jon Rahm gained; a second eventually yr’s Scottish Open, the place Schauffele gained; a second eventually fall’s CJ Cup, the place Rory McIlroy gained.
Good. But perhaps not sufficient.
About a month in the past, although, Tucker picked up the bag — Kitayama’s brother is a caddie at Bandon and related the two — and right here we are. Across the board in the Strokes Gained metrics this week, Kitayama has been stable — twenty seventh in off the tee; tied for third in tee to inexperienced; 14th in strategy the inexperienced; sixteenth in round the inexperienced; eighth in placing; and first total — and after rounds of 67, 68 and 72, the duo leads by one going into Sunday’s remaining spherical.
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“I mean, he’s got a lot of knowledge,” Kitayama mentioned of Tucker. “Trying to soak in as a lot as I can with out going overload on it. He’s been very useful. We’re making an attempt new issues out on the course, and if it really works, we keep it up, and if it doesn’t, we sort of throw it proper out.
“So it’s been good.”
Is it sufficient? Here’s the lineup behind him — Viktor Hovland and defending champion Scottie Scheffler are one again, 2020 champ Tyrrell Hatton is 2 again, McIlroy and Harris English are three again.
But, you already know, cool.
“Yeah, I think you just kind of accept it,” Kitayama mentioned. “You simply have a look at the leaderboard, the rankings and what they’ve performed. People in all probability cheering for them louder, you already know. So there’s nothing I can do.
“Just embrace it.”
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