March 6, 2023 – Kurt Kitayama held off a crowded leaderboard at the Arnold Palmer Invitational 2023 to secure his first career PGA Tour victory with Stealth 2 Plus driver in the bag. Kitayama used his P·7MC irons, TP5x golf ball and Spider X Hydro Blast putter to make birdie on the 71st hole of the tournament to take the outright lead.

On the 18th hole, Kitayama found the center of the green via his P·7MB 8-iron from 189-yards out in the left rough leaving 47-feet and hit his birdie putt with TP5x to the edge of the cup before tapping in for par to secure the victory.

Kurt Kitayama has been knocking on the door for some time. This week, he’s finally kicked it down and secured his first PGA Tour victory. He switched to the Stealth 2 Plus driver  prior to the start at the iconic Bay Hill, a course noted for its demanding tee shots and difficulty around the green. He showed prowess in both regards. Across the four rounds, he led the field in both fairways hit (70%) and greens in regulation (71%).

Kitayama spent time with the TaylorMade Tour team during practice rounds to dial in spin rates and yardages on his fairway woods, while also switching from before a Stealth 2 10.5° driver to Stealth 2 Plus 10.5° producing more consistent spin rates in testing.

Kitayama made the choice to switch to Stealth 2 Plus driver following a collaborative conversation with his coach and TaylorMade’s tour team. Everyone knew how well he’d been playing after being in contention in three of his last six starts – the only missing link was optimizing performance off the tee on a Sunday. Yes, the tee shot on nine happened. But he bounced back with absolute confidence and kept the ball on the string for the remainder of the round.

It wasn’t just the tee shots, however. Kitayama displayed the overall game that made him a two-time winner on the DP World World. He was first in driving accuracy, greens in regulation and sand saves. Not to mention second in Strokes Gained Putting. A winning formula.

Kurt secured his first PGA Tour victory in his 50th start on Tour. The win is Kitayama’s third professional worldwide victory with two victories coming on the DP World Tour: 2018 AfrAsia Bank Mauritius Open, 2019 Oman Open. His two DP World Tour victories came in his first 11 starts which made Kitayama the fastest player ever to win two DP World Tour events.

Kitayama’s win at the Arnold Palmer Invitational marks the fourth across major professional tours for Stealth 2 driver in 2023.

Here’s a full break down of Kitayama’s winning bag:

• Driver: TaylorMade Stealth 2 Plus (10,5º, Graphite Design Tour AD DI 7-X)

• Fairway woods: TaylorMade Stealth 2 3HL (16,5º, Graphite Design Tour AD DI 8-X); TaylorMade Stealth 2 7 (21,0º, Graphite Design Tour AD UB 9 TX)

• Irons: TaylorMade P7MC ’23 (4-6, True Temper Dynamic Gold Tour Issue X100); TaylorMade P7MB ’23 (7-PW, True Temper Dynamic Gold Tour Issue X100)

• Wedges: TaylorMade Milled Grind 3 (52ºSB, 56ºLB, True Temper Dynamic Gold S400); Titleist Vokey Design SM9 WedgeWorks (60º)
• Putter: TaylorMade Spider X Hydro Blast Flow Neck
• Ball: TaylorMade TP5x
• Clothing: Chervò