Kurt Kitayama (63) ties record for lowest final round in a major

Kurt Kitayama shot a 63 to tie the record for the lowest score in the final round of a major tournament on Sunday at the PGA Championship.

The 33-year-old Kitayama, who has three top-10 finishes this season, is the only player to shoot better than 65 this week at Aronimink Golf Club in Newtown Square, Pa.

Kitayama is the ninth player to shoot a 63 in the final round of a major and matched two players who won their majors with a 63 on Sunday: Johnny Miller at the U.S. Open in 1973 at Oakmont Country Club and Henrik Stenson of Sweden who won The Open Championship in 2016 at Royal Troon.

The lowest score in any round of a major is 62, first accomplished by Branden Grace of South Africa in the third round of The Open in 2017 at Royal Birkdale; Jordan Spieth won the title.

Xander Schauffele shot a 62 twice since -- at the PGA Championship at Valhalla Golf Club in 2024 and at the U.S. Open at Los Angeles Country Club in 2023. Schauffele won at Valhalla. Wyndham Clark won at Los Angeles.

Kitayama guaranteed himself a significantly higher payday on Sunday as he climbed 50 places up the leaderboard to finish the championship at 3-under 277. He was three shots back of leader Alex Smalley, who was set to tee off at 2:35 p.m. ET alongside Matti Schmid of Germany.

Schmid was one of five players who were two strokes back of Smalley at 4-under. Kitayama was tied with four players -- including majors winners Rory McIlroy, Xander Schauffele and Patrick Reed -- at 3-under.

Kitayama has two PGA Tour victories: the 2025 3M Open and the 2023 Arnold Palmer Invitational.

His best finish at a major came at the 2023 PGA Championship at Oak Hill Country Club, when he was T4 after a final-round 65.

--Field Level Media