Arnold Palmer Invitational leaderbord explored ahead of final round

Kurt Kitayana is leading the 2023 Arnold Palmer Invitational. The American athlete took over from opening-round leader Jon Rahm on Friday, March 3, before extending his lead on Saturday, March 4. He is in the running to clinch the first PGA Tour trophy of his career.

Kitayama finished the third round with a scoring deficit of nine to maintain the lead. He finished the third round at 67 and the second at 68.

Although Kurt's performance in the third round was a bit disappointing, he still managed to top the leaderboard after Saturday.

Viktor Hovland made a progressive improvement in the third round as he jumped into 18 positions to finish with a scoring deficit of eight to end the day at 71 to finish in second position alongside Scottie Scheffler.

Speaking about his performance, Hovland said:

"I just got to keep doing what I've been doing. I've been hitting a lot of fairways and greens. Last year, I didn't quite hit it as good as I did earlier in the week. But even then, I still feel like I should have won last year if I had a half decent short game last year. I still hit it good enough to play a little bit better, but I feel like this year I'm stroking it well."

He went on to add:

"My speed on the greens is not quite where it should be; I'm leaving a lot of putts short. But I really do feel like my short game technique has gotten a lot better, even though it hasn't really shown that this week."

Tyrell Hatton also jumped in 29 spots to finish in fourth position, while Rory McIlroy was tied alongside Harris English in fifth position.

The Arnold Palmer Invitational is underway at the Bay Hills Course in Orlando, Florida from March 2 to March 5. The tournament has a purse of $20 million with the winner receiving a cheque of $3.6 million.

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2023 Arnold Palmer Invitational leaderboard ahead of the final round

• 1. Kurt Kitayama
• T2. Viktor Hovland
• T2. Scottie Scheffler
• 4. Tyrell Hatton
• T5. Rory McIlroy
• T5. Harris English
• T7. Pierceson Coody
• T7. Justin Thomas
• T7. Jordan Spieth
• T10. Max Homa
• T10. Cameron Young
• T12. Jason Day
• T12. Trey Mullinax
• T12. Tony Finau
• T12. Ludvig Aberg
• T12. Patrick Cantlay
• T12. Xander Schauffele
• T12. Corey Conners
• T19. David Lipsky
• T19. Adam Svensson
• T19. Kyle Westmoreland
• T19. Francesco Molinari
• T19. Ben Taylor
• T19. Danny Willett
• T19. Sungjae Im
• T19. Sahith Theegala
• T19. Thomas Detry
• T19. Rickie Fowler
• T19. Keith Mitchell
• T19. Ben Griffin
• T31. Taylor Moore
• T31. Adam Schenk
• T31. Martin Laird
• T31. Padraig Harrington
• T31. Justin Suh
• T31. Taylor Montgomery
• T31. Adam Scott
• T31. Matt Fitrpatrick
• T31. Russell Henley
• T39. Alex Noren
• T39. Keegan Bradley
• T39. Chris Kirk
• T39. Davis Riley
• T44. Ryan Fox
• T44. Will Zalatoris
• T44. Ryan Palmer
• T44. Aaron Baddeley
• T44. Emiliano Grillo
• T44. Andrew Putnam
• T44. Luke Donald
• T44. Jon Rahm
• T52. Zach Johnson
• T52. Robby Shelton
• T52. Tommy Fleetwood
• T52. Matthew NeSmith
• T52. Wyndham Clark
• T52. Tom Kim
• T59. SH Kim
• T59. KH Lee
• T59. Si Woo Kim
• T59. Mackenzie Hughes
• T59. Cole Hammer
• T64. Davis Thompson
• T64. Webb Simpson
• T64. Brendan Todd
• T64. David Lingmerth
• 68. Greyson Sigg
• T69. Seamus Power
• T69. Shane Lowry
• 72. Will Gordon