Arnold Palmer Invitational leaderbord explored ahead of final round

Modified Mar 05, 2023 05:52 GMT

Kurt Kitayama — kurt Kitayama (Image via Getty)

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.

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

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