"It’s always a fun challenge"- Kurt Kitayama after taking a two-shot lead at the 2023 Arnold Palmer Invitational

Kurt Kitayama took the lead at the 2023 Arnold Palmer Invitational after the conclusion of the second round on Friday, March 3.

The American golfer finished up in second position after the inaugural round alongside Cameron Young. However, on the second day, he made a progressive improvement and jumped to the top while taking over Thursday's lead, Jon Rahm.

Kitayama started the second round with a birdie on the first hole and finished up with a birdie on the eighteenth. With four birdies and one bogey, he managed to top the leaderboard at the Arnold Palmer Invitational.

Speaking about his performance, Kurt said:

"It's always a fun challenge keeping yourself in the moment. I feel like when you get conditions like this it's easy to kind of let things get away from you-for me it's just keeping myself focused the entire way."

Kurt Kitayama registered a two-shot lead over Jordan Spieth and wrapped up the second day with a scoring deficit of nine. The third position was secured by Xander Schauffele and Carey Conners.

Jon Rahm, who topped the leaderboard on Thursday, has slipped 12 positions and settled for the 13th position alongside Keith Mitchell, Ben Griffin, Rickie Fowler, Max Homa, Thomas Detry, and Harris English.

2023 Arnold Palmer Invitational leaderboard after the second round

The 2023 Arnold Palmer Invitational is underway at the Bay Hill Club in Orlando, Florida. The tournament will wrap up with the finale on Sunday, March 5.

After the second round, the leaderboard turned in Kurt Kitayama's favor, who is now leading the tournament.

The Arnold Palmer invitational field is graced by the top golfers in the world, making the leaderboard more interesting.

Patrick Cantlay finished in a four-way tie for fifth position alongside Matt Fitzpatrick, Davis Riley, and Justin Thomas.

Cameron Young, who was in second place after the opening round on Thursday, slipped to ninth position after Friday's round.

2022 Masters winner Scottie Scheffler also finished in ninth position in a four-way tie alongside Adam Scott, Young, and Ludvig Aberg.

Tony Finau settled in for the 20th position alongside Taylor Montgomery, Shane Lowry, Rory McIlroy, Tom Kim, Sahith Theegala, Wyndham Clark, Chris Kirk, Viktor Hovland, Sungjae Im, Trey Mullinax, Aaron Rai, and Justin Suh. Will Zalatoris, who is recovering from a back injury, managed to finish in the 53rd position.

The winner of the Arnold Palmer Invitational winner will receive a cheque of $3.6 million from the purse of $20 million, while the second finish will take home a whopping amount of $2.1 million followed by $1.3 million for the third position winner.

Here are the full prize money payouts:

1 - $3,600,000
2 - $2,180,000
3 - $1,380,000
4 - $980,000
5 - $820,000
6 - $725,000
7 - $675,000
8 - $625,000
9 - $585,000
10 - $545,000
11 - $505,000
12 - $465,000
13 - $425,000
14 - $385,000
15 - $365,000
16 - $345,000
17 - $325,000
18 - $305,000
19 - $285,000
20 - $265,000
21 - $245,000
22 - $225,000
23 - $209,000
24 - $193,000
25 - $177,000
26 - $161,000
27 - $155,000
28 - $149,000
29 - $143,000
30 - $137,000
31 - $131,000
32 - $125,000
33 - $119,000
34 - $114,000
35 - $109,000
36 - $104,000
37 - $99,000
38 - $95,000
39 - $91,000
40 - $87,000
41 - $83,000
42 - $79,000
43 - $75,000
44 - $71,000
45 - $67,000
46 - $63,000
47 - $59,000
48 - $55,800
49 - $53,000
50 - $51,400
51 - $50,200
52 - $49,000
53 - $48,200
54 - $47,400
55 - $47,000
56 - $46,600
57 - $46,200
58 - $45,800
59 - $45,400
60 - $45,000
61 - $44,600
62 - $44,200
63 - $43,800
64 - $43,400
65 - $43,000

Edited by Diptanil