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Xander Schauffele revealed the unsung nickname of Kurt Kitayama at the 2023 Arnold Palmer Invitational, which is underway at the Bay Hills in Orlando, Florida.
The American duo are competing in the tournament and running to register their win at the star-studded event. Recently, the PGA Tour shared a video of the golfers in which Xander Schauffele unveiled the nickname of his friend and the tournament lead, Kurt Kitayama.
The clip saw Scheffler saying:
"I don't want to steal your thunder here. I revealed your nickname by the way."
In response, Kitayama said:
"I know, dude."
They both laughed off hugging each other.
Earlier in the press conference, Xander Schauffele talked about Kurt and revealed his nickname. He said:
"We call him Quadzilla or the Quadfather. He's got really big legs, so I call him Quadz with a z in the end."
Fans jumped into the comment section of the video on Instagram and wrote:
"Kurt Quadayama."
"Quadsimodo"
Another wrote:
"Lord farQuad"
"UNLV BABY!!!!! Let’s go Kurt", a fan jotted.
Xander Schauffele chasing to take on Kurt Kitayama at the 2023 Arnold Invitational
Xander Schauffele and Kurt Kitayama are playing against each other at the ongoing 2023 Arnold Palmer Invitational. Jon Rahm was leading the tournament after the inaugural round, however, he settled for 13th position after the conclusion of the second round on Friday.
Kitayama is now in the lead followed by Jordan Spieth, who is just two strokes behind him, finishing the second round with a scoring deficit of seven.
Xander Schauffele is also chasing Kurt Kitayma to dethrone him from the top spot on the leaderboard. Schauffele finished in third position after Friday's round.
Xander Schauffele started the second round with a birdie on the first hole. He then made a bogey on the second hole. He finished the second round with three birdies and one bogey to end the day at 70 to settle for under 5.
Kitayama was in second position after the inaugural round before leading the tournament at the end of Friday. He started with a birdie on the first hole and then on the fifth in the second round.
Kurt Kitayama made five birdies on Friday and a bogey to wrap up with a scoring deficit of four to make a total of under nine.
Speaking about his performance, Kitayama 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."
The 2023 Arnold Palmer Invitational features top-rated golfers from around the world who are competing to win the $3.6 million cheque from the purse of $20 million.
It is important to note that Jon Rahm is running to lift the fourth PGA Tour trophy in 2023. He had already won the Sentry Tournament of Champions, The American Express, and The Genesis Invitational Open and also had a lead after the first round at the 2023 Arnold Palmer Invitational before shipping down to 13th position after the second round.
