JOHN DEERE CLASSIC

July 5, 2025

Kurt Kitayama

TPC Deere Run

Quick Quotes

Q. Kurt, great round. Put yourself obviously in a tight pack of contention. What's the mindset on the back nine? You played really good golf there.

KURT KITAYAMA: Yeah, I was hitting it well. I felt like I was rolling it pretty good; just wasn't getting any putts to drop.

Just stayed patient. It was playing difficult with this wind. So just get my birdies where I could. Yeah, that's it.

Q. Talk about the course conditions some more. We've seen a lot of guys struggling here; 66 might be the low round of the day. How did you battle that wind and come out on top?

KURT KITAYAMA: Just tried to play smart, put myself in a good spot to try and attack. With the greens still soft you can still kind of attack.

But, yeah, just felt like I was in control of the ball pretty well to be able to do that.

Q. Was that the mentality on 18 to hit that shot?

KURT KITAYAMA: No, I got a little lucky. I mean, I had to aim kind of just right of the water and I just wanted to make sure it was going to cut and kind of pushed it a little bit. Just got lucky.

Q. Obviously there is a lot of golf left for those guys left to play. Right now there is 12, 13, 14 guys within a couple shots. What's the mindset now heading into tomorrow when you know that you're probably going to be maybe a stroke back, maybe two strokes back, and really within striking distance?

KURT KITAYAMA: Yeah, just keep doing what I'm doing. We'll see where I'm at come tomorrow. You know, just hopefully get some more putts to drop.