Golf coach shares ditching Marvel movie to help Kurt Kitayama before his 3M Open win

Kurt Kitayama won his second event on the PGA Tour at the 3M Open Championship. The American golfer had a tough start, but he bounced back in the final two rounds to clinch the trophy.

After his Friday round, Kitayama asked for some help from golf coach Chris Como. In an interview with Chantel McCabe on an episode of SiriusXM PGA Tour Radio this week, the coach shared that when Kitayama called him, he was watching The Fantastic Four. He moved out of the theater to help the American golfer. He said:

"So on Friday, it’s kind of funny because he played pretty well on Thursday and then didn’t play great on Friday. I think he just barely made the cut, and he sent me some swings, and he texted me. You know, ‘Are you available?’ And I was actually watching a movie. I was watching Fantastic Four... So I walked out of the theater, and I got on FaceTime with him. "He’s like, ‘Where are you?’ I’m like, ‘I’m in a movie theater. You know, Galactus can wait.’ So we kind of worked up some stuff and basicall,y he did technical work, right? Just sort of sent me swings and then hit more balls, sent me swings, kind of went back and forth in text. And then, obviously, it clicked for hi,m and then he played well on Sunday," he added.

Como's advice helped Kurt Kitayama improve in the final two rounds. He carded a round of 60 on Saturday, followed by the final of 65.

Kitayama had previously won the Arnold Palmer Invitational in 2023, his maiden PGA Tour event. In that event, he started the outing with an opening round of 67, followed by the next three scores of 68, 72, and 72 to register a narrow one-stroke win over Harris English and Rory McIlroy.

---

What did Kurt Kitayama say about his win at the 3M Open?

Kurt Kitayama had his brother, Daniel, on the bag for 2025 3M Open. He opened up about his performance and his brother in a post-round press conference on Sunday, July 27. He said, via Tee Scripts:

"This win's going to be extra special having him on the bag. Very cool experience and really happy he's part of it."

He added:

"Really cool to see them. Well, my dad -- my mom didn't answer so I called my dad. I assumed they would be together. My dad tells me my mom couldn't watch, she was I think out somewhere so she couldn't be too nervous watching. Then called my girlfriend and she was ecstatic. Stressed. It's really special to be able to call them and see how they are."

Kurt Kitayama had a tough start this season on the PGA Tour. He settled in T37 at the Sony Open in Hawaii, followed by T58 at the American Express. He played in 19 tournaments and made the cut in 11 of those. Before the 3M Open, he competed in the Barracuda Championship and finished in T14.

Edited by Hitesh Nigam