Kurt Kitayama made some people very rich on Sunday after overcoming 200-1 odds to win the Arnold Palmer Invitational.
There were big names all over the leaderboard as the Arnold Palmer Invitational had the most top-50 players in the field since the 2022 Open Championship.
Jordan Spieth was charging early Sunday. Rory McIlroy charged late. Scottie Scheffler also saw his window open up. In the end, it was the 30-year-old Kitayama who secured his first career PGA Tour victory.
Kitayama was 200-1 to win the tournament at the beginning of the week at BetMGM. He took 0.2% of the tickets and accounted for 0.0% of the handle, according to BetMGM's report on Wednesday.
After a triple-bogey on the ninth hole on Sunday, Kitayama fired off seven-straight pars before draining a birdie putt on 17 and almost holing a long birdie putt on 18 before tapping in for par.
On the flip side, Spieth missed four putts of less than six feet on four consecutive holes on the back nine. He finished at -7, two strokes behind Kitayama. Spieth was +5000 before the tournament started.
McIlroy missed a 10-foot birdie putt on 18 that would've forced a playoff. He was +900 heading into the tournament.
Scheffler barely missed a birdie putt on 17 before bogeying the 18th hole. A birdie and a par for Scheffler would've put him in a playoff with Kitayama. Scheffler was also +900 to win the tournament.
To put 200-1 odds in perspective, the Houston Texans have the worst odds of any team in the NFL to win next year's Super Bowl. Their odds? You guessed it, 200-1.
