Alfred Dunhill Championship: Power Rankings at Leopard Creek

2 of 11

JOHANNESBURG, SOUTH AFRICA – DECEMBER 08: Kurt Kitayama of USA plays a shot during the third round of the South African Open at Randpark Golf Club on December 8, 2018 in Johannesburg, South Africa. (Photo by Stuart Franklin/Getty Images) /

Let’s ride the hot hand for one more week.

American Kurt Kitayama won in just his third European Tour start a couple weeks ago at the Mauritius Open. It would have been more than reasonable to expect the 25-year-old to withdraw or miss the cut the following week at the South African Open.

Instead, Kitayama kept it going with a T15 finish which included an opening 63. He remained in contention with a 69 on Friday but ran out of gas with a Saturday 74.

He can crush the ball (first in Mauritius and seventh at the SA Open in driving distance) and iron it well (top 20 in greens in regulation last two weeks). The putter was going well in Mauritius before cooling off in South Africa.

The former UNLV Rebel has played 20 events in 2018 on various tours and has missed just one cut. He won early in the year in an Asian Development Tour event.

Kitayama admitted to being fatigued last week, but perhaps he can re-energize now that his life-changing win is a couple weeks behind him.

Playing three weeks in a row is not unfamiliar as he’s done it several times between the Web.com Tour and Asia in recent years. Kitayama finished inside the top 20 each of the last two times playing on his third week in a row, albeit in much weaker events.

Home/Golf Power Rankings