ORLANDO, Fla. — Kurt Kitayama’s stunning win at the 2023 Arnold Palmer Invitational was the journeyman’s first victory on the PGA Tour, or on any relevant tour.

These days, first-time winners are popping up everywhere.

Four of nine champions in 2024 had never reached the winner’s circle and reigning U.S. Open champion Wyndham Clark was the only golfer among the top 50 in the world rankings when he won. And Clark prevailed after bad weather shortened the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am to 54 holes.

If history is a guide, Bay Hill Club and Lodge could recalibrate the pecking order during the Arnold Palmer Invitational, set to run Thursday through Sunday.

“We’re kind of getting into what I would call sort of the thick of the season,” world No. 5 Xander Schauffele said. “I imagine you’ll start seeing some of the higher-ranked players winning.”

Before Kitayama, 2020 winner Tyrrell Hatton and Matt Every, who won in ’14-15, were the only first-timers at Bay Hill since Paul Goydos in 1996. Hatton, though, was a top European Tour player with four victories.

Goydos’ maiden victory preceded wins by Phil Mickelson and Ernie Els. In 2000, Tiger Woods began his run of eight wins at Bay Hill in 14 years. The record-setting reign was interrupted by a swing change in ’04 and world-class players Kenny Perry in ’05, Vijay Singh in ’07 and a sex scandal in ’10 when Els again won with Woods away.

The occasional surprise did arise, like Rod Pampling’s ’06 victory, his second of three on Tour, and Martin Laird’s ’11 win, his second of four.

This season, unexpected champions are a trend, if not a sign of the times. Besides the four newbies, Grayson Murray’s victory at the Sony Open in Hawaii was his first since 2017.

“It’s harder to win out here than it ever has,” world No. 6 Patrick Cantlay said. “Guys play more aggressively, and the scores are lower and lower, seemingly every year.”

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