HONOLULU, Hawaii – Notes and observations from Saturday’s third round of the Sony Open in Hawaii, where Justin Thomas has positioned himself for back-to-back wins by taking a seven-shot lead into Sunday. For more from Waialae Country Club, check out the Daily Wrap-up. THE ONE RECORD THOMAS DOES NOT WANT After three record setting days Justin Thomas has just one record to avoid as he heads into Sunday with a seven-shot lead at Waialae Country Club. No player in PGA TOUR history has ever surrendered a seven-shot lead after 54 holes – and Thomas does not intend to be the first. Six players have lost a 6-stroke lead with 18 holes to play: Bobby Cruickshank (1928 Florida Open); Gay Brewer (1969 Danny Thomas-Diplomat Classic); Hal Sutton (1983 Anheuser-Busch Golf Classic); Greg Norman (1996 Masters); Sergio Garcia (2005 Wells Fargo Championship); Spencer Levin (2012 Waste Management Phoenix Open). But Thomas is looking to treat the round like any other and says he will adjust his game plan to the conditions. “It’s just situational. Depends on where I am off the tee. Depends on what the guys are doing that are chasing me,” Thomas said of his Sunday mindset. “At the end of the day, it’s just golf. I need to go out and make a lot of birdies when I have an opportunity to, and I understand sometimes par is a good score.
“It’s not like there’s anything written down or set in stone of what I’m going to be doing on those holes. Just kind of going to go out and play.” With his 5-under 65 Thomas surged his way to 22-under 188 – tying Steve Stricker’s mark of best opening 54 holes on the PGA TOUR (Stricker was 25-under 188 at the John Deere Classic in 2010). Thomas will be seeking to become the fourth player to win the Sony Open in Hawaii in wire-to-wire fashion (no ties) and join K.J. Choi (2008), Paul Azinger (2000 and Howard Twitty (1993). He is also seeking to become the first player to win the SBS Tournament of Champions and Sony Open in Hawaii in the same season since Ernie Els in 2003. QUOTE OF THE DAY IF ANYONE CAN, ZACH CAN While chasing down Justin Thomas is set to be an onerous task, Zach Johnson has always been good at chasing down a 54-hole leader. In his 12 PGA TOUR victories Johnson has come from behind in the final round nine times, including his two major championship wins. But this chase will be the hardest by far given he starts seven shots back and no player in TOUR history has ever bungled a lead so large after 54 holes. Johnson’s best comeback came from four strokes back when he claimed the 2012 John Deere Classic. “We’ve all seen it at every level. You never know. I’ve got to stick to what I’m doing. Get the ball in the fairway, hit some greens, make some putts,” Johnson said. “I’d rather be in his position without question. But you know, in those nine wins, I know what I did and I just went out and played and I’m going to try to do that tomorrow.
“If you make a few early that can always add to your opponent. But I’ve got to play the golf course, and that’s my only competitor tomorrow.” Johnson pointed to Thomas’ opening round of 59 and Kevin Kisner’s 60 on Saturday as proof the improbable could still happen.
“It’s doable. This is a place where you get a little bit of confidence at the flagstick, it can be pretty lethal,” he said. Zach Johnson Comebacks: 2007 Masters 2007 (Started 2 back) 2007 AT&T Classic (3 back) 2008 Valero Texas Open (1 back) 2010 Crowne Plaza Invitational (1 back) 2012 Crowne Plaza Invitational (1 back) 2012 John Deere Classic (4 back) 2013 BMW Championship (3 back) 2014 SBS Tournament of Champions (2 back) 2015 Open Championship (3 back) SO CLOSE YET SO FAR FOR KISNER Kevin Kisner beat his career best PGA TOUR round by three shots. He jumped 64 places into the top six on the Sony Open leaderboard. Yet the 2016 RSM Classic winner could not hide his disappointment as he walked off Waialae Country Club. Having started on the 10th tee Kisner was flying under the radar but by the time he belted his drive 341-yards down the par-5 9th hole the murmurs had swept around the course and a small gallery gathered to witness history. After an impressive 8-iron approach Kisner had just 9”2’ between him and a historical round of 59. Sadly his eagle putt bobbled right of the cup leaving him with a sensational but still heart aching 10-under 60. “When I first looked up, I said dead center, that’s the first thought in my mind to tell you the truth,” Kisner said of his putt for history. “Brian (Stuard) put it on the same line on the other side of the hole. His went right and in, so I thought mine was farther left and in and it kind of bobbled over to the right, too. “Those greens get a little grainy like I’m used to at home, and the grain was going right, but I still thought it would go left.”
Upon further reflection the 32-year-old from South Carolina could see the plethora of positives from his 10-birdie round. “It was fun all the way from start to finish. I hit it great. Gave myself a lot of looks. Obviously I made a ton of putts,” he said. “I can’t be that upset. I hit a good putt, hit a good shot and it was fun coming down the stretch. Almost felt like you were in kind of the heat to win. That was fun.” Kisner was almost bounced from the tournament Friday but he managed to finish birdie, par, eagle to make the cut on the number.
Now he will chase his first Top-10 since August last year.
“I was struggling the first two days and not scoring the way I wanted to. And then that’s why you’ve got to keep grinding,” he said as he gears up to start in a tie for 6th, nine shots back. “That’s why you stay in it and always keep grinding as much as you can, because you never know what’s going to happen.” CALL OF THE DAY SHOT OF THE DAY
Click here to read the full article…
