Golf

Matt Kuchar on course for second win of the season at Sony Open

American takes a two shot lead into the final round in Hawaii after a third round 66

Matt Kuchar hits out of a deep greenside bunker on the 17th hole, helping him save par, shooting a 66 in the third round of the Sony Open at the Waialae Country Club in Honolulu. Photo: Bruce Omori/EPA

Sun Jan 13 2019 - 10:46

Matt Kuchar remains on top of the leaderboard going into the final day of the Sony Open in Hawaii after carding a third-round 66.

After back-to-back 63s, the American produced a flawless round on day three, firing four birdies to move to 18 under overall and top of the pack after 54 holes.

Andrew Putnam kept himself in contention with a three-under 67 and sits two shots adrift of Kuchar in second place.

Keith Mitchell surged into joint third place after making seven birdies in a round of seven-under 63, and joined Chez Reavie on 14 under overall.

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Reavie shot three straight bogeys through holes 11 to 13 but recovered with seven birdies for a round of 66.

Bryson DeChambeau produced arguably the round of the day, matching his career-low 63 to sit tied among a nine-strong pack in fifth place on 11 under.

The 25-year-old won the Memorial Tournament, the Northern Trust and the Dell Technologies Championship in 2018, and moved up 30 places after mixing just one bogey with eight birdies, including three in a row on the way back to the clubhouse.

Scotland’s Russell Knox dropped into joint 40th place on six under after carding a one-under 69, and was joined by England’s Ian Poulter who finished with a third-round 66.

Collated third round scores & totals in the USPGA Tour Sony Open in Hawaii, Waialae CC, Honolulu, Hawaii, United States of America (USA unless stated, par 70):

192 Matt Kuchar 63 63 66

194 Andrew Putnam 62 65 67

196 Keith Mitchell 68 65 63, Chez Reavie 65 65 66

199 Brian Stuard 66 69 64, Hudson Swafford 65 67 67, Davis Love III67 68 64, Charles Howell III69 66 64, Ted Potter, Jr.66 65 68, Marc Leishman (Aus) 67 64 68, Bryson DeChambeau69 67 63, Dominic Bozzelli71 64 64, Corey Conners (Can) 68 67 64

200 Roger Sloan (Can) 69 65 66, Stewart Cink 68 62 70, Sungjae Im (Kor) 71 64 65, Brandt Snedeker66 69 65

201 Emiliano Grillo (Arg) 70 68 63, Hideki Matsuyama (Jpn) 69 67 65, Sebastian Munoz (Col) 68 65 68

202 Julian Etulain (Arg) 67 67 68, Abraham Ancer (Mex) 68 66 68, Justin Thomas67 68 67, Sung Kang (Kor) 70 67 65, Patton Kizzire67 68 67, Patrick Reed68 66 68

203 JT Poston 68 66 69, Rory Sabbatini (Svk) 68 67 68, Matt Jones (Aus) 67 69 67, Scott Piercy71 66 66, Alex Prugh73 65 65, Harris English68 68 67, Joel Dahmen67 70 66, Keegan Bradley68 65 70, Stephan Jaeger (Ger) 69 69 65, Scott Langley70 67 66, Cameron Smith (Aus) 66 68 69, Shugo Imahira (Jpn) 65 67 71, Dylan Frittelli (Rsa) 67 69 67

204 Scott Brown 68 66 70, Brian Gay 67 69 68, Chase Wright69 68 67, Jim Knous66 69 69, Ryan Armour72 64 68, Ian Poulter (Eng) 69 69 66, Russell Knox (Sco) 68 67 69, Tyler Duncan72 66 66

205 Wes Roach 67 68 70, Kyle Stanley 73 64 68, Adam Svensson (Can) 61 74 70, Sam Saunders68 69 68, Michael Thompson66 69 70, Hank Lebioda70 67 68, Ryan Blaum68 66 71, Jimmy Walker69 69 67

206 Danny Lee (Nzl) 70 66 70, Jose de Jesus Rodriguez (Mex) 66 70 70, Brice Garnett70 68 68, Kevin Kisner69 69 68, Jim Herman69 68 69, Fabian Gomez (Arg) 70 67 69, Y.E. Yang (Kor) 68 68 70

207 Carlos Ortiz (Mex) 68 69 70, Rikuya Hoshino (Jpn) 66 72 69, Johnson Wagner68 69 70, Brandon Harkins71 66 70, Anirban Lahiri (Ind) 68 68 71

208 Trey Mullinax 68 70 70, Russell Henley 68 69 71, Yuki Inamori (Jpn) 69 68 71, Adam Hadwin (Can) 73 65 70

209 Eric Dugas 67 71 71

210 Steve Stricker 71 67 72, Jason Dufner 66 72 72, Martin Trainer69 68 73, Cameron Champ69 68 73

211 Sean O’Hair 69 68 74, Mackenzie Hughes (Can) 70 68 73

212 Brady Schnell 71 67 74

213 Gary Woodland 71 66 76

214 Joey Garber 71 67 76