Robert Allenby and Waialae Country Club have developed quite the love-hate relationship.
It’s been hit or miss for Allenby in his eight starts here since 2003, finishing in the top 10 three times and missing the cut the other five.
Safely into the weekend at this year’s tournament after consecutive 68s, Allenby made his predictable Saturday climb up the leaderboard, shooting six birdies as part of a 5-under 65 to move into a tie for sixth place heading into today’s final round of the Sony Open in Hawaii.
"Yeah, I either miss the cut or I play well," said Allenby, who is searching for his first win on the PGA Tour since 2001.
"Obviously when I made the cut, there must have been only one way (for me to go)."
His play has been a welcome sight after a disappointing 2013 season. He missed the FedExCup Playoffs for the first time since they began in 2007 and ended a run of 13 consecutive seasons ranked inside the top 125 on the money list.
He’d also missed three consecutive cuts at Waialae since his second-place effort in 2010, when he finished a stroke behind Ryan Palmer while playing on an injured ankle suffered while hiking Diamond Head.
Allenby has managed to turn it around to start the new year with an improved putting stroke, as evidenced by his 25 total putts for the round on Saturday.
It made up for a couple of snap hooks he hit with the driver, including his opening tee shot that landed up against a fence.
He got a drop and then hit a 5-wood to the front of the green before rolling in a 31-footer for birdie, one of three he made over the first four holes.
He made five putts of more than 10 feet and is tied for 10th this week in fewest putts.
"I got lucky," Allenby said. "I’ve putted well. It’s been feeling good and obviously I putted well the last three days out here. A lot of the greens I’ve just missed the green, but then I’ve made it from just off the green, just off the fringe."
In order to catch leader Chris Kirk, who will start the day three shots in front, Allenby will have to take advantage of the two par-5s.
He was the only player on the leaderboard who didn’t birdie at least one of the two holes to end the front and back nines.
"I should have birdied 8 and 9 but didn’t, but you know, it wasn’t from hitting bad putts," Allenby said. "I’m playing solid and I’m putting well, so hopefully it stays that way."
If he isn’t able to make a final push today, Allenby might look back on his two closing holes on Saturday.
He settled for his only bogey on the par-3 17th after putting his tee shot into the bunker.
He then snap-hooked another drive on 18 that forced him to punch out onto the 10th fairway.
From there, he had to get a 9-iron up and over the palm trees to reach the green, where he two-putted from 53 feet, sinking a 9-footer for par to avoid a disastrous bogey-bogey finish.
"The last hole is a bit funky," Allenby said. "You try to hit a snap hook off the tee, and I overdid it, turned it a bit too quick. I actually got lucky because I was able to go down the 10th fairway because I was right up behind the tree with no shot."
Allenby will begin today’s final round as one of 12 golfers within three shots of the lead. He will tee off at No. 1 at 11:55 a.m. with Pat Perez and two-time U.S. Open champion Retief Goosen.
