The wait was interminable for Nick Mason.

A backlog of players before his final hole on Day 3 of the Sony Open in Hawaii meant that Mason, the lone Hawaii native remaining at Waialae Country Club, had to sit and stew on his chances of making the event’s secondary cut for a good 20 minutes near the No. 9 tee box.

“That was not a fun wait,” Mason said. “I ended up asking (what it would take) to get into tomorrow, and we thought we needed a birdie. … To drain it under that amount of pressure, I was really, really happy to do that.”

Mason, a 33-year-old graduate of Leilehua High and Hawaii Hilo, drove into a sand trap on the par-5 hole, which forced him to lay up. He pitched to within 24 feet on his third shot, took his time, and rolled in his longest putt of the day as the gallery erupted.

Mason grinned from ear to ear, raised his hands and emphatically high-fived his caddie and playing partners Harold Varner III and Steve Wheatcroft.

The latest true underdog story of Sony stands at 5-under 205, good for a tie for 59th heading into today’s final round. Mason tees off at the No. 10 hole at noon with Jason Gore and Fred Funk — and his loyal gallery of a couple of dozen friends and family in tow.

Mason has played in a handful of other PGA Tour events, including two Sony Opens and the 2014 U.S. Open, but never made the cut. To even be standing here now, Mason had to qualify for one of a few berths on Monday in a playoff at Hoakalei Country Club.

When he made his first PGA cut on Friday in dramatic fashion, he called it “probably the best moment in my life for sure.”

Now he’s in line for a payday. He estimated his biggest to date was in the neighborhood of $22,000.

“I think I have a chance to make a lot more than that if I play really well,” Mason said. “So, I’m not trying to think about the money when I’m out there … but it’s good to mention it, because that’s absolutely a thing that we play for. We play for our living, and I’m really excited to play for this amount of money for sure.”

Mason was 3 under for his round before the turn Saturday, but had to shake off a bogey on No. 3 (his 12th hole). He did quickly, posting a birdie on the par-3 No. 4.

The difference for Mason this week?

“My attitude, man,” he said. “I haven’t had all my ball-striking, haven’t putted great, but you know what, after the bogeys … this week I’m making birdies if not the next hole, then right after that. I think that’s a huge thing to do after a mistake to come back like that. You can’t double your mistakes out here on tour, because these guys are good.”

A great philosophy. Then he double-bogeyed 6 when he found the rough on his first two swings.

Two pars preceded his long wait before his final hole, and the mental game began.

“For me, I feel he needed that time to just kind of bring himself back together and regain his mentality to just drop whatever’s happened and follow through with whatever he has left,” said Tiffany Lee, Mason’s girlfriend. “And he’s good at doing that. I play golf too, and what I do on the last hole, it sticks with me. He has his whole way of just letting it go and moving on, and it’s worked for him.”

It turned out that had Mason just two-putted 9, he still would’ve made in to the final day. But in Mason fashion, he did it with a flourish.