If a golfer shoots a 59 and nobody is there to see it, is it still a 59?
A tournament begging for any kind of third-round drama on Saturday finally got it late in the afternoon at Waialae Country Club.
The only problem was, there were about as many media members as casual observers there to witness it.
As the sun started to set behind the palm trees that line the ninth fairway, the Sony Open in Hawaii nearly had its second round of 59 in three days.
The only real question at the 18th green was who would join runaway leader Justin Thomas in the final pairing. Meanwhile, the ninth green, where golfers battled to avoid missing the 54-hole cut, was the setting for another eagle putt with a sub-60 round, the PGA Tour’s ninth ever, on the line.
A grandstand behind the green swelled to 15 people as Kevin Kisner eyed a 9-foot eagle putt to join seven other golfers in PGA Tour history to shoot in the 50s. Just off to the left of the stands, an excited Vijay Singh fan tore off his shirt hoping to get the 53-year old Fijian to sign it before he headed to the parking lot.
Most of the people walking by were more interested in beating the traffic out of Waialae than the chance to see a 59. If they were aware what was going on, they didn’t stop to watch.
Kisner, whose previous low round on tour was a 63, lined up the putt and when he looked up after hitting it, his first thought was, “dead center.”
“I early called myself,” Kisner said after the putt leaked out to the right, leaving him with a 10-under 60.
“Can’t be that upset. I hit a good putt, hit a good shot and then it was fun coming down the stretch,” Kisner said. “It was fun all the way from start to finish.”
This week at Waialae has been that way for most of the field. Kisner’s round was one of six at 62 or better in the tournament so far.
It was a big turnaround from the first two days, which left Kisner in danger of missing his second cut in the past three tournaments entered.
He needed to eagle his finishing hole on Friday just to make it to the weekend and then he birdied nine of his final 14 holes to jump 64 spots into a tie for sixth place at 13 under.
Twenty-four hours after thinking he was heading home, Kisner found himself putting for history and on the first page of the leaderboard.
“It’s crazy how this game works,” Kisner said. “I didn’t even know if I was going to make a cut. Was struggling the first two days and not scoring the way I wanted to. That’s why you’ve got to keep grinding. That’s why you stay in it and always keep grinding as much as you can.”
Even with the 60, Kisner is nine shots behind Thomas, who “might need to get food poisoning,” to blow the lead, Kisner quipped.
“Feel way better about my position than even last night,” Kisner said. “You never know what’s going to happen. I went birdie, par, eagle (Friday) to make the cut, and to shoot 10 under (Saturday) to be in the top (six), that’s what it’s all about.”
Kisner started on the back nine because of his low standing on the leaderboard and didn’t think 59 until getting to No. 5 (his 14th hole of the round). He hit his approach to 16 feet for birdie, and at 7 under in the round, thought he had a shot at it if he could convert.
He missed the putt and then put his drive on the next tee into the trees.
“I quit thinking about it (after that drive) and went out and pushed it out and ran it up (to) like 3 feet and made that for birdie,” Kisner said. “(Those are the) kind of things that happen when you shoot 10 under.”
Without any wind to give golfers trouble, Waialae has played as easy as any point in its 50-plus years hosting PGA events. Kisner called the course “easy with these conditions,” but said it’s good for the game.
“I think it’s just what we needed,” Kisner said. “If there’s no defense, then you ought to be able to make birdies. If there’s wind, you ought to be struggling. The only issue I have with how they are making the golf courses is it almost sets up for the bombers because they are making them longer and harder, and the kids don’t care, because they just keep hitting it further.
“That’s why I think (Waialae) is such a great golf course. You can have bombers win here or short guys.”
