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For those winners from last season fortunate enough to play in the Sentry Tournament of Champions, it’s been a two-week grind against the howling winds that haven’t gone away in 2020.
They finally did let up a bit Saturday afternoon at Waialae Country Club, giving golfers like Kevin Kisner a chance to finally go on the offensive.
With birdies on three of his last four holes on the front nine, Kisner got aggressive in the second half of his third round and turned in a tournament-best 6-under 64 to put himself in position to win the Sony Open in Hawaii.
Kisner, who had finished in the top five twice in the previous four years at Waialae, jumped 21 spots into sole third, four back of leader Brendan Steele.
“I think (the wind) calmed down a little bit later in the round, allowing you to attack a little bit more than earlier in the week,” Kisner said. “I just started to make some of those 15-, 20-foot putts that I haven’t made all week. That’s how you shoot a low score.”
Low scores aren’t new for Kisner at Waialae. Three years ago, he had an eagle putt slide just right on his final hole that would have given him a 59.
Those scores haven’t been there this year with the poor weather this week, as most of the 144 who teed it up in the first full-field event of 2020 were met by brutal conditions coming off their holiday break.
Kisner had the opportunity to play last week in Maui after winning the WGC-Dell Technologies Match Play event last March and thinks it has made a difference in this tournament.
Three of the golfers in the top 10 entering today’s final round played last week.
“I think that the biggest key to the whole week is seeing how the golf ball was flying last week, not coming fresh off the couch and Christmas break and trying to play in these conditions,” Kisner said. “(I) made a couple bombs early on the front nine and jump-started the round. If you can get a few under on this golf course, you can feel like you can attack more and you don’t have to play it as safe.”
Kisner finished in a tie for 14th place on Maui after a final-round 76, but came to Oahu knowing the next tournament fit his game much better.
“The golf course last week wasn’t conducive for anybody that drives it 275,” said Kisner, who ranks 230th on the tour in driving distance. “There are very few left that are on this tour. Yes, you can still compete, you just got to hoop more putts.”
He got to the weekend with back-to-back 69s and then took advantage with his irons Saturday, hitting 16 of 18 greens to nearly double his total from his opening round.
A 29-foot bomb for birdie on No. 3 made up for his only bogey of the round on the previous hole. He then topped that lengthy putt with a birdie from 32 feet that really got his ascension up the leaderboard going.
He got an unfortunate break on 14 when a good-looking approach shot hit a sprinkler head and flew off behind the hole to the right. Instead of a birdie putt, Kisner had a long one from off the green of 70-plus feet that he nearly holed before tapping in for par.
“When you’re 4 or 5 under you have some good breaks in this weather, so you’ve got to take the bad in stride,” Kisner said. “It was a little unfortunate break, but hit that putt and made up for it.”
Steele birdied his final three holes to put some distance between himself and Kisner to start today’s final round. Another low score will likely be what it takes to get into the winner’s circle.
“I’ve got to be able to make some hay when the sun tends to shine, so I feel like I got to go after it,” Kisner said. “It’s a shorter, ball-strikers’ paradise. I feel comfortable and hopefully I can keep it going.”
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