When Lanto Griffin carded his third eagle on No. 18 in four days of the Sony Open in Hawaii on Sunday, he noted that he had played the par-5, 551-yard hole better than the entirety of the Waialae Country Club course.
Along with a birdie on Friday, Griffin was 7 under on 18 — and Sunday’s eagle put him at 6 under for the tournament overall with nine holes left to play (he started the final round on the back nine).
“That hole was playing easy,” he said.
Griffin found much of the rest of his course to his liking, as well. He shot 6-under 64 to finish at 8 under for the event and tied for seventh place. It’s the eighth top-20 finish in 10 starts for him this season.
Griffin finished up with a birdie on his final hole, the layout’s other par 5. His 6-iron approach from 195 yards away stopped on line with the cup, about 30 feet to its left.
“There on nine I really just wanted to get it in the middle of the green,” he said. “I know my speed and I’ve been putting well. … It’s tough chipping out. It’s really wet Bermuda. So it’s tough if you miss a green. So that was the game plan. Middle of the green … and birdie was the goal there.”
Goal achieved.
Before and after his first career tour victory at the Houston Open last October, Griffin has finished 18th or better in every event this season except for T76 at the Mayakoba Golf Classic and missing the cut at the RSM Classic. Even at the latter, he posted 65 in his second round.
That was his last event before finishing 13th at the Sentry Tournament of Champions at Kapalua. His work at Waialae made him one of just nine of a possible 34 players to make it through all eight rounds of the Hawaii swing — and this despite dealing with something amiss on the greens much of the time.
“I found something in my putting after the second day (at the Sony),” Griffin said. “My speed has been really bad in Maui and the first two days here, and that clicked and I started rolling it really well.”
As for Sunday’s 64:
“I hit it better the first three days than I did today. Obviously it’s raining and not the easiest conditions. Basically just stayed patient and got a few good breaks and took advantage of it,” he said. “… It’s been clicking. Just going to ride it.”
Howell, Kelly 1-2 in Sony career earnings
Charles Howell III had another good Sony Open in Hawaii, closing with a 69 to fire a round under par here 26 of the last 27 times he teed it up. His run of 23 consecutive rounds in the 60s ended with a 72 on Thursday. He finished one stroke out of the top 10 and tied for 12th for the event, earning $116,050. That runs his career total here to $2,948,281.80.
PGA Tour Champions star Jerry Kelly, who won this event in 2002, is second in Sony Open in Hawaii earnings with $2,792,575. He and Vijay Singh were the only senior golfers in the field with Kelly the only one making the cut. He shot a 69 on Sunday to finish tied for 45th with six other players. Kelly pocketed $18,497 and is hoping to do a little better at the Mitsubishi Electric Championship at Hualalai this week in the first senior event of the year.
Inside the numbers at wet Waialae CC
As you might expect, the steady drizzle that made things that much wetter and muddier had an effect on the scoring. On a positive note, the wind went away by the time the contenders made the turn for home. There were 44 rounds in the 60s out of the 66 golfers who teed it up on Sunday with 75 being the worst score and 64 the best.
The scoring average of 68.773 was the best of the four days, proving rain is one thing and wind is quite another. There wasn’t nearly as much wind in Sunday’s final round as there was the first three days. The cumulative score for the four rounds was 70.150, just a shade above the par 70 afforded this short, but tight course. The easiest hole was the par-5 ninth at 4.303, with two eagles, 46 birdies, 15 pars, two bogeys and a lone double by Satoshi Kodaira, who finished last among the golfers who made the cut at 6-over 286.
