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One shot can change everything.
Kevin Na walked toward his ball — sitting in the rough following a wayward drive off Waialae Country Club’s 13th tee — with the prospect of turning in another solid week at the Sony Open in Hawaii only to fall short on Sunday looming with each stride.
Moments earlier, the putting stroke that carried him into contention on Saturday faltered in a three-putt bogey, dropping him three shots behind leader Brendan Steele.
His outlook, and the tournament, seemingly turned on his next swing.
Na launched an “unbelievable” iron shot out of the thick grass, leaving him with a look at birdie. When he rolled it in from just under 14 feet away, Na shifted gears to chase down Steele and charge into the lead.
“I knew that over the putt, I was like, ‘man, I really need this one,’ ” Na said.
After he walked in a 10-foot birdie putt on No. 14 and dropped another from inside of 6 feet on No. 15, Na suddenly held the solo lead as Steele wobbled.
But he went into No. 18 tied at 20 under with Chris Kirk, who had just finished off a round of 65, and hunting one more birdie.
After his drive rolled through the dogleg and into the rough, Na all but wrapped up his fifth PGA Tour win when he fired a 5-wood from 251 yards out to the fringe behind the green and chipped to inside of 2 feet.
After a tap-in with his 65th stroke of the final round to move to 21 under par for the week, Na could celebrate a breakthrough on a favorable course that denied him in 13 previous appearances.
“I’ve had some chances here. I’ve had I think a couple of top-5s here, and things didn’t quite go well on Sunday, and it’s a golf course that I know I’ve got a chance at,” Na said, “and to be able to validate that is a great feeling.”
Na’s final round of 5 under left the tour veteran from Las Vegas with the lowest 72-hole score of his career at 259 — one shot clear of Kirk and Joaquin Niemann — and gave him a win in each of the past four seasons.
In another year, his back-nine comeback would have drawn roars from the gallery trailing the final group of the day and certainly from the grandstands around the 18th green. The restriction on spectators due to the pandemic limited the reaction to applause from volunteers and officials behind the finishing hole and a few congratulatory shouts from the balconies of the Kahala Hotel overlooking the course.
Nevertheless, Na savored the victory after injuries kept him out of the event the previous two years. He made the trip to Oahu both times but a broken finger forced him out in 2019 and a neck injury prevented him from playing last year.
After tying for 38th at the Sentry Tournament of Champions on Maui last week, Na said he felt a pull in his ribs while warming up for the pro-am on Wednesday. Treatment from his trainer loosened him up, allowing him to keep up with the sizzling scoring pace through two rounds, and he vaulted into contention with a 9-under 61 on Saturday.
After the field torched Waialae an average score of 66.66 — the lowest single-round mark on tour since 2003 — the conditions fought back a bit on Sunday. The heavy rain forecast for the afternoon, which prompted tour officials to move up the tee times by two hours, never showed up, but a shifting breeze caught Na’s attention.
“The wind was a totally opposite direction. Some of the holes played really difficult,” Na said. “The hole locations were not easy out there today. I felt like today was the toughest conditions out of the four.”
Just as Na could point to his sequence on No. 13 for turning his fortunes, Steele’s drive off the 10th tee loomed large after he lost a Sunday lead for the second straight year at Waialae.
Coming off his 61 on Saturday, Steele checked in on Sunday with a two-shot edge over Na and Niemann and made the turn three strokes ahead at 21 under after an eagle on the par-5 ninth.
His drive on No. 10 settled on the edge of the fairway bunker, leaving him with an awkward stance for his second shot. A pitch shot that barely reached the green and three putts accounted for his first bogey in 35 holes and gave hope to the field.
After falling behind with another bogey on No. 14, Steele’s chance to catch Na on No. 17 slid by the hole and a par on No. 18 left him with a round of 69 and at 19 under for the week, tied with Webb Simpson and Marc Leishman for fourth.
“Obviously super disappointed,” said Steele, who took the lead into No. 18 last year before losing a playoff with Cameron Smith. “Playing really well, feeling really good about it. Thought I hit a perfect shot on 10. Got a weird lie there, totally changed the momentum. Every single shot I hit after that ended up with a weird lie, one foot through the fairway, really struggling after that. Completely changed the momentum and super bummed.
“I think if I lay up 10, I think I win the tournament.”
Kirk had more riding on Sunday’s finish than most and carded his fourth straight round of 65 in his final start of a major medical extension and his standing gave him enough FedEx Cup points to maintain his status for the rest of the season.
Niemann chipped in for birdie on No. 17 and added another on 18 to join Kirk at 20 under and finished second a week after falling in a playoff at the Sentry Tournament of Champions on Maui.
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