Will Gordon was sinking shots Saturday just like his former golfing buddy Stephen Curry does on the basketball court.

Gordon fired a 7-under-par 63, including a run of five consecutive birdies, to move into a tie for seventh place at 11-under 199 after the third round of the Sony Open in Hawaii at Waialae Country Club.

“I tried to not overcomplicate it and just keep it simple and try to stay really level with my posture and keep my lower body a little bit more quiet today,” said Gordon, who is four strokes behind leader Hayden Buckley.

Gordon, 26, has played against a lot of well-known people in his brief PGA Tour career, but the most famous individual he’s teed it up with is Curry, the four-time NBA champion guard for the Golden State Warriors.

Gordon is from Davidson, N.C., while Curry, 34, is from Charlotte and played basketball at Davidson College.

“Yeah, probably 10 or 12 (times) from ages eight to 14,” Gordon said about playing against Curry. “It was a cool time in my life. I don’t talk to him a ton anymore, but it served as big inspiration for me growing up.”

Gordon, a Vanderbilt alum, started the day in the first group tied for 33rd at 4 under and seven shots behind second-round leader Chris Kirk.

Gordon shot up the leaderboard with a birdie on No. 2 and five in a row on Nos. 8-12. He finished with two more on Nos. 14 and 17.

“I was able to hit it really nice and give myself some opportunities,” he said. “I’ve been putting it great. I just haven’t been inside 20 feet. So today was really nice to have some looks.

“I think that’s what you’re trying to do on Saturday, especially when nobody has blown this golf tournament wide open yet. You know it’s in there, and if you go on a run like I did today you can get yourself in it.”

Gordon’s only bogey came on No. 16. He appeared destined for another on the par-5 18th after hitting a wayward second shot and taking a drop, but he sent his third within 27 feet of the hole and two-putted for par.

“Made a bad club decision on 16 and that kind of started getting the wheels moving a little bit fast, so we got a lot to learn about what happened in the last 45 minutes,” Gordon said.

The only players who had a better third round than Gordon were Andrew Putnam and Nick Taylor, who both shot 8 under. Putnam is tied for fifth at 12 under and Taylor is tied for ninth at 10 under.

“Played great on the front, think I was 5 under,” Putnam said. “Couple loose swings, couple bogeys that I typically don’t make, and then the putter heated up. Made some long putts. Pretty sure my strokes gained putting is pretty high for this round.”

He gained 4.6 strokes against the field with his flat stick on Saturday.

Putnam, who is from Tacoma, Wash., ended his round just as the Seattle Seahawks-San Francisco 49ers wild-card game started the second half.

He told the media he wanted to catch the remainder of the game on TV.

Putnam ended things by saying, “All right, guys. Go Hawks. Thank you, guys.”

Putnam was likely very disappointed by the end result: The 49ers won 41-23.

Gordon was a PGA Tour rookie in 2021-22, but lost his playing privileges after lackluster results. He re-earned his card in August by winning a Korn Ferry Tour final in Boise, Idaho.

“I’ve been out here once before (on the PGA Tour),” Gordon said. “It happened really fast the first time I got out here, so I didn’t feel like I had my feet under me. The Korn Ferry provided that for me, so it was a great experience to get better. Winning that finals event was huge.”

Gordon has made the cut in all eight of the events he’s entered this season, including a tie for third at the World Wide Technology Championship at Mayakoba in November.

“I think I’m just trying to build on what I’m doing every week,” he said. “It’s really not about the cuts or the performance. It’s just about getting better every week. That’s what I’m trying to focus on, is like if something gets off or I’m doing something well, try to take note of what I’m doing well and build on it and take it from week to week.”

As for Gordon’s golfing time with Curry, he said: “I think he clipped me the last time, and once he got in the win column we haven’t played again. Yeah, it was fun.”

When Gordon was asked if he ever played hoops with Curry, he said, “No, I wanted to stay in the win column.”