Chris Kirk carded a 7-under 66 on Saturday to jump into the lead after three rounds of action at The Sentry in Maui, Hawaii.
Kirk now sits at 21-under 198 for the tournament, one stroke ahead of Akshay Bhatia, who also fired a third-round 66. Xander Schauffele (65 on Saturday), Jordan Spieth (67) and South Korean Byeong Hun An (68) are in a three-way tie for third at 19 under.
“I may go play great (Sunday), and somebody may play a little bit better,” Kirk said. “There’s only so much control you have over that. So, you just kind of stay with your process and just go do it. … It’s fun just to be here and enjoy Hawaii and be able to make some nice free swings in this warm weather. I always loved coming here.”
Friday’s second-round leader, World No. 1 Scottie Scheffler, posted a 71 on Saturday to slip into a tie for sixth, three strokes off the lead.
After settling for bogey at the par-4 third and making par at the par-4 fourth, Kirk caught fire, grabbing birdies at seven of the next 10 holes. He added one more to close his round at the par-5 18th.
“A little bit of a slow start, for sure,” Kirk said. “Those firsthand full of holes with the wind direction and how strong it was are actually playing really difficult. We’ve had relatively calm winds, then pretty breezy (Saturday). So No. 2, with that wind hard off the left, it’s tough to hold that green.
“Then 3 and 4 are playing really long into the wind, just makes it a little bit tough. But I played through that stretch.”
Scheffler maneuvered his way through the first six holes with little trouble and was 1 under for the day heading to the par-4 seventh. That’s where Scheffler had his first slip-up, though, carding a bogey despite getting on the green in two shots. He then bogeyed the par-3 eighth, too.
Harris English notched the low round of the day with a 9-under 64 to skyrocket 26 spots on the leaderboard. He now sits T6 along with Scheffler, Australia’s Jason Day (67 on Saturday) and Sahith Theegala (68).
English attributed the solid third-round performance to his putting.
“My lines and speed have matched up the last couple days and especially (Saturday),” English said. “That’s what it takes is making those 12-, 15-footers, and once you start making a few of ’em you feel like you can make all of ’em, and that’s kind of how I felt.”
–Field Level Media
