HILTON HEAD ISLAND, S.C. — Si Woo Kim did not make a bogey till the ultimate gap Saturday at Harbour City. By then he had performed properly sufficient that he nonetheless posted a 5-under 66 and wound up with a one-shot lead on the RBC Heritage.
Kim birdied the opening two holes to right away catch 36-hole chief Justin Thomas and, proper when he started to tug away, the 29-year-old South Korean got here up brief on the par-4 closing gap and made bogey.
“I performed nice — solely missed the final gap, in order that’s not an enormous deal,” Kim stated. “So, I play just about 35 holes actually respectable. So I am not going to fret in regards to the final gap for tomorrow. I am in good place. I have been taking part in good.”
He was at 15-under 198, one shot forward of Andrew Novak (66) and Thomas, who had a most fascinating day that ended with a 15-foot birdie for a 69.
Thomas was assessed a one-shot penalty from a waste space on the par-5 second gap when he notified a guidelines official that his ball moved a fraction whereas he was eradicating some free gravel round it.
Then on the eleventh gap, he tried to splash out of some shallow water in a hazard and muddied his shirt and face. The ball moved 15 yards.
“That did not appear price it,” Thomas stated, loud sufficient for the gallery to listen to and to snort.
It ended fortunately sufficient. Thomas, in search of his first PGA Tour victory in practically three years, was trailing by three pictures on the 18th tee and left the inexperienced just one shot behind.
Novak, an athletic participant who has had three shut calls at his first PGA Tour win, performed with no bogey and missed loads of good birdie probabilities. He did properly sufficient to get into the ultimate group with Kim.
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Maverick McNealy shot 64 and was alone in fourth, two pictures behind. He was adopted by former British Open champion Brian Harman (66) and Tommy Fleetwood, who had three birdies over his final six holes for a 68.
Defending champion Scottie Scheffler had a tough stretch early on the again 9 that derailed his momentum, although he nonetheless managed a 68 and was very a lot within the sport at solely 4 pictures out of the lead.
Scheffler hit a superb escape from the bushes, the ball by no means gaining greater than 10 toes of altitude from 160 yards away, nevertheless it was too robust and rolled in opposition to the lip of a bunker, leaving him no shot. He needed to make an 8-foot putt to salvage bogey.
He went lengthy of the inexperienced on No. 12 and left himself a quick pitch (bogey) after which hit a demanding lob wedge over the bunker to three toes on No. 13 and missed the putt.
The climate has been getting hotter and windier by the day, sufficient to make the course quick and crispy and sufficient motion within the bushes to trigger some second-guessing. There are low scores obtainable. It would not take a lot for gamers to lose momentum.
It is a signature occasion with no reduce and the scoring common has been roughly the identical all three days. It is a matter of will get on a roll, who holes putts and who limits errors. For a lot of Saturday, that was Kim.
He opened with a pair of 6-foot birdie putts. He dealt with the par 5s. His longest birdie putt was on the par-5 fifteenth when he acquired out of place and needed to make an 18-footer.
Thomas has stated he’s able to ending his three-year drought and easily wants the event to unfold as an alternative of forcing the problem. This was solely a 69 however essential to him as a result of he managed a spherical underneath par when it felt like nothing was going proper.
And that birdie on the final gap?
“It was enormous,” he stated. “I performed rather well at this time, actually stable. Simply did not have a lot to point out. The course is getting very troublesome, very agency and quick. … Yeah, it was good to see an iron shot stand up there pin-high and roll that putt in there. It is good to complete off like that and journey that momentum into tomorrow.”
