Defending champion Jimmy Walker, trying to bounce back from a disappointing playoff loss a week earlier, shot 8-under-par 62 and took a two-stroke lead over Matt Kuchar heading to the final round of the Sony Open in Hawaii at Waialae Country Club in Honolulu.
Walker, who blew a three-stroke lead in the Hyundai Tournament of Champions and lost in a playoff to Patrick Reed, collected 10 birdies in round three at Waialae, including six on the back nine.
“I was pretty bummed,” Walker, who claimed his first three victories on the PGA Tour last season at the age of 35, said of his fade on Maui. “But you have to get over it in a hurry out here. You have to go play another tournament. You don’t have time to think about it.”
Kuchar, who was tied for the 36-hole lead with Webb Simpson and rookie Justin Thomas, bounced back from two early bogeys and followed his second-round 63 with a 65.
Left-hander Brian Harman birdied three holes on each side, including the final hole, to shoot 64 and was three shot back in a tie for third with Troy Merritt, who had four birdies in the first nine holes but only one more in a 67.
Thomas, who posted a 61 in round two, came back with a 70 and was four shots back in a tie for fifth with Tim Clark of South Africa, who came in at 68.
Simpson, the 2012 U.S. Open champion who was tied for the first-round lead with a 62, struggled to a 72 and was tied for eighth.
