LAS VEGAS — Defending champion Tom Kim felt the vibes and located his groove Saturday in Las Vegas with a 9-under 62 that gave him a three-way share of the lead within the Shriners Kids’s Open and an opportunity to win the identical match twice in a single season.
It was the second straight 12 months Kim had a 62 within the third spherical on the TPC Summerlin. It led to a playoff victory over Patrick Cantlay final 12 months in what was the early a part of the season. Now it is technically the identical season earlier than the PGA Tour goes again to a calendar 12 months.
Adam Hadwin performed bogey-free — he had extra birdies on the par 3s than the par 5s — for a 63 to catch Kim. Becoming a member of them was a late arrival in so some ways — Lanto Griffin, who was tied for the 36-hole lead and did not make a birdie till the thirteenth gap.
That was the beginning of three birdies in a four-hole stretch that led to a 68 and allowed Griffin to share the lead at 15-under 198.
This was hardly a three-man race going into the ultimate spherical. K.H. Lee (66) was amongst three gamers on shot again. All of it, 14 gamers have been inside three pictures of the lead. That features J.T. Poston and Canadian Open champion Nick Taylor, a small comfort to each of them.
Poston hit an excellent bunker shot on the fifteenth to five ft for birdie that allowed him to tie for the lead. He was 209 yards away on the par-5 sixteenth, poised for birdie at worst. After which all of it fell aside with one swing and one choice.
His shot landed on the financial institution of the inexperienced and hopped again into the water. As a substitute of going to the drop zone some 95 yards away within the fairway, Poston selected to drop in the fitting tough for a greater angle on the financial institution left pin. However then his wedge got here out heavy, caromed twice off the rocks framing the inexperienced and again into the water.
This time, he went to the drop zone and hit it to fifteen ft.
“Ought to have performed that the primary f—ing time,” Poston could possibly be heard saying. He missed the putt, giving it a sarcastic thumbs-up because it was drifting proper of the outlet, and took triple bogey.
He closed with a birdie for a 68 and was within the massive group at 13-under.
Taylor was inside one shot of the lead when he did not birdie the par-5 sixteenth. On the par-3 seventeenth, he hung his head when his tee shot was within the air, realizing something too far left would catch a slope and roll into the water, and that is what it did. He took double bogey, needed to accept a 69 and was amongst these at 12-under 201.
Kim, the 21-year-old South Korean who was raised primarily in Australia, was a two-time winner final 12 months. He didn’t defend his title within the Wyndham Championship whereas resting an ankle damage suffered through the British Open. That makes Las Vegas his first PGA Tour title protection, and he’s having fun with it.
“It is really fairly cool,” Kim stated. “Simply the vibe, feeling such as you received this occasion final 12 months, and I really feel like since you received, you’ve the constructive vibes and also you type of relive that successful second. … “Simply to have the ability to come again – particularly now close to the leaderboard – at the very least I’ve an opportunity on Sunday.”
Hadwin had one in all solely seven birdies on the seventeenth, holing a 30-footer that capped off a 63. The Canadian is taking part in for the primary time for the reason that BMW Championship in August and stated he felt extra rejuvenated than rusty. He completed among the many prime 50 within the FedEx Cup and is already in all of the $20 million occasions subsequent 12 months.
However he’s No. 56 on the planet rating. The highest 50 on the finish of the 12 months get into the Masters.
For Griffin, it is an opportunity to indicate he is absolutely wholesome after a sequence of accidents – again surgical procedure final July, after which a rib damage when he tried to return. He confirmed up at simply the fitting time Saturday with the late birdies.
“Not making a birdie till 13 on a course that everyone goes low and making birdies on, it is good to get a pair early, type of settle your self down, and that did not occur immediately,” Griffin stated. “However making solely pars is not the top of the world, both.”
No want telling that to Cameron Champ. He was tied for the 36-hole and had a triple bogey early that despatched him to a 74 and a tie for twenty fourth.
The Related Press contributed to this story.
