Chris Kirk moves into lead ahead of final day

Honda Classic R3

Chris Kirk followed up a career-low-tying 8-under 62 on Friday with a 4-under 66, highlighted by birdies on his last two holes to claim his sixth 54-hole lead or co-lead on Tour at 13-under. He has converted them into a win twice previously, at the 2011 Sanderson Farms Championship and the 2013 RSM Classic.

“You want to go out there and try to make a bunch of birdies and get into the lead, but at the same time, you make a bunch of pars on this golf course, that’s good. I know the wind has been down this week, but this place is tough. It’s really, really difficult. There’s a ton of difficult holes, not just the Bear Trap but all throughout this golf course.

“I was able to keep that in mind and kept me patient with what I was doing, and a little bit of an up-and-down on the back nine; after two great birdies on 11 and 12, a couple bad bogeys on 13 and 16. But to finish like that definitely will make dinner taste a little bit better and gets me excited to go see what we can do tomorrow.”

PGA TOUR rookie Eric Cole posted a second straight 4-under 66 and sits in solo second place at 11-under.

Overnight leader Justin Suh closed with a 70 and slipped down into third place a t10-under.

https://twitter.com/PGATOUR/status/1629588052065624065?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1629588052065624065%7Ctwgr%5E6044ecd24a8e02c9bc79900084624b945ecfdd59%7Ctwcon%5Es1_c10&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fpublish.twitter.com%2F%3Fquery%3Dhttps3A2F2Ftwitter.com2FPGATOUR2Fstatus2F1629588052065624065widget%3DTweet

Tied in fourth place one shot behind the American trio are last year’s runner-up Shane Lowry (65) of Ireland and England’s Ben Taylor (69).

“This golf course, you don’t know what’s going to happen,” said Lowry. “You just need to stick in as long as you can. There’s not many holes where you can stand up, and you don’t want to be complacent but take it easy on them. Every hole is a bit of a disaster hole, or a lot of holes are a bit of disaster holes. You just need to be very cautious and aggressive to your targets and just go out there and give it your best, and if that’s good enough at the end of the day, you hope to be standing here with the trophy.

“I putted nicely, hit the ball well. To be honest, first round I hit the ball unbelievable. Yesterday I putted quite nicely, and today I kind of put the two of them together. I missed a short one on 17, which I don’t know where that come out of, but hopefully all that will come together tomorrow and I can shoot a decent score tomorrow.

“I think I did what I needed to do today. I knew I needed, with the way the conditions were, I knew I probably needed to go out and shoot a decent score, I did, and I’m looking forward to tomorrow.

Lowry’s uncled passed away on Thursday and he almost went home but was convinced to stay and play. He is wearing a green and white ribbon in his memory.

https://twitter.com/PGATOUR/status/1629564872462843904?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1629564872462843904%7Ctwgr%5E16b774dbda1bf2bc170438e5ddb2b073c223cc49%7Ctwcon%5Es1_c10&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fpublish.twitter.com%2F%3Fquery%3Dhttps3A2F2Ftwitter.com2FPGATOUR2Fstatus2F1629564872462843904widget%3DTweet

Pos.PlayerTo ParR1R2R3Total
1Chris Kirk-13696266197
2Eric Cole-11676666199
3Justin Suh-10666470200
T4Shane Lowry-9686865201
T4Ben Taylor-9676569201
T6Byeong Hun An-8706567202
T6Tyler Duncan-8676768202
T8Sepp Straka-7696866203
T8Cameron Percy-7696866203
T8Brice Garnett-7696470203
T8Ben Martin-7696470203
T8Ryan Gerard-7696371203
T13Chesson Hadley-6696669204
T13Matt Wallace-6676869204
T15Ryan Brehm-5677464205
T15Kramer Hickok-5716866205
T15Davis Riley-5716767205
T15David Lingmerth-5696868205
T15Adam Svensson-5706669205
T20Robby Shelton-4736766206
T20Kevin Roy-4726866206
T20Ben Griffin-4697166206
T20Dylan Wu-4716867206
T20Christiaan Bezuidenhout-4687167206
T20William McGirt-4736667206
T20Billy Horschel-4657368206
T20Andrew Novak-4696869206
T20Adrian Meronk-4676970206
T20Adam Schenk-4676871206
T20Zach Johnson-4686771206
T31Webb Simpson-3717066207
T31Garrick Higgo-3756666207
T31Stephan Jaeger-3716967207
T31Lee Hodges-3716967207
T31Danny Willett-3697068207
T31Taylor Pendrith-3696969207
T31Kelly Kraft-3716670207
T31Tano Goya-3686673207
T39Brett Drewitt-2717067208
T39Jim Herman-2717067208
T39Trevor Werbylo-2707167208
T39Matthias Schwab-2756667208
T39Erik Barnes-2726769208
T39Jimmy Walker-2746569208
T39Sungjae Im-2677170208
T39Harrison Endycott-2726571208
T39Scott Harrington-2696772208
T39Dylan Frittelli-2716572208
T39Carson Young-2657073208
T50MJ Daffue-1746768209
T50Kevin Chappell-1726869209
T50Augusto Núñez-1707069209
T50Padraig Harrington-1726869209
T50Will Gordon-1687170209
T50Brandon Wu-1716870209
T50Brandon Matthews-1696971209
T50Harry Hall-1687071209
T58Zac BlairPar717069210
T58J.T. PostonPar736869210
T58Mark HubbardPar697170210
T58Bill HaasPar726870210
T58Ryan ArmourPar706971210
T58Min Woo LeePar686973210
T58Akshay BhatiaPar716574210
T65Jhonattan Vegas+1697270211
T65Aaron Wise+1697270211
T65Trace Crowe+1726970211
T65S.H. Kim+1687370211
T65Vincent Norrman+1726970211
T65Trevor Cone+1717070211
T65Kevin Tway+1697171211
T65Jason Dufner+1687073211
T73Pierceson Coody+2667571212
T73Kyle Stanley+2687371212
T73Anders Albertson+2726971212
T73Joseph Bramlett+2657374212
77J.B. Holmes+3697074213
T78Geoff Ogilvy+4687373214
T78Cody Gribble+4717073214
80Tyson Alexander+5707075215
CUTHank Lebioda+27666-142
CUTPeter Malnati+27072-142
CUTCam Davis+27270-142
CUTAaron Baddeley+27171-142
CUTBen Silverman+27072-142
CUTFabián Gómez+27072-142
CUTChad Ramey+27072-142
CUTCharley Hoffman+27171-142
CUTCarl Yuan+27072-142
CUTArjun Atwal+37469-143
CUTSatoshi Kodaira+37568-143
CUTDoc Redman+37271-143
CUTRyan Moore+37370-143
CUTMatti Schmid+37469-143
CUTSam Stevens+37469-143
CUTJonathan Byrd+37073-143
CUTBen Crane+37172-143
CUTMartin Trainer+36875-143
CUTGreyson Sigg+37370-143
CUTAustin Eckroat+37469-143
CUTMichael Gligic+36974-143
CUTAustin Cook+47371-144
CUTDenny McCarthy+47569-144
CUTMichael Kim+47272-144
CUTAdam Long+47173-144
CUTMatt Kuchar+47569-144
CUTHarris English+47470-144
CUTChris Stroud+47272-144
CUTCurtis Thompson+47371-144
CUTSean O'Hair+47470-144
CUTGrayson Murray+47470-144
CUTJonas Blixt+47371-144
CUTNick Hardy+47272-144
CUTPaul Haley II+46975-144
CUTTyler Collet+46876-144
CUTRobert Streb+57273-145
CUTAaron Rai+57273-145
CUTHenrik Norlander+57273-145
CUTRyan Palmer+57273-145
CUTBrian Gay+57273-145
CUTGreg Chalmers+57075-145
CUTBrian Stuard+67373-146
CUTAndrew Landry+67472-146
CUTHayden Buckley+66977-146
CUTLuke Donald+77176-147
CUTCallum Tarren+77572-147
CUTRussell Knox+97574-149
CUTZecheng Dou+97178-149
CUTRory Sabbatini+97178-149
CUTMax McGreevy+97376-149
CUTRichy Werenski+107575-150
CUTMarcus Byrd+108169-150
CUTNico Echavarria+107377-150
CUTParker Coody+107476-150
CUTScott Brown+117675-151
CUTCamilo Villegas+118071-151
CUTKyle Westmoreland+117675-151
CUTHarry Higgs+117279-151
CUTS.Y. Noh+127280-152
CUTAndrew Kozan+127676-152
CUTErik van Rooyen+147777-154
CUTSung Kang+147381-154
W/DThomas Detry-76--76
W/DBrent Grant-77--77
Updated: February 26, 2023
The Honda Classic 2023
Date: 23rd February - 26th February, 2023
Location: PGA National Resort (The Champion), Palm Beach Gardens, Florida
Purse: $8,400,000