Round 4 - Kizzire wins Sony Open in marathon playoff

January 14, 2018

Patton Kizzire parred the sixth playoff hole on Sunday to vanquish James Hahn and seize his second US PGA Tour title of the season at the Sony Open in Hawaii.

The marathon playoff capped a day when Kizzire needed all of his patience at Waialae in Honolulu.

He parred the first nine holes before an eagle at the 10th gave him a share of the lead. After another birdie and a bogey he finished with a 68 for 17-under 263.

Hahn was already in the clubhouse at 17-under after a storming final-round 62, and it would take half a dozen more holes to determine the winner.

"It wasn't necessarily pretty but it was nice to come out on top," Kizzire said. "James had a great round today."

Kizzire, who won at Mayakoba in Mexico in November, became the tour's first two-time winner in the 2017-18 season when he finished off Hahn at the par-three 17th. Kizzire was just off the green, 22 feet from the hole and Hahn further off the putting surface.

Both opted to putt, Kizzire leaving himself a four-footer that he made after Hahn's eight-foot effort caught the edge but didn't drop.

"It was kind of a marathon playoff," Kizzire said. "I was hoping I could make an eagle on the first hole and end it quickly but I'll take it any way I can get it."

Kizzire and Hahn both opened the playoff with pars at the par-five 18th.

Both birdied 18 when they returned again for the second hole, then both parred the par-three 17th.

They returned again to 18, where Hahn got up and down for birdie from a greenside bunker while Kizzire two-putted for birdie from 28 feet.

Both were in a greenside bunker at 18 for the fifth playoff hole and came up with pars.

Hahn had been a perfect 2-0 in previous tour playoffs, winning both of his titles to date in extra holes.

Seven adrift to start the day, he roared up the leaderboard with an eight-under par round.

His nine birdies included five in a row from the eighth through the 12th, and he added two more at 14 and 15 to get to 17-under.

"I was hitting them good," Hahn said. "Anytime I'm hitting them good I feel like I can go after flags and not worry about where they're going where they're missing. Short game was on, there was no reason not to fire at the flag."

Walking off the 72nd green, however, Hahn wasn't expecting to be in a playoff, with the closing holes at Waialae offering birdie chances to those still on the course.

Overnight leader Tom Hoge, chasing a first US PGA Tour title, was 18-under after rolling in a 21-foot birdie putt at the 12th.

But he made a double-bogey from a bunker at 16 and missed a birdie chance at 18 that could have seen him in the playoff.

Hoge signed for a two-under par 70 that left him alone in third on 16-under 264.

It was a further stroke back to Webb Simpson, Brian Stuard and Brian Harman on 265. Simpson and Stuard both posted five-under 65s while Harman, tied for second with Kizzire to start the day, carded a 70.

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Round 3 - Tom Hoge moves 1-ahead after missile scare

January 14, 2018

Tom Hoge seized the third-round lead at the Sony Open on Saturday as US PGA Tour golfers shook off the panic caused by mistaken missile alert and got down to business in Hawaii.

"For sure, to get that missile threat on your phone, you don't know what's going to happen," Hoge said of the early morning scare, in which an alert was sent to cellphones warning of "BALLISTIC MISSILE THREAT INBOUND TO HAWAII".

Recipients were urged to seek shelter, and it was more than half an hour before authorities confirmed the alert was sent in error.

Journeyman John Peterson, who was tied for second after Friday's second round, wrote on Twitter that he had taken evasive action after the warning.

"Under mattresses in the bathtub with my wife, baby and in laws," Peterson wrote. "Please lord let this bomb threat not be real."

In a separate tweet after confirmation that the alert was sent in error, Peterson wrote: "Man. How do you press the wrong button like that. COME ON MAN."

But Hoge, a 28-year-old graduate of the developmental Web.com Tour who is seeking a first US PGA Tour title, showed no sign of any residual nerves as he put together a bogey-free round of six-under par 64 at Waialae in Honolulu.

His 16-under total of 194 put him one stroke in front of overnight leader Brian Harman, who carded a 68, and Patton Kizzire, who climbed up the leaderboard with a 64 for 195.

American Kyle Stanley was alone in fourth after a 65 for 196 and compatriot Chris Kirk fired a 67 for 197.

Hoge's six birdies included a 40-foot bomb at the 17th. He seized sole possession of the lead with a birdie from a greenside bunker at the par-five 18th.

While he has yet to win on the PGA Tour, Hoge said some solid performances early in the 2017-18 season had given him confidence.

"I've been close a few times," he said. "I played well in those situations and I've just got to go out and play another solid round.

"That's kind of been my focus -- to get the ball in the fairway and I've been pretty good with irons and wedges."

Harman started the day with a three-shot lead. He managed birdies at the fifth and 10th to keep his pursuers at bay, but bogeyed the 11th. He was tied for the lead after a birdie at 16, but he settled for a par at the last after finding the rough off the tee.

Kizzire opened with an inauspicious double-bogey at the first, but reeled off five straight birdies from the sixth through the 10th to power into contention. He added birdies at 14 and 16 to seize a share of the lead heading to 18, where he salvaged a birdie despite driving into a hospitality area.

Defending champion Justin Thomas, who fired a first-round 59 en route to victory last year, carded a four-under 66 that left him six shots off the pace on 200.

Like Hoge, he said the morning missile scare made for a different perspective on the day's round.

"I was really scared there for probably three or four minutes," said Thomas, who was reassured by the fact that television news channels weren't reporting any missile strike.

"I actually just put music on, watched TV and opened the sliding door. I was like, if it's my time it's my time."

On the course, world number four Thomas holed out for eagle from the fairway at the second hole and had five birdies but also had three bogeys.

"The eagle on two, holing out, was great, but my bogeys today were just bad," Thomas said.

Nevertheless, after the frightening start to the day that didn't seem so bad.

"I guess you could say it was a good day no matter what," he said.

Round 2 - Harman takes 3-shot lead with 63

January 13, 2018

Brian Harman capped a seven-under par 63 with an eagle at his final hole Friday to seize a three-shot lead in the second round of the US PGA Tour's Sony Open in Hawaii.

Harman, who has four top-10 finishes in four starts in the US tour's 2017-18 season, teed off early at Waialae in Honolulu, and opened with back-to-back birdies at the 10th and 11th.

His six birdies on the day included three in a row at the second, third and fourth and he rolled in a 17-footer at the par-five ninth for an eagle that gave him a 13-under total of 127.

"I'm making putts, but I'm also putting myself in position to make those putts," Harman said. "I'm getting a bunch of looks. I'm not making everything I'm looking at, but I'm hitting a lot of good putts and made a few."

Overnight co-leaders Chris Kirk and Zach Johnson were in a group sharing second place on 10-under par 130.

Kirk gave chase in the afternoon, opening his round with an eagle at the 10th hole and closing within one stroke before settling for a three-under 67 that concluded with a bogey at the par-five ninth.

"Definitely an up and down day," Kirk said. "A few loose swings towards the end, unfortunately, but a lot of really good ones as well."

By then, two-time major winner Johnson was in the clubhouse after a 67 that included three birdies and an eagle at the ninth.

John Peterson, Tom Hoge and Talor Gooch were also 10-under.

Peterson opened with four straight birdies then picked up two more at seven and nine to make the turn at six-under then had two birdies and two bogeys coming in to sign for a 64.

Hoge closed with four straight birdies in a 65 and PGA Tour rookie Gooch had six birdies in his four-under 66.

Harman, who won his second career title at the Wells Fargo Championship last season, is trying to build on a third-place finish at last week's Tournament of Champions, where he led at the halfway stage but was overtaken by world number one Dustin Johnson.

He's also aiming to put himself in line for berth on the US team for the Ryder Cup in France, after missing out on a Presidents Cup spot last year.

"I was disappointed I didn't make the Presidents Cup team. That one definitely stung," he said. "But I'll use that going forward. That's definitely motivation."

Round 1 - Johnson and Kirk tied for lead at 7-under

January 12, 2018

Two-time major winner Zach Johnson rolled in a five-foot birdie putt at the 18th on Thursday to seize a share of the first-round lead at the US PGA Tour Sony Open in Hawaii.

Johnson, the 2009 winner at Waialae in Honolulu, had seven birdies in his seven-under 63, joining early pace-setter Chris Kirk atop the leaderboard in the US PGA Tour's first full-field event of 2018.

Kirk, a four-time winner on the US tour, nabbed five of his seven birdies on the back nine. He had a look at eagle on the par-five 18th, where he holed a two-footer for birdie.

Johnson got off to a hot start in his pursuit of Kirk, with birdies at the first three holes. He added another birdie at the ninth, and after a near-miss at the 12th rolled in birdie putts of 24 feet and 21 feet at 13 and 14 to move within a stroke of the lead.

Johnson, winner of the 2007 Masters and the 2015 Open championship, broke away from the second-placed bunch at the final hole, despite finding a fairway bunker off the tee.

Johnson admitted his round was a pleasant surprise, after a bout of flu cost him some pre-season practice time.

"I came here later than I anticipated -- like four or five days later and I had zero expectations on my game," the 41-year-old said.

"That being said, sometimes it's nice, you just kind of go out there, find a rhythm and then just stick with it."

Kirk, whose most recent victory was at Colonial in 2015, said a return to his old putting routines had paid off on the greens.

"I'm kind of going back to some of the drills that I did four, five years ago when I was putting week-in, week-out really well, and trying to do those drills every day," Kirk said.

"I had a great day today, and I'm about to go do it. It takes about five or 10 minutes. It's laziness, I guess, not doing it consistently over the last couple of years."

The leading duo were one stroke in front of a group of four players on a crowded leaderboard.

Vaughn Taylor fired six birdies in his six-under 64 and was tied with Brian Harman, Kyle Stanley and Talor Gooch. Stanley capped his round with an eagle at the par-five ninth, rolling in a 41-footer.

Gooch rocketed out of the blocks with three straight birdies, finishing with eight birdies overall against two bogeys. Harman, playing in the afternoon, had eight birdies that included three in a row at the fifth, sixth and seventh.

Japan's Daisuke Kataoka and Americans Peter Malnati, Matt Every and Tom Hoge all shot 65.

World number two Jordan Spieth dropped back late with a quadruple-bogey eight at his penultimate hole -- the par-four eighth.

Spieth was rolling at four-under when he fired into a tree off the tee at eight. His next three shots also hit trees before he found a greenside bunker.

He rallied somewhat with a birdie at his final hole for a one-under par 69.

Defending champion Justin Thomas, who fired a first-round 59 in route to victory last year, had three birdies in a three-under 67.

World number four Thomas had Phil Mickelson's former caddie Jim "Bones" McKay on his bag, filling in for regular caddie Jimmy Johnson, who is sidelined by plantar fasciitis.

Scores