HILTON HEAD ISLAND: The feeling at Hilton Head Island is all about convenience and rest. It felt like anything but that to Justin Thomas in the RBC Heritage. His two-shot prospect was gone in two slots, partly because he of a one-shot charges on the par-5 second opening when he informed the rules established his golf game may have moved a little more than a bulge ( it did ).
His worst bounce of the day on the 11th opening put him in deep water inside a dark hazard collection. He tried to play the shot and scarcely moved it 15 feet, but not before the mud and dirt splashed into his mouth and led his coach to tell him he smelled like a slippery dog ( he did ).
” That didn’t seem worth it,” Thomas said, loud enough for the exhibition to learn and to laugh.
Thomas at least ended the day on a great word, rolling in a 15-foot birdie putt on the 18th to make up ground on Si Woo Kim, who played bogey-free until the last hole at Harbour Town.
By then, Kim had done enough to still post a 5-under 66 and take a one-shot lead over Thomas ( 69 ) and Andrew Novak ( 66 ).
” When you win golf games, you need to recover under-par sessions when you don’t have your best thing,” Thomas said.
” I really fought and tried to stay calm and then was able to salvage a report to where I’m right it tomorrow. “
Kim didn’t exactly include that calm experience when he headed to the first tee, two behind Thomas and without a gain in two years.
” It’s been a while to play in the last group, so it feels crazy. Then a little bit of even stress,” Kim said.
” Not the strain, a little bit like feeling strange at the start. “
He started birdie-birdie to get Thomas. He took the lead when Thomas had his mud-filled activities on the 11th and made birdie. Kim stretched the prospect to as many as three bullets until it suddenly got small again.
Novak birdied the par-3 17th to finish his bogey-free square. And there was a two-shot jump from the last group when Kim came up short of the 18th alternative and just into the risks, from these we chopped out of mutilated grass and missed the par putt.
” I played great- only missed the last hole, so that’s not a big deal,” Kim said. ” So I play pretty much 35 holes really decent. So I’m not going to worry about the last hole for tomorrow. I’m in good position. I’ve been playing good. “
And Thomas made his birdie.
” It was huge,” he said. ” I played really well today, really solid. Just didn’t have much to show. The course is getting very difficult, very firm and fast. … Yeah, it was nice to see an iron shot get up there pin-high and roll that putt in there. It’s nice to finish off like that and ride that momentum into tomorrow. “
Kim was at 15-under 198.
Maverick McNealy shot 64 and was alone in fourth, two shots behind. He was followed by former British Open champion Brian Harman ( 66 ) and Tommy Fleetwood, who had three birdies over his last six holes for a 68.
Defending champion Scottie Scheffler had a rough stretch early on the back nine that derailed his momentum, though he still managed a 68 and was very much in the game at only four shots out of the lead.
Scheffler hit a brilliant escape from the trees, the ball never gaining more than 10 feet of altitude from 160 yards away, but it was too strong and rolled against the lip of a bunker, leaving him no shot. He had to make an 8-foot putt to salvage bogey.
He went long of the green on No. 12 and left himself a fast pitch ( bogey ) and then hit a demanding lob wedge over the bunker to 3 feet on No. 13 and missed the putt.
The weather has been getting warmer and windier by the day, enough to make the course fast and crispy and enough movement in the trees to cause some second-guessing. There are low scores available. It doesn’t take much for players to lose momentum.
This is a signature event with no cut and the scoring average has been roughly the same all three days. It’s a matter of gets on a roll, who holes putts and who limits mistakes.
For so much of Saturday, that was Kim.
He opened with a pair of 6-foot birdie putts. He handled the par 5s. His longest birdie putt was on the par-5 15th when he got out of position and had to make an 18-footer.
Thomas says he is capable of ending his three-year drought and simply needs the tournament to unfold instead of forcing the issue. This was only a 69 but important to him because he managed a round under par when it felt like nothing was going right, except at the end.
