Ryan Palmer sizzled with a nine-under 64 to join fellow American Harris English in a share of the lead after the third round of the Sentry Tournament of Champions in Hawaii on Saturday.
Starting the day two strokes behind overnight leader English, Palmer picked up three shots in a flawless front nine, before charging home by making birdies at six of his last seven holes to go to the clubhouse at 21-under par.
English made a solid fist of defending his overnight lead in a bogey-free round, with three front-nine birdies followed by four more coming home.
Another American, Collin Morikawa, carded an eight-under 65 to sit one stroke away in third place, two shots ahead of compatriot Daniel Berger, who completed a 67 to be 18-under.
Sungjae Im of South Korea shared fifth spot with America’s Justin Thomas at 17-under, while Dustin Johnson, Xander Schauffele and Spaniards Jon Rahm and Sergio Garcia were at 14-under.
Scotland’s Martin Laird birdied three of his last five holes to card a five-under 68 and join a tie for 16th place at 13-under, eight shots off the pace.
Meanwhile, Thomas issued an apology and faces a possible fine from the PGA Tour due to him uttering a homophobic slur after missing a five-foot putt on the fourth hole.
“Unfortunately, I did it and I have to own up to it and I’m very apologetic,” Thomas told Golf Channel after his round.
“I need to do better. I need to be better. It’s definitely a learning experience.”
The PGA Tour said in a statement: “As he expressed after his round, we agree that Justin’s comment was unacceptable.”
Thomas is expected to be fined for conduct unbecoming of a professional, though the PGA Tour does not disclose specifics of such punishment.
Collated third round scores & totals in the USPGA Tour Sentry Tournament of Champions, Plantation Course at Kapalua, Kapalua, Maui, Hawaii, United States of America (USA unless stated, par 73):
198 Harris English 65 67 66, Ryan Palmer 67 67 64
199 Collin Morikawa 69 65 65
201 Daniel Berger 69 65 67
202 Sung-Jae Imn (Kor) 67 68 67, Justin Thomas 65 69 68
203 Patrick Cantlay 68 68 67, Billy Horschel 71 66 66, Joaquin Niemann (Chi) 69 67 67 ,
205 Sergio Garcia (Spa) 67 71 67, Viktor Hovland (Nor) 69 68 68, Dustin Johnson 71 65 69, Jon Rahm (Spa) 70 66 69, Xander Schauffele 69 66 70, Brendon Todd 68 67 70
206 Bryson DeChambeau 69 67 70, Martin Laird (Sco) 69 69 68, Scottie Scheffler 70 66 70, Webb Simpson 70 67 69, Cameron Smith (Aus) 70 70 66
207 Stewart Cink 71 69 67, Jason Kokrak 71 66 70, Patrick Reed 67 68 72, Adam Scott (Aus) 68 71 68, Nick Taylor (Can) 67 71 69
208 Brian Gay 70 67 71, Lanto Griffin 71 68 69, Sebastian Munoz (Col) 75 66 67, Kevin Na 71 68 69, Michael Thompson 73 68 67, Richy Werenski 69 69 70
209 Cameron Champ 71 68 70, Marc Leishman (Aus) 69 69 71
210 Abraham Ancer (Mex) 70 71 69, Tony Finau 74 68 68, Kevin Kisner 70 71 69
211 Carlos Ortiz (Mex) 69 67 75, Robert Streb 67 72 72
215 Hudson Swafford 73 70 72
216 Mackenzie Hughes (Can) 73 71 72
217 Andrew Landry 70 71 76
220 Hideki Matsuyama (Jpn) 73 75 72
