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HONOLULU, Hawaii – Brendan Steele, Joaquin Niemann and Kevin Na can all smell a bit of redemption as they prepare for the final round of the Sony Open in Hawaii. But they can’t all have it.
The trio each have demons to bury at the Waialae Country Club on Sunday and are well positioned to do so. Steele and Na produced stunning 61 under 9s, while Niemann posted a 63 in the third round on Saturday to become the players to beat.
Steele has a two-stroke lead at 18 under with Niemann and Na sharing second at 16 under. They won’t be the only ones with a shot as five players split fourth at 15 under and four are just one shot down at 14 under.
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But they will start Sunday with the best chances.
Steele has demons from a year ago, Niemann has his from a week ago, while Na has them from the last two years.
Steele lost to Cameron Smith 12 months ago in the playoffs – a stinging result given he had a two-stroke lead with two holes to go. That day he bogeyed on the 17th and while Smith birdied Steele produced a wild fairway hook on the 18th which made the birdie necessary to win nearly impossible.
After Smith drove his ball into the playoffs in the rough, Steele looked in great shape down the fairway, but Smith hit a nice 10-foot shot forcing him to go chase the flag. His wedge sailed across the green and when he failed to move up and down it was an easy two-putt victory for the Australian.
“You hope to come back and play well and erase all the negative memories, but all the memories are pretty positive. Playing well here last year was good, and I’m excited for tomorrow’s challenge, ”said Steele. “I know it’s going to be really tough. The guys are coming after me. But I will do my best and I hope it will be enough.
Steele has maintained a positive demeanor despite being repeatedly questioned about his failure a year ago. But the three-time TOUR winner admitted he got a little pissed off earlier in the week. The last player to win a tournament after losing it in the playoffs a year earlier was Ryuji Imada at the 2008 Atlanta Classic.
“The first round of practice we played was on the back nine and I remembered a few shots, some good and some bad, kind of giving me a little kick,” said the player. 37 years. “I would have liked to have hit a better shot in 18, but Cameron had a really hard top to bottom and put in a great putt, then hit a great playoff shot and forced my hand on the second shot over there. I was very happy with everything I did, and I don’t feel like I did anything different last year compared to the times I won. I would like to do the exact same thing tomorrow and hope that is good enough.
For Niemann, 22, Sunday is a chance to shake off a playoff loss at the Sentry Tournament of Champions last week in Maui. Niemann failed to tie any of the back nine par fives at Kapalua on Sunday and it proved costly. When he failed to tie for 18th in the playoffs, it allowed Harris English to leap up and win the title.
But on Saturday in Honolulu, Niemann hit two towering 7 antlers on the last hole to set up a close-range eagle to finish his round and bring him back to two heads-up. The last player to lose at Kapalua and win the following week at the Sony Open was Jimmy Walker in 2015.
“The eagle was huge. I was not really happy with my first 16 holes. I thought I was playing really well. I thought I could put myself in a better position and then finish that way and do Eagle on 18 made me very happy and gave me some motivation for tomorrow, ”said Niemann.
“I took a lot of experience from the last week. I’m just going to try to put everything I took from last week into this week and hopefully try to win it. I play very well. I just have to keep doing the same things I’ve been doing these two weeks and hope to have a good ride tomorrow, and you never know.
Niemann is now 41 points short of his last seven rounds on the TOUR with a birdie of 37.3% or best percentage so far in 2021 (47 of 126 holes).
For Na, it’s just good to play at all. Two years ago, he must have missed the tournament after breaking his finger before the Sentry Tournament of Champions. A year ago, he injured his neck and was forced to leave the field again.
“I actually pulled my rib on Wednesday before Pro-Am and thought, here we go, but I’m just happy to play. Maybe this is the attitude I need, ”Na said of how he almost found himself sitting.
When he made his fourth consecutive birdie on the 14th hole – his sixth in the round to go with an eagle – Na had to play the last four 3-under holes to shoot 59. He made life difficult by missing a 10-footer on the 15th and the dream was over when he missed a seven footer on the penultimate hole.
“I played really well. I did my share of putts. But on the 17th you say to yourself, OK, I birdie here, an eagle last and I have a 59 and how often do you have a chance for that magic number, ”he says. “And it’s definitely in your head. If you are a professional golfer, it’s in your head. It was fun and exciting. Unfortunately, we totally misinterpreted this putt.
He will have a chance to atone on Sunday. They will all do it.
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