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HONOLULU – Joaquin Niemann did not regret the 18th hole of the Sony Open.
Four days after a pair of pars on the last hole at Kapalua led to a playoff loss, Niemann punched a 50-foot chip for Eagle on the 18th hole Thursday for an 8-under 62 and a share of the advance with Jason Kokrak and Peter Malnati.
“It was a good way to end,” said Niemann. “I spent a few days thinking about that last hole, but taking all the positives from the week and pulling it out for this week.”
These were not easy days for Niemann. The 22-year-old Chilean is still too young to have suffered the inevitable losses that accumulate in the sport. He played on Sunday in Kapalua with Sergio Garcia, who has seen a lot of failures, and who told him to think about what went well.
So much was done on a windy afternoon in Waialae on a course with dry fairways, smooth greens and low scores. Niemann’s only bogey was when he fell asleep on a birdie putt 25 feet over the hole at No.12, ran it 10 feet through the hole and three putts. The workmanship was exquisite.
Kokrak played without a bogey, and he was as happy with a normal 15-foot putt on the No.1 – his 10th hole of the round – as any of his nine birdies. He had a 25-foot eagle putt for 61 on his closing hole that narrowly missed.
Malnati was the only 62-year-old to have played in the morning, although conditions were similar for much of the day.
The group at 64 included Daniel Berger, among 31 players at last week’s Sentry of Champion tournament in Maui, and Jim Herman, who should have been there.
Herman arrived in Hawaii a week later than he had hoped and was happier than ever. He recovered from the coronavirus and got his lowest score in his 10th appearance at the Sony Open to start the year off right.
He qualified for Kapalua the Sentry Tournament of Champions by winning the Wyndham Championship, his third career victory. But his COVID-19 test came back positive as he prepared to travel to Maui, and self-isolation for 10 days did not give him time to travel to Kapalua.
“I feel pretty good,” Herman said. “Obviously the low score today is helping you feel a little better. I had no idea what to expect coming out this week.”
Herman said he had spent four miserable days battling the virus and still had not recovered its taste and smell. The biggest concern was a slight inflammation of the lungs, which pressed against his back and made it difficult to sit. He finally managed to hit a few golf balls last weekend and only played one round of golf.
The scoring was ideal for different reasons than Kapalua on a very different course. The wind off the Pacific coast along the course is normal. But he’s been dry enough for the ball to roll, useful on fairway tee shots, not so much when he’s off line and heading into the rough.
There was another twist at Waialae – out of bounds stakes for about 350 yards on the left side of the 18th fairway. The tour erected them this year for safety for those descending the 10th fairway, and without the tents and bleachers due to the lack of spectators, it might have been tempting for more players to take their tee shot on the 18th at the 10th.
It never crossed Niemann’s mind. He hit a high draw that tumbled again across the fairway into the rough, came just short and finished on a high note.
It was certainly different from last week. Niemann missed a 6-foot birdie in regulation (and shot 64), then in the playoffs on par 5 18th, he shot it lightly and came down a slope to the left of the green, leaving a difficult chip and a par . Harris English won with a bird putt.
“It was the first time that it really hurt me, like finishing a golf tournament,” he said. “Probably a day or two, I keep thinking about how I couldn’t birdie on the 18th and do it. I was talking with my coach, with my psychologist. We talked for an hour about the whole tournament, not for this 18th. It was a good way to take all the positive points of this week. “
English, hoping to be only the third player to sweep the Hawaiian swing, had three bogeys in a four-hole stretch on his second nine and had to birdie two of the final three holes for a par 70.
The score was so low that only 30 players in the field of 144 players were above par.
“They have a fantastic game,” said Webb Simpson, one of the 22 players at 65 or older. “I think most of us golfers like it when we see a good practice and the ball bounces 10 feet in the air, it’s a good feeling.”
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