Defending champion Jimmy Walker seized control of the Sony Open on Saturday with a third-round 62 that gave him a two-stroke advantage and a shot at redemption at the Waialae Country Club in Honolulu, Hawaii.
Walker blew a golden chance of capturing last week’s Hyundai Tournament of Champions in neighboring Kapalua, where he led eventual winner Patrick Reed by four strokes with four holes to play before losing in a playoff.
One week later and Walker has positioned himself to defend his title after Saturday’s surge put him on 16-under for the tournament with four birdies on the front nine and six on the back offsetting a couple of bogeys.
Second-round coleader Matt Kuchar is two strokes off the lead at 14-under following a two-under 68 and was set to lead a host of challengers snapping at Walker’s heels in yesterday’s final round.
Americans Brian Harman and Troy Merritt are at 13-under, while South African Tim Clark and 21-year-old Justin Thomas sit another shot further back.
Thomas was the story of the tournament in the second round, when he blitzed the field for a course record-tying 61. However, in the follow-up, the unsung youngster struggled with swing issues and could only manage an even-par 70.
Walker used a red-hot putter to nose in front as he finished the day with 11 straight one-putts.
He has enjoyed quite the run in Hawaii, where he is a collective 54-under-par in his last 11 competitive rounds there.
Meanwhile, Australian golfer Robert Allenby was recovering on Saturday from facial injuries after he was kidnapped, beaten, robbed and dumped in a park in Honolulu.
Allenby, 43, was in Hawaii to compete in the Sony Open, but missed the cut and was planning to fly home on Saturday, the Golf Channel reported on its Web site.
However, on Friday night, while at the Amuse Wine Bar in Waikiki with his caddie and a friend, Allenby said he was taken from the bar and robbed of his wallet, cellphone, cash and credit cards before waking up groggy in a park about 10km away.
“I’m just glad to be alive,” Allenby said. “I’m still in a bit of shock. I’ve been checked out by a doctor, and I should be OK.”
“I was separated from my friend in the bar after we had paid the tab,” Allenby said. “Next thing you know, I’m being dumped in a park miles away. A homeless woman found me and told me she saw a few guys pull up and throw me out of a car.”
Allenby said he had no recollection of what had happened and that he was discovered outside the park by a man he described as “a retired military guy,” who paid for a taxi back to his hotel.
“I called police from there,” Allenby said.
According to the Golf Channel, police are reviewing surveillance footage from the bar to try to identify a suspect.
Allenby missed the cut at this week’s Sony Open after shooting successive rounds of one-over-par 71 at Waialae.
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