Hayden Buckley eagles twice on back nine for Sony Open lead

Jan. 15—The 26-year-old Missouri alum bookended his back nine with eagles, including a 5-iron from 222 yards that rolled within 2 feet of the hole on 18 to give him a two-shot lead at 15 under entering today's final round of the Sony Open in Hawaii.

It wasn't quite Hideki Matsuyama in a Sunday playoff, but it was enough to give Hayden Buckley his first lead on the PGA Tour.

The 26-year-old Missouri alum bookended his back nine with eagles, including a 5-iron from 222 yards that rolled within 2 feet of the hole on 18 to give him a two-shot lead at 15 under entering today's final round of the Sony Open in Hawaii.

Buckley's second eagle gave him a 6-under 64 for his seventh straight round of 67 or better at Waialae Country Club.

It also gave him a little separation from a trio of golfers tied for second place at 13 under.

"Obviously had two good breaks on 10 and 18, " Buckley said. "I think I've just hit the right shots at the right time."

As many as eight golfers were tied for the lead at one point Saturday before Buckley pulled away slightly.

He was in the right fairway on 18 when he flushed an iron that hit the front of the green and beelined straight for the cup, rolling just to the right of it for a tap-in eagle. The view from the green was very similar to the shot Matsuyama hit to win the tournament in a playoff last year.

"We weren't sure if it would get there, but got to the front, which is all we really wanted, " Buckley said. "It's nice to have one get a good bounce."

Buckley almost surely didn't see Matsuyama's 3-wood last year as he admitted after his round he doesn't watch golf.

He took the entire month of December off and only started playing again on Monday.

"It's just not for me. I like to hang out at home and play with our dog and do just about anything but golf, " Buckley said. "This offseason was a little busier getting married and trying to relax and enjoy that. I think it's probably something I'll do—I would hope—for most of my career."

Buckley began his PGA career in the fall of 2021 and opened with two top-10 finishes after missing the cut of his first event.

After a missed cut to begin this season, Buckley posted three consecutive top-20 finishes, including a T5 at the ZOZO Championship.

His back-to-back 64s the past two days are one off his career-low round of 63 in the final round of the Shriners Children's Open in 2022.

"If you hit the ball in the fairway, (Waialae ) has pretty receptive greens, " Buckley said. "Again, that goes to our course management of just hitting it in the right spots. We feel like anywhere inside of 180 from the fairway is almost scoring for us."

Chris Kirk, who held a share of the lead after each of the first two rounds, shot 68 to sit tied for second at 13 under with David Lipsky and Ben Taylor.

Lipsky made seven birdies after a bogey-bogey start in which his opening drive tumbled down the cart path left for a penalty.

He had to come back to the tee to hit again and held up the group behind him, which included Kirk, who then hit his drive out of bounds right and settled for a double bogey to start.

"Somebody in the group in front of us had to come back and re-hit, and I didn't do a good job of adjusting, " Kirk said. "Typically if you see somebody tee off you have about 10 minutes or so, and then you tee off. All of a sudden they announced my name and I was like, 'Whoa, OK, we're going.' So I didn't do a good job adjusting to the different cadence of teeing off."

Lipsky, who shot 4-under 66, missed six consecutive cuts last year, including the Sony. He had made four straight cuts this season before withdrawing from the RSM Classic in November after an opening-round 76.

"Couple unforced errors those first couple holes. It's never ideal when your ball goes 50 yards down the path OB, but it is what it is, " Lipsky said of his opening drive. "I thought it was just going to be in the rough and then just kicked dead left and never left the path."

Nine players tied for ninth or better have never won on the PGA Tour.

Matsuyama shot his 14th consecutive round under par at Waialae with a 65 to get to 8 under in a tie for 25th.

Nine third-round leaders or co-leaders have gone on to win the Sony Open since 2000, with Matt Kuchar the last to do it in 2019.

Kuchar bogeyed his first three holes of the tournament on Thursday but battled back with a 64 on Saturday to get to 9 under in a tie for 16th.