NASSAU, Bahamas — Justin Thomas hit his tee shots long and made several long putts on the back nine to pass Scotty Scheffler with a 6-under 66 (Scottie Scheffler) and entered Saturday’s final round one shot ahead of golf’s best player.
Thomas is trying out a 46-inch driver — a little more than an inch longer than a regular driver — that he used to gain speed and length when practicing at home. On the par-4 seventh hole, he hit a shot 361 yards to 8 feet and led the field in driving distance.
But it was a couple of long putts that put him ahead of Scheffler, who shot 69.
Thomas was on the verge of falling two shots behind when he holed an 18-foot par putt on the par-3 12th hole. On the accessible par-4 14th, he was in a bad spot in the sand and could only splash out nearly 50 feet.
He made the most unlikely of birdies, while behind him Scheffler sank a chip on the 13th hole and made his only bogey on a windy day.
Scheffler never caught him, missing birdie chances on the par-5 14th and No. 5 holes. On the 16th hole, Thomas hit his tee shot 343 yards to 3 feet for birdie. Scheffler made an 18-foot birdie putt on the 16th hole to reduce the deficit to one shot.
Scheffler missed birdie chances from 10 and 15 feet on the final two holes, while Thomas missed a birdie attempt from 8 feet on the final hole.
“I had a period in the 13th, 14th and 15th where I felt like I missed a shot or two, but other than that I did a lot of really good things today,” Scheffler said.
Thomas hasn’t won since the 2022 PGA Championship at South Mountain, and a win at Albany Golf Club wouldn’t count as an official win. But the two-time Grand Slam champion has made steady progress in getting the game back on track.
“I drove it pretty good. I had a lot of confidence in it,” Thomas said of his long driver. “I feel like I’ve been able to put myself in some really good positions going into the greens. I still haven’t taken advantage of some of them as much as I would have liked, but that’s golf, let’s just say that.”
Thomas, who was at 17-under 199, will be in the final group Sunday along with Scheffler, who is trying to cap off his stellar season with a ninth title.
Tom Kim probably wasn’t expecting it when he finished 3 over through six holes at the Holiday Championship on Thursday. King shot a 65 on Friday and followed that up with 12 birdies for a 62.
He had a chance to break the course record — Ricky Fowler shot a final-round 61 when winning at Albany in 2017 — until King made double bogey on the par-3 17th and found a sandbox. pit and hit the green twice.
Even so, he was only two shots behind. Ryder Cup captain Keegan Bradley (68) was fourth.
“It feels like I’ve seen signs of progress and this is what you want and this is what I can do,” Thomas said. “I can’t control other people or what’s going on, I have to continue to play as hard as I can and hope that Sunday is enough.”
