FILE PHOTO: Kevin Na of the U.S. hits from the sand on the second hole during first round play of the 2019 Masters golf tournament at Augusta National Golf Club in Augusta, Georgia, U.S., April 11, 2019. REUTERS/Lucy Nicholson/File Photo
October 6, 2019
(Reuters) – Kevin Na enjoyed another sizzling day with the putter, jumping to a two-shot lead with a 10-under-par 61 in the third round at the Shiners Hospitals for Children Open in Las Vegas on Saturday.
A day after shooting 62, Na incredibly went even lower in pleasant conditions at TPC Summerlin.
He capped off his day by rolling in a 12-foot birdie dead center at the last to post a tournament record-low 22-under 191 total with one round left.
Fellow American Patrick Cantlay kept pace for much of the day but his 63 seemed positively pedestrian by comparison.
Cantlay did enough, however, to lie alone in second place on 20-under, with Pat Perez four shots back in third place after a 62.
Na, who lives locally, is not the first to ride a hot streak in Vegas, but his performance in what amounts to a home game hardly seemed a co-incidence.
He recorded the first of his three PGA Tour victory at Summerlin in 2011 and clearly knows every break on the greens.
He sank seven putts from outside 12 feet, including a 30-footer.
“I’m hitting a lot of good strokes with good speed … that are doing what they are supposed to and going in,” the 36-year-old Korean-born American told reporters.
“Look, you need some luck to have some putts lip-in here and there and I’ve been getting a little of that. I’m riding this momentum and using it to my advantage.”
Na’s form certainly impressed the critics.
“This may well be the best performance on the greens I have ever seen,” said Golf Channel analyst Brandel Chamblee.
(Reporting by Andrew Both in Cary, North Carolina; Editing by Daniel Wallis)
