Thomas pulls away; Tabuena crumbles

HONOLULU – Justin Thomas has turned the first full-field event of the year into a blowout.

With three birdies over the last five holes Saturday in the Sony Open – the last for another entry into the PGA Tour record book – Thomas played bogey-free and shot a 5-under 65 to stretch his lead to seven shots going into the final round at vulnerable Waialae Country Club.

No one has ever lost on the PGA Tour when leading by seven shots after 54 holes.

“I’m more excited about the seven-shot lead than what you just said,” Thomas replied.

Meanwhile, after two impressive rounds, Miguel Tabuena fumbled with a two-over 72 and dropped from joint 13th to a share of 54th among the 73-player surviving field.

Tabuena, 22, went one-under after 10 holes but bogeyed the next, dropped two shots on No. 15 and finished with a bogey-birdie to card a 35-37 for a three-day haul of 204, 16 strokes off Thomas.

Staked to a five-shot lead, Thomas wanted to avoid giving anything back on another peaceful afternoon, and he only had one close call. He wound up with a seven-shot lead, the largest at the Sony Open since Jack Nicklaus led by six in 1974.

That’s not the record Thomas was thinking about when he reached the par-5 18th.

Each of the previous two rounds, he made eagle on his closing hole to get into the record book – a 59 on Thursday, and the PGA Tour’s 36-hole scoring record Friday. No such luck Saturday after he clipped a palm frond with his second shot into the par-5 18th and came up well short in the fairway. Thomas pitched to just inside 15 feet below the cup and poured it in, just like he’s been doing all week.

That put him at 22-under 188, tying the 54-hole record that Steve Stricker set in 2010 at the John Deere Classic with caddie Jimmy Johnson on his bag. Johnson now caddies for Thomas, though this performance surely stands out because no one is close to him.

Zach Johnson kept pace with a 65 and is leading the B-flight at 15-under 201.

“I’ve got to play the golf course,” Johnson said. “That’s my only competitor tomorrow.”

Thomas repeated at the CIMB Classic in Malaysia last fall, and it picked up some serious steam last week at Kapalua when he overcame a late blunder with birdies on his last two holes for a three-shot victory in the SBS Tournament of Champions.

He doesn’t feel much different this week. He’s not sure he’s playing all that much differently, hard to measure given the extreme contrast in courses.