


Si Woo Kim didn’t make a bogey until the final hole Saturday at Harbour Town. By then he had played well enough that he still posted a 5-under 66 and wound up with a one-shot lead at the RBC Heritage in Hilton Head Island, S.C.
Kim birdied the opening two holes to immediately catch 36-hole leader Justin Thomas and, right when he began to pull away, the 29-year-old South Korean came up short on the par-4 closing hole and made bogey.
“I played great — only missed the last hole, so that’s not a big deal,” Kim said. “So I play pretty much 35 holes really decent. So I’m not going to worry about the last hole for tomorrow. I’m in good position. I’ve been playing good.”
He was at 15-under 198, one shot ahead of Andrew Novak (66) and Thomas, who had a most interesting day that ended with a 15-foot birdie for a 69.
Thomas was assessed a one-shot penalty from a waste area on the par-5 second hole when he notified a rules official that his ball moved a fraction while he was removing some loose gravel around it.
Then on the 11th hole, he tried to splash out of some shallow water in a hazard and muddied his shirt and face. The ball moved 15 yards.
“That didn’t seem worth it,” Thomas said, loud enough for the gallery to hear and to laugh.
It ended happily enough. Thomas, seeking his first PGA Tour victory in nearly three years, was trailing by three shots on the 18th tee and left the green only one shot behind.
Novak, an athletic player who has had three close calls at his first PGA Tour win, played without a bogey and missed plenty of good birdie chances. He did well enough to get into the final group with Kim.
Maverick McNealy shot 64 and was alone in fourth, two shots behind. He was followed by former British Open champion Brian Harman (66) and Tommy Fleetwood, who had three birdies over his last six holes for a 68.
Defending champion Scottie Scheffler had a rough stretch early on the back nine that derailed his momentum, though he still managed a 68 and was very much in the game at only four shots out of the lead.
Joel Dahmen shot a 1-under 71 to take a three-stroke lead into the final round of the Corales Puntacana Championship in the Dominican Republic as he tries to complete a wire-to-wire victory at the site of his only PGA Tour victory.
Dahmen won the 2021 event. With a victory today, he would would get a two-year exemption after narrowly keeping his PGA Tour card last year.
Dahmen had a 17-under 199 total.