Kevin Na is always looking to make something happen, is a tad on the fidgety side and has a flair for theatrics – picture his signature walk-in putts.
But when nothing really was going his way in Sunday’s final round of the Sony Open in Hawaii, Na had to tap into his reservoir of patience and temper a bit of frustration, especially after falling three shots back with six holes to play.
Then Na started getting in step with his game and started walking in birdie putts – from 14 feet on 13, from 9 feet on 14, from 6 feet on 15. And when he needed to birdie the par-5 18th at receptive Waialae Country Club in Honolulu to win, he blistered a 5-wood from 242 yards to just over the green, chipped from 28 feet to 2 feet, and rolled in the winning putt.
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“It feels great,” Na said. “I felt like Waialae is a golf course I really have a chance at, and there’s not too many of these left anymore, so I have to take advantage of it. What a great feeling to win at a golf course I really feel like I can win at.
“It’s just all positives. I feel great.”
Na, who shot 61 in the third round to move to within two shots of the lead after 54 holes, closed with a 5-under-par 65 to finish at 21 under and one shot clear of Chris Kirk and Joaquin Niemann.
It was Na’s fifth PGA Tour title, fourth in his last 55 starts and he moved to No. 23 in the official world golf rankings.
“I think experience is the reason why I’ve been winning,” Na said “Experience and confidence. When you do it again, you know it seems like the next one comes easier. It’s never easy to win but the confidence that you validate in yourself really helps.”
Na wasn’t the only winner. Kirk was playing a tournament within the tournament and had reason to celebrate despite his runner-up finish. Kirk, who took a leave of absence in November of 2019 to deal with issues involving alcoholism and depression, was making his last start of a major medical exemption and needed a high finish to keep his PGA Tour card. His tie for second secured his card as he signed for his fourth consecutive 65.
“I never felt like it was a do-or-die type of situation,” Kirk said. “It totally changes everything being able to be back to picking my schedule like I’m used to over the last number of years. It’s huge. To go into a week and say I’ve got to finish top three to keep going and do it is, you know, silly.
“I’m very thankful, very grateful that I’m still able to do this. The last few years have been pretty wild with some up-and-downs for me. But to be in this situation to be healthy, to have a clear mind and a clear conscience is amazing, and golf is very much secondary to that. But still it’s my career, it’s what I love to do and to be able to have a week like I did this week is very gratifying.”
Niemann, who lost in a playoff to Harris English in last week’s Sentry Tournament of Champions, closed with two birdies to finish runner-up for the second consecutive week and again showed the golf world he’s a 22-year-old to be reckoned with going forward.
“It was a great two weeks in Hawaii,” he said. “Going to go with all the positives and really happy with all the work we’ve done and I’m just proud.”
On the flip side, Brendan Steele suffered another painful loss in paradise. In last year’s Sony Open, he had a three-shot lead after 54 holes and a two-shot lead with two holes to play but lost in a playoff to Cameron Smith. This year, he had a two-shot, 54-hole lead and led by three with nine holes to play after an eagle on nine.
But Steele, who shot 61 in the third round, had two bogeys on the back nine and could only muster a 69 to finish at 19 under. After making eagle on 9, Steele thought he hit the perfect drive on the shortish par-4 10th but the ball flew into the lip of a bunker and squirted out into an awkward lie just outside the bunker.
From there, he chunked his pitch and three-putted from 80 feet.
“Obviously super disappointed. Playing really well, feeling really good about it. Thought I hit a perfect shot on 10. Got a weird lie there, totally changed the momentum,” Steele said. “I think if I lay up 10, I think I win the tournament. So we made a mistake there and it’s unfortunate. You just try to pick yourself up next week and try to give yourself another chance.”
Steele was joined at 19 under by Marc Leishman, who recorded his first top-10 in 15 starts since the PGA Tour returned after a 13-week break due to COVID-19 by finishing with a 65. Also at 19 under was Webb Simpson (64), who contracted COVID-19 the day after Christmas.
Patton Kizzire (64), reigning PGA champion Collin Morikawa (64), Billy Horschel (65), and Daniel Berger (66) finished at 18 under.
Na, 37, who missed out on playing the past two editions of the Sony Open due to injury, thought he might miss this year’s playing when he pulled a rib on Wednesday. But he got treatment and felt great the rest of the week as he won for the fourth consecutive season.
However, victory was in doubt through his pedestrian front nine. While he moved within one of the lead with a birdie on the second, he made just one birdie on his next nine holes before his three-putt bogey on 12 dropped him three back.
But he didn’t panic, even after driving his ball into the rough on the tough 13th.
“You know, 13 is obviously not really a birdie hole, and I hit it in the left rough, really far back and I hit an unbelievable iron shot out of there to about 14 feet, and to make that one and bounce back from that three-putt, was what kept me in the tournament,” he said. “I knew that over the putt, I was like, man, I really need this one and I was really happy to see that one go in.
“Just kind of loosened me up a little bit, too.”
Na’s winning ways the past four seasons has him thinking differently. And thinking about playing in the Ryder Cup this coming fall.
“I think more about winning, let’s put it that way, since I’ve been winning more often because I know I can do it,” he said. “Before, it was like, can I do it? I don’t know. Now I know if I put myself in that position, I’ve got a good chance of pulling it off.
“I used to be a really consistent player, a lot of top-10s, a lot of made cuts. Winning was still important then but winning felt a little bit distant to me. I knew I could do it; I’ve done it before. It’s been so long and I went so many years without winning that I kind of forgot that feeling.”
