Zach Johnson has a one-stroke lead at the end of the third round of the Sony Open after carding a four-under-par 66
Johnson is at 10-under 200 overall while Shigeki Maruyama and Brian Gay are tied for second with David Toms and Nathan Green at nine under.
Toms made the biggest move of the players in the second place group with a 65 while Maruyama and Gay each managed a 68 and second-round co-leader Nathan Green joined them with a 69.
Johnson, the 2007 Masters champion, played the front nine in three-under with three birdies to grab a share of the lead. Maruyama and Gay were both two-under through nine after both birdied the par-five ninth.
Johnson added his final birdie of the day at number 12, but it was good enough for the lead through 54 holes.
"One shot, one errant shot can be a matter of a two- or three-shot swing. So out here, it's just, you know, it didn't really matter," Johnson said.
"I think that's the beauty of this course. It doesn't surprise me it's congested, and the guy that sticks to his own and makes some putts tomorrow is probably going to come out on top."
The congested leaderboard is one story, but it was 18-year-old Tadd Fujikawa who was the highlight of the day as he electrified the hometown crowd with a sizzling performance.
A high school senior, Fujikawa entered the day at even-par and got rolling early with three straight birdies. His only bogey of the day came at number four, but he regained his focus with two more birdies on the front nine.
Fujikawa closed the front nine with a birdie at the ninth and added birdies at numbers 10, 11, 17 and 18 coming in for an eight-under 62. He stands at 202 after 54 holes.
"I really made sure I put all my focus and all my effort into every shot that I hit, and I think it paid off," Fujikawa said. "I'm very happy with today's round."
George McNeill (65), Boo Weekley (67) and Charles Howell III (67) are at eight-under along with Fujikawa.
Collated third round scores & totals
(USA unless stated, par 70):
200 Zach Johnson 69 65 66
201 Nathan Green (Aus) 66 66 69, Brian Gay 66 67 68, David Toms 70 66 65, Shigeki Maruyama (Jpn) 65 68 68
202 Tadd Fujikawa 71 69 62, George McNeill 69 68 65, Boo Weekley 66 69 67, Charles Howell III 67 68 67
203 Kevin Na 72 65 66, Adam Scott (Aus) 71 66 66, Geoff Ogilvy (Aus) 66 69 68
204 Jeff Klauk 69 69 66, Bill Haas 68 71 65, Webb Simpson 66 68 70, D.J. Trahan 71 67 66
205 Brian Davis (Eng) 69 68 68, Steve Stricker 70 68 67, Steve Marino 68 67 70, Sean O'Hair 71 68 66, Cameron Beckman 72 66 67, Wil Collins 69 67 69, Luke Donald (Eng) 67 70 68, Harrison Frazar 69 70 66, Briny Baird 69 67 69
206 Kenny Perry 69 69 68, Brendon Todd 69 71 66, Tim Wilkinson (Nzl) 68 70 68, Kevin Streelman 70 69 67, Chez Reavie 70 70 66
207 Tim Herron 68 71 68, Tom Pernice Jnr. 69 63 75, Cliff Kresge 69 69 69, Bob Estes 72 67 68, KJ Choi (Kor) 68 69 70, Ryuji Imada (Jpn) 71 70 66, Jimmy Walker 73 66 68, David Mathis 68 68 71, Troy Matteson 71 67 69, Tommy Gainey 71 70 66
208 Jerry Kelly 67 72 69, Chris Stroud 67 70 71, Rory Sabbatini (Rsa) 68 70 70, Michael Letzig 69 70 69, Ted Purdy 69 69 70, Stewart Cink 71 65 72, Scott Piercy 67 72 69, Greg Owen (Eng) 71 67 70, Marc Leishman (Aus) 72 66 70
209 Jarrod Lyle (Aus) 70 69 70, Ernie Els (Rsa) 72 69 68, Casey Wittenberg 71 70 68, Steve Lowery 71 68 70, Tim Clark (Rsa) 71 70 68
210 Spencer Levin 71 69 70, Michael Allen 72 68 70, Richard S Johnson (Swe) 70 71 69, Arron Oberholser 68 73 69, Glen Day 70 68 72, Matt Bettencourt 73 68 69, Hideto Tanihara (Jpn) 72 65 73
211 Joe Durant 73 68 70, Jeff Overton 71 69 71, Bart Bryant 71 69 71, Scott Sterling 71 69 71, Azuma Yano (Jpn) 71 70 70, Alex Cejka (Ger) 72 69 70
212 John Merrick 70 70 72, Arjun Atwal (Ind) 69 71 72, Paul Azinger 68 73 71, Tag Ridings 71 69 72, Tim Petrovic 69 72 71, Andres Romero (Arg) 73 68 71, Troy Kelly 71 66 75
213 Jeff Quinney 71 70 72, Matthew Borchert 73 67 73
214 Junpei Takayama (Jpn) 71 69 74
215 D.A. Points 68 73 74
JOHNSON HOLDS ON FOR WIN AT SONY OPEN
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