The key stat to predict Sunday’s Sony Open in Hawaii winner

Given 12 players held at least a share of the lead in Saturday’s third round at the Sony Open in Hawaii trying to pick Sunday’s champion at Waialae is certainly not the simplest task. But one stat might just help you predict who will hold the trophy.

Hayden Buckley is undoubtedly positioned beautifully for his first win on the PGA TOUR at 15-under, two clear of Chris Kirk, David Lipsky and Ben Taylor. Former PLAYERS champion Si Woo Kim is poised three back, as is Andrew Putnam while Will Gordon and Nate Lashley will start the final round four off the overnight leader.

But remember last week’s winner Jon Rahm was eight off the pace during the final round a week ago before surging to victory. As such the seven players at 10-under in J.T. Poston, Taylor Montgomery, Maverick McNealy, Ben Griffin, Nick Taylor, Austin Eckroat and S.H. Kim will all have dreams of going low. Another nine players will start six off the lead.

History shows that 12 of the last 13 winners of the Sony Open In Hawaii finished the week inside the top 10 in Strokes Gained: Putting so with that in mind lets take a look where those at the top of the board rank in this vital stat.

STROKES GAINED: PUTTING

As you can see above Buckley is currently ranked eighth this week in SG: Putting, a big improvement from his season rank of 77th. Ben Taylor sits fifth in putting, making him a likely challenger while Kirk is ranked 12th, outside the top 10 but with a round to go certainly in a position to push further up the rankings.

For Lipsky to win it will take something outside his previous form this season. Ranked 199th on TOUR in putting, he’s been 27th this week. That’s good… but not inside the historical top 10.

The leader in Strokes Gained: Putting through three rounds is Putnam, gaining an incredible 10.201 strokes on the greens. He has already holed over 400-feet of putts at Waialae this week! Now it would appear keeping that clip going might be tough… but Putnam is ranked 30th on TOUR so far this season so he’s been rolling the rock well. At just three off the lead he is one to watch.

Despite his disappointing third round Montgomery has the putting prowess to surge back into the mix on Sunday while McNealy has been silently plodding along around the top 10 all week threatening to make a run.

Three players from the group at T16 rank second, third and fourth this week respectively in SG: Putting. Harry Hall, Byeong Hun An and Denny McCarthy become potential lottery tickets if they can continue the groove.

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