Thomas, Steele share lead through three rounds of CIMB Classic
With a birdie on the final hole on Saturday, Justin Thomas retained a share of the lead at the CIMB Classic in Malaysia.
Thomas, who shot a second-round, tournament-record 61 to take the lead at Kuala Lumpur Golf & Country Club, turned in a third round of 5-under 67 to join Brendan Steele (66) on 20-under 196.
“This is where you want to put yourself at every event,” said Thomas, who came up just short of reaching the Tour Championship in his rookie year last season. “I’m just going to use my past learning experiences in the other events I’ve played in and just try to go out there and hit a bunch of fairways.”
Thomas came to the finishing hole coming off what he considered a good bogey on the 16th and a bounceback birdie on the 17th. On the par-5 18th, Thomas went long with his approach shot and felt fortunate to have a good lie to get up-and-down for the tying birdie.
“I had 242 (yards to the) hole, and I just kind of just barely caught it a groove low and it knuckled and went over the green,” he said. “Being in the rough you never know what kind of lie you’re going to get.”
Steele, who was the 54-hole leader at the season-opening Frys.com Open before slumping to a final-round 76 to fall into a tie for 17th place, said he hopes that experience taught him to focus on the round at hand and not winning.
“Trying to be a little bit more patient and a little bit more positive, not kind of put so much pressure on myself and just enjoy it a little bit more,” Steele said of his plans for this final-pairing opportunity. “Because it’s not like it’s going to be, hopefully, not the last time that I have a chance to win. So, you can’t really look at it like it is your only chance. So that’s kind of the problem.”
Kevin Na, who has been runner-up in each of the first two events of the PGA Tour season, is a shot behind the co-leaders.
Four players are tied for fourth at 17 under par, including Spencer Levin, Hideki Matsuyama, James Hahn and Brian Harman.
Ryan Ballengee is a Yahoo Sports contributor. Find him on Facebook and Twitter.
