Nico Echavarria held off two-time PGA Championship winner Justin Thomas to remain two ahead of the American with a tap-in on the 18th for an eagle.
Echavarria maintained his solid form this week, despite two bogeys in round three – four birdies and an eagle on the 18th kept the Colombian on course to bid for a second PGA title.
“That’s the way you want to finish a round,” said Echavarria, who hit a 5-wood to two feet for the tap-in on the 550-yard hole.
“I had a good tee shot, hit a really good second shot and finished with an eagle. I prefer that than a birdie obviously.”
Thomas has won 15 times on the PGA Tour, but is without a victory in two and a half years since winning the 2022 PGA Championship, having first won that title in 2017.
“It’s obviously tough,” Thomas said of his early tour successes. “It’s hard to win at any stage, doesn’t matter who you are.”
“At the end of the day it has been a while, but I’ve still won a pretty good amount of golf tournaments. I know how to win.
“It’s just a matter of executing and doing it and that’s really been the biggest difference. There’s a reason there’s only one every week.”
Rickie Fowler, who tied for the runner-up two years ago and has connections to Japan, remains six behind and tied for fourth position, despite sinking a monster putt in the 18th.
“There’s been a lot of good signs, but over the past few events I just haven’t really put it all together,” he said. “So I’m looking forward to getting out there and hopefully we can get a good one going.”
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