Sony Open 2017: Saturday Leaderboard Scores and Highlights

Justin Thomas continued to maintain his comfortable advantage atop the leaderboard at the 2017 Sony Open thanks to a five-under third-round performance on Saturday from Honolulu.

Through the first two rounds of the tournament, he had previously posted the lowest opening 36-hole score in PGA Tour history, including an opening 59 on Thursday.

With an overall score now at 22 under, Thomas holds a seven-stroke lead with 18 holes to go. Here is a look at the leaderboard heading into Sunday's final round, via PGA.com:

While his scorecard wasn't necessarily busy, it was clean as he was bogey-free for the entire round.

His ability to find the greens made his round all the easier, as he posted a 77.78 percent greens-in-regulation mark, per PGATour.com.

But he still managed to leave viewers in awe with his power from the tee, via the PGA Tour: 

On Saturday, he averaged 343.5 yards per drive, which was well over his week average of 321.3.

He has plenty of room to work with heading into Sunday, as Zach Johnson is closest to his big lead at 15 under overall. 

Johnson also recorded a five-under on Saturday and did it in bogey-free fashion as well. One stroke behind him is Justin Rose, while three golfers are tied for fourth at 14 under.

In the biggest move of the day, Kevin Kisner almost replicated Thomas' 59 to move into a tie for sixth. Through 17 holes, he was at a 12-under and needed an eagle on No. 9 to record that magic number, via the PGA Tour:

He narrowly missed his nine-foot eagle putt and had to settle for a birdie and a 10-under, 60 instead. Regardless, his big day saw him make a mammoth leap on the leaderboard from 70th place.

One of the largest names at the tournament, Jordan Spieth, is lurking in the top 10 after shooting a four-under on Saturday. But he still is 10 strokes behind Thomas.

At times, he had to pull out some unbelievable shots, like this approach on No. 14 between two trees, via the PGA Tour:

It helped get his score to 12 under, which was good for ninth heading into Sunday.

At this point, it looks like Thomas just has to play it safe in order to put the finishing touches on a Sony Open victory. 

But he still needs to be wary of the rest of the field given the low scores that it has been yielding throughout the week. 

Post-Round Reaction

For Kisner, his agonizingly close effort to the second-ever 59 on the PGA Tour hurt even more considering how he thought he hit his penultimate putt, via Brian Wacker of Golf Digest:

"

When I first looked up, I said dead center, that's the first thought in my mind to tell you the truth. Those greens get a little grainy like I'm used to at home, and the grain was going right, but I still thought it would go left.

Can't be that upset. I hit a good putt, hit a good shot and then it was fun coming down the stretch. Almost felt like you were in kind of the heat to win. That was fun.

"

To keep up with his monster weekend, Thomas' 22-under, 188 has tied the lowest 54-hole score in PGA Tour history, per Kyle Porter of CBSSports.com. 

Even after a solid day though, Thomas wasn't completely pleased, via Porter:

"

I really didn't hit my irons as well as I felt I could have, should have today. I would take a lot more out of rounds like today than I have like on other days, where I not have my best stuff and shoot 5 under is awesome.

I hit a lot of quality shots coming down the stretch when I could have been a little fatigued or lose focus a little bit. It was getting a little slow out there. It was easy to lose focus, but I just tried to stay in it.

"

All he has to do is stay in it for 18 more holes, and he'll walk away from Waialae Country Club with an easy victory at the Sony Open.

Stats courtesy of PGATour.com.