Sony Open in Hawaii, Round 4

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Robert Allenby came up short in his bid for his first win since 2001, missing a putt on the 72nd hole Sunday.

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Sony Open in Hawaii

PGATOUR.COM's The Live Report has all the news and notes from the Sony Open in Hawaii, and we'll be providing updates all day long for each round, so check back often. (All timestamps are Eastern Time.) PGA TOUR Shot Tracker | Live Scoring | PGA TOUR Network | Facebook | Twitter | FanZone | TOUR iPhone app

PALMER WINS (10:10 p.m.): Ryan Palmer nearly chips in for the win, Robert Allenby gets bitten by the putter again and Palmer wins anyway. Wow.

With Palmer and Allenby tied at 14 under coming to the par-5 18th, each had a reasonable shot at getting up-and-down for birdie after missing the green on their second shots. Palmer had a tricky chip into the grain that he jabbed and watched as it sped toward the hole. it hit the flag stick, which kept it going probably 10 or more feet past, instead leaving him just a tap-in. Allenby, meanwhile, left himself 9 1/2 feet for birdie and missed it on the low side.

All week, and really for the past fe months, Allenby's putting had been very good. Sunday, on the 72nd hole, it failed him, again. It's always been the Achilles' Heel of his game and as soon as he struck it, you knew it wasn't going in.

Victory for Palmer, the third of his career. Agony of defeat for Allenby, who still hasn't won since 2001. And what we saw on the final green is exactly why: Putting. Allenby can be pleased about the way he putted all week -- he ranked 24th in putts per round -- but it'll be hard to get over that last one on Sunday. -- Brian Wacker

ONE HOLE LEFT (9:55 p.m.): Ryan Palmer and Robert Allenby are tied at 14 under on the 72nd hole. Something has to give on the par-5 -- and easiest hole on the course this week. Otherwise, we'll have our first playoff of the year in just the second event of the year. -- Brian Wacker

DOWN THE STRETCH (9:35 p.m.): Thanks to Steve Stricker's birdie on the par-3 17th, he's now just one back of the lead of Ryan Palmer and Robert Allenby. That's essentially what this tournament has boiled down to -- three players who could win. Stricker is running out of holes, but Palmer and Allenby, who started the day tied with each other for the lead, are too as they're through 15 holes. -- Brian Wacker

SPIN DOCTOR (9:30 p.m.): Davis Love III has figured out some way to get some extra spin from the fairway. His hole-out eagle at the 16th came from just 118 yards, but it backed up about six feet to find the bottom of the cup. That is alot of spin in this no spin era. -- Brian Katrek

CHARLES IN CHARGE (9:15 p.m.): If only Charles Howell III didn't shoot an opening-round 73. Of course, if only sums up much of his career. If only he was a better putter. If only he didn't hit one type of shot most of his career. Still, his final-round 64 was impressive. He had seven birdies and took just 26 putts. It also moved him into a tie for fifth for the moment and should give him a fifth-career top-15 finish in this event. Pretty impressive for a guy who has just two career victories. -- Brian Wacker

SHOOTOUT CONTINUES (8:50 p.m.): Steve Stricker just made one of only eight birdies on the par-4 13th, which is currently playing as the second-hardest hole on the golf course. That gets Stricker to, what else, 13 under, and into a tie for the lead as the final round plays on at Waialae. You get the feeling there's a lot of golf left, especially with the par-5 18th as the easiest hole on the course. -- Brian Wacker

MAKING THE TURN (8:25 p.m.): Ryan Palmer just made the turn in 33 at Waialae, which is good enough to keep in the lead for the moment. If he wants to win his third career title, however, he's going to need to make some birdies over the final nine holes. Retief Goosen is already in the clubhouse, but Steve Stricker and Robert Allenby aren't, and they're just one shot back, too.

All week, the back nine at Waialae has played easier than the front nine and Palmer will need to take advantage of that. For the week, he's played those holes in a combined 5 under, by the way. -- Brian Wacker

GOOSE GOES WILD (7:55 p.m.): With scoring conditions as good as they are, you knew someone was bound to shred Waialae, post a low number and get to the clubhouse with everyone else trying to catch up. That someone is Retief Goosen.

The South African's day began conspicuously enough with a bogey at the opening hole, but that was the only mistake he would make all day. Goosen went on to make nine birdies, including five over his final nine holes for a back-side 30 en route to a 62.

That 62 gives Goosen the clubhouse lead at 12 under as he hit 86 percent of his fairways and 89 percent of his greens in regulation with 27 putts. Who knows if Goosen will still be on top when play ends, but it puts a number out there and may provide extra pressure for guys like Ryan Palmer. -- Brian Wacker

Below is a look at Goosen's scorecard from today. Click here to replay his round with Shot Tracker.

SAND TRAP (7:40 p.m.): Steve Stricker was faced with a nearly impossible bunker shot at the seventh hole. From a downslope, to an eletvated green, Stricker chose to try to run the ball through the sand and up onto the putting surface. Ryan Palmer made a similar decision yesterday at the 16th and hit his to seven feet and made the putt. Stricker's didn't get out of the bunker, but he did leave the ball on the upslope and was able to make bogey. -- Brian Katrek

NEW LEADER (7:30 p.m.): Ryan Palmer is back on top at the Sony Open in Hawaii thanks to his second birdie in three holes, which was sandwiched around a bogey.

Except for the bogey, Palmer has been nearly perfect today in all aspects -- power, accuracy and putting. Today, he's hit 80 percent of his fairways and greens in regulation while averaging just 1 1/2 putts. Those numbers aren't at all dissimilar to what Palmer (or Robert Allenby, for that matter) did yesterday. See below for more. -- Brian Wacker

NOISY BOGEY (7:18 p.m.): Ryan Palmer had a siren go off as he was getting ready to hit his par putt at the fourth hole. Palmer didn't back off and missed the putt. The H1 expressway runs very close to the fourth green and can be very noisy. They didn't deal with this last week in Maui. -- Brian Katrek

BIRDIE BARRAGE (7:10 p.m.): What a difference a day makes. All week, Waialae has played fairly difficult. Today? There's all sorts of movement on the leaderboard. Steve Stricker, Ryan Palmer and Robert Allenby are all tied for the top spot at 11 under -- Stricker is 3 under today -- while Retief Goosen and Carl Pettersson are one back at 6 and 3 under, respectively, for the day. In other words, that old Sunday shootout cliche isn't so cliche today. -- Brian Wacker

GROOVES ISSUE (6:50 p.m.): In short, the grooves issue isn't going away anytime soon. The latest example of that came via Dean Wilson and Bob Estes with Estes telling GOLF.com that Wilson's decision to play 20-year-old wedges that have u-grooves, "maybe a little bit against the spirit of the game since they passed that rule."

That prompted Wilson to respond in the Honolulu Advertiser with: "Bob has not come up to me and said anything about it. But if he came and asked me, I'd tell him what I told you. It's not a groove issue for me. It's a comfort issue. I'm not trying to gain advantage with the grooves. I think Bob is completely wrong. Maybe he should think about what he says."

Maybe they talked about it on the golf course today. The two are paired together. -- Brian Wacker

EARLY BIRDIE (6:30 p.m.): This should give you a pretty good idea about scoring at Waialae today: Robert Allenby has twice bogeyed the difficult opening hole. Today? He birdied it. As a result, Allenby is now in the lead by himself (for now, anyway) at 12 under as he tries to win for the first time since 2001. -- Brian Wacker

ROSE BLOOMS (6:18 p.m.): Think Justin Rose wouldn't like to have his first and third rounds back? Rose made seven birdies over his last 10 holes today to shoot 64, matching Jason Dufner for the low round of the day so far. I say so far because Stephen Ames is 5 under on his round with four holes still to play, including the very easy par-5 18th.

While Rose probably won't win because he shot 72 and 71 in the first and third rounds, respectively, he did move up the leaderboard nearly 40 spots.

Steve Stricker and Davis Love III have also picked up a stroke on the lead with each birdieing the first hole. Right now, this thing is looking like it could be a shootout. -- Brian Wacker

Below is a look at Rose's scorecard from today. Click here to replay his round with Shot Tracker.

INSIDE THE NUMBERS (6:05 p.m.): Ryan Palmer's been terrific all week with his ball-striking as you'll see in the chart below. But he's been just as good with his scrambling, going 4-for-5, 3-for-4 and 5-for-5 in each of the first three rounds. Maybe his 11-under total through three rounds is a little bit of smoke and mirrors, but the man has shown a consistent ability to get it up-and-down all week. -- Brian Wacker

LOW SCORE OF THE DAY (5:45 p.m.): As mentioned earlier, conditions are good for scoring and we've seen a few good numbers already turned in today, including Jason Dufner's 64. Not surprisingly, Dufner, who came within a stroke of matching his career-best score, did most of his damage on the back nine at Waialae with five birdies over his last nine holes, including three in a row to close out the round. That moved Dufner more than 50 spots up the leaderboard into a tie for 13th. In other words, someone certainly could come from back in the pack, post a number and make everyone chase him. -- Brian Wacker

Below is a look at Dufner's scorecard from today. Click here to replay his round with Shot Tracker.

TWEET OF THE DAY (5:30 p.m.): This is from yesterday, but it certainly seems applicable with Robert Allenby teeing off 40 minutes from now. "Allenby always had a great golf game. Why has it been this long since he's won?" -- @PresDistler

In a word: putting. Or lackthereof. Allenby has always been an enormous talent and one of the best ball-strikers on the PGA TOUR. Once he gets to the green, though, that's where the problems begin for the Aussie (see the chart below). This week, however, Allenby has averaged 1.667 putts per green in regulation, which ranks fourth in the field. -- Brian Wacker

GONE WITH THE WIND (5:20 p.m.): The wind is down right now at Waialae, which means the scoring should be good in this final round. With that, there is actually the chance that someone may catch Ryan Palmer and Robert Allenby before they begin their final round in just under an hour from now. Those good scoring conditions are tempered by the difficulty of the first few holes, but a run could be made. Seems like there is a low number out there -- like the 64 Jason Dufner shot earlier. -- Brian Katrek

THE HOLE STORY (5:10 p.m.): Are you ready for a something quirky that probably won't have any effect on the outcome of the tournament but is still pretty cool? The hole locations on the back 9 are all four steps from the edge of the green. They are four steps from different edges, and there is plenty of variety, but four steps none the less. As a matter of fact, most of the holes today are four steps from an edge. How many hole locations are not four steps from an edge today? You guessed it, four. -- Brian Katrek

LOOKING TO END A DROUGHT (5 p.m.): We're a little over an hour away from when leaders Robert Allenby and Ryan Palmer will tee off. It's been less than two years since Palmer has won -- the 2008 Ginn sur Mer Classic -- but it's been a lot longer for Allenby. The Aussie hasn't won on the PGA TOUR since 2001, though he has won a half-dozen times around the world since.

Still, just how long is nine years? Try 203 events and more than 50,000 strokes. And in case you're wondering, Allenby's final-round stroke average on TOUR, at least last year, wasn't anything to get excited about (70.73; 81st on TOUR). He'll need something better than that today on the par-70 Waialae. -- Brian Wacker

Stroke-play events since Allenby's last win on TOUR in 2001

Stat Number Total events 203 Total rounds 712 Total holes 12,816 Total strokes 50,918

Groups We're Watching

Tee time Players   5:34 p.m. ET, Hole No. 1 Rory Sabbatini, Michael Allen Allen is well past his 50th birthday, but he's got the game to compete with the young guns. At 7 under, he's only four shots back. 5:52 p.m. ET, Hole No. 1 Zach Johnson, Steve Stricker Johnson slipped a little bit in the third round, but he's got the horsepower to pull away in the final round if the putts start dropping. 6:10 p.m. ET, Hole No. 1 Ryan Palmer, Robert Allenby Allenby badly wants to end his nine-year victory drought, but Palmer has been tough as nails all week. As usual, putting will be the key.

MORE ROUND 2: Tee times | Inside the field | Inside the course | Field analysis

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