BYU’s Kihei Akina fired an impressive 6-under-par 65 in Saturday’s third round of the Bank of Utah Championship at Black Desert Resort Golf Course in Ivins to move up 19 places.
The Cougar sophomore heads into Sunday’s final round at 14-under par, nine strokes off leader Austin Smotherman, who is 23-under.
Smotherman holds a one-shot lead over Doug Ghim heading into Sunday’s final round.
Akina, tied with former BYU and PGA veteran Patrick Fishburn of Ogden at 8-under on Friday in making the cut, made birdies on 3,5, 6 and 7 (his back nine) Saturday to card his third round under par (67-67-65) in this PGA event.
Akina entered the clubhouse tied for 16th.
Zac Blair, another BYU veteran on Tour, had a run of his own Saturday. Blair, who lives in Orem, made birdies on 4,6 and 7 (his back nine) to go to 12-under par for the tournament and 6-under on the day like Akina. He previously made birdies on his front holes at 14,17 and 18.
He was T26 in the clubhouse.
Fishburn shot 2-under par 69 on Saturday to get to 10-under, good for T45. Only those three players from Utah made the cut.
Akina’s power was on display on the long Par 5 No. 17 when he drove the ball off the tee 345 yards and then hit his second shot 299 yards to just outside 12 feet from the hole.
From there, he missed his eagle but had an easy tap-in birdie to get to 6-under for the day. His other birdies came on 14 and 18 in a round without a bogey.