Hoge takes lead on wild day at Waialae

TOM Hoge was too caught up watching college basketball in his hotel room to be bothered with a push alert — a false alarm, as it turned out — that a ballistic missile was headed toward Hawaii.

He showed a steady hand on the golf course, too, even as the leaderboard at the Sony Open became increasingly crowded.

Hoge finished off a 6under 64 yesterday by holing a 40-foot birdie putt at the par-3 17th, and then hitting a 40-yard bunker shot to within 3 feet for a birdie on the par-5 closing hole at Waialae Country Club for a one-shot lead.

Hoge was at 16-under 194, one shot ahead of Brian Harman (68) and Patton Kizzire, who recovered from a double bogey on his opening hole and shot 64.

Another shot behind was Kyle Stanley (65).

Seven players were separated by four shots, a big difference from a year ago when Justin Thomas led by seven going into the final round of his wire-to-wire victory.

Hoge has never led going to the final round on the PGA Tour in his 75 previous starts. He has never won.

“A new position,” Hoge said.

“It’s a good one, obviously. I’ve been close to the lead a few times in the fall, so a little bit to draw on there.

“Haven’t quite pulled it off yet.

“Just getting a little more belief in myself and hopefully, tomorrow will be a better day for me.”