LA QUINTA, Calif. — Although Sungjae Im hasn’t been on the PGA Tour for very long, the 22-year-old South Korean already feels awfully comfortable on the generous desert courses at The American Express.

So do plenty of other pros, and that’s why the leaderboard is so crowded heading to the weekend.

Im shot a 7-under 65 on Friday at The American Express to take a one-stroke lead over first-round leader Brandon Hagy and four others including Abbotsford, B.C., native Nick Taylor.

Im, the tour’s rookie of the year in 2019, had seven birdies in a bogey-free round on the Stadium Course at PGA West, highlighted by three in four holes around the turn. After struggling with his putter in recent weeks, he banged in a 22-footer and an 18-footer for consecutive birdies late in his round.

“Visually from the tee box, it’s a course that I really like and enjoy to play, so I felt really comfortable throughout the round,” Im said. “The two courses that we’re playing this week, I like those courses, and that’s what led me to a good score.”

Hagy was in position to join Im at 11 under, but he bogeyed his final hole with a tee shot into the fairway bunker to finish his 70.

Taylor (66), South Korea’s Si Woo Kim (68), Tony Finau (66) and Mexico’s Abraham Ancer (65) also were 10 under. Emiliano Grillo (66), Francesco Molinari (66) and Doug Ghim (68) were two shots off the lead, and eight more were at 8 under.

Taylor appears to be rounding into impressive form as he prepares to defend his Pebble Beach title in three weeks.

“My game feels really good right now, so hopefully it keeps peaking,”

he said. “It was a lot of intimidating tee shots, iron shots into greens. I feel like I missed in the right places. I drove it really nice on the par-5s and gave myself pretty easy looks on a few of them.”

Tournament host Phil Mickelson missed the cut, but made 18 pars Friday for the first time in his 2,201 rounds of PGA Tour play.

With his drives looking sharp and his mid-range putts dropping regularly, Im is off to another strong start at a tournament in which he has already finished 10th and 12th in his short Tour career.

“I’m pretty satisfied with how I played all of my shots,” Im said. “Speaking of putting, I started drawing a line on the ball as I visualize my putts, and that seemed to work pretty well today.”

Im also feels he might have an edge because didn’t travel home to South Korea during the holiday break due to the mandatory coronavirus quarantine required. Instead, he stayed in the house he recently purchased in Atlanta and practiced for the new season.

Roger Sloan of Merritt, B.C., shot 5-under 67 to get to 8 under. Adam Hadwin matched fellow Abbotsford, B.C., resident Taylor with a 66 to reach 6 under. David Hearn of Brantford, Ont., (71) was at 5 under, one stroke clear of the cut line, while Michael Gligic of Burlington, Ont., (77) missed the cut.

The leaderboard was stacked with low scores as usual at the Palm Springs-area tournament long hosted by Bob Hope. Im, Taylor and Ancer were among 12 players who didn’t make a bogey Friday.

After splitting the first two rounds over two courses, the players will all play the once-feared Stadium Course for the final two rounds. Heavy cloud cover never developed into rain Friday, but there’s a possibility of afternoon showers Saturday.

Hagy made 10 birdies in his opening round, but got off to a rough start Friday on the Stadium Course with two early bogeys. He rallied with birdies on his 16th and 17th holes, but his errant drive on his final hole kept him one shot off the pace.

“I feel comfortable here,” Hagy said. “I’m a California kid, been to Palm Springs a ton of times, so I know the courses well. … The first two rounds of this tournament are showing me that the stuff I’m working on, especially this off-season, is definitely getting better.”

Taylor, who also led the Sony Open after two rounds last week, shot a 66 with six birdies on the Stadium Course. He had three straight birdies on the back nine of his bogey-free round, including a 24-foot birdie putt on the 15th and an 18-footer on the island green at the 17th.

Roger Sloan of Merritt, B.C., is 3 shots back at 8 under, and sits tied for 10th place. Adam Hadwin of Abbotsford carded a 66 for 138, while David Hearn of Brantford, Ont., played a 71. Michael Gligic of Burlington, Ont., missed the -4 cut line.

Mickelson finished his two rounds at 2 over, but making 18 pars felt encouraging to the 50-year-old veteran as he heads back to his native San Diego area next week.

“It’s surprising, because I really try to hit fairways and centre of the greens and just make easy pars,” Mickelson said. “For that to be the first time, it’s really shocking. … There’s a lot of good things to take from it — the way I’m driving the ball, my iron play. There’s a lot of positives. If you look at the scorecard, it’s pathetic. I’m not denying that. But I think that it’s a little bit closer than it looks.”

LA QUINTA, Calif. — Brandon Hagy didn’t find out he was in the field at The American Express until three days before it started. The Californian then left no doubt he belonged.

Hagy took the first-round lead Thursday with an 8-under 64 on the Nicklaus course, staying one shot ahead of South Korea’s Byeong Hun An in the opening tournament of the PGA Tour’s West Coast swing.

Hagy racked up 10 birdies, including three streaks of three in a row. He capped the round with a calm birdie putt on the 18th.

“I felt like I saw the greens really well, and the last couple of days, I felt like I was putting really well,” Hagy said. “Once I started to read them well, I knew if I could just keep doing what I was doing, I’d have a good shot to do something.”

Hagy grew up in Westlake Village before his All-America collegiate career in Berkeley.

He was added to the AmEx field Monday when second-ranked Jon Rahm abruptly dropped out without giving a reason to tour officials. Rahm later said he incurred a minor injury in the gym, but the Spaniard plans to play at Torrey Pines next week.

Hagy might have made it into the field anyway after additional dropouts, but he was still grateful to Rahm, his friend and a collegiate opponent when Rahm played at Arizona State: “I’ll have to send him a gift or something.”

An made seven birdies without a bogey in his 65. Max Homa, Martin Laird and Si Woo Kim shot 66.

David Hearn of Brantford, Ont., and Nick Taylor of Abbotsford, B.C., are the top Canadians after opening with 4-under 68s.

Roger Sloan of Merritt, B.C., fired a 69, Michael Gligic of Burlington, Ont. opened with a 71 and Abbotsford’s Adam Hadwin came in with a 72.

This famed Palm Springs-area tournament long hosted by Bob Hope has undergone significant changes this season due to the coronavirus pandemic, but the idyllic sunshine was familiar to the players who made the trip to the venerable desert event.

The long-standing pro-am format has been dropped for a year, although the likes of Landon Donovan and country singer Jake Owen participated in a charity tournament Wednesday. With fewer golfers on course, the pros are also playing on only two courses instead of the usual three.

But the tournament kept its tradition of providing every opportunity for low scores: the once-feared Stadium Course and the Nicklaus Tournament Course at PGA West are among the most generous in the sport, with birdie opportunities abounding.

Hagy started with a bogey on the first hole of the Nicklaus course, but then the birdies came in bunches. He birdied six of the seven holes before the turn, and he added three more on the back nine after his second bogey.

The 29-year-old’s game is coming into focus after a rough few years for a promising talent. After turning pro in 2017 and recording his first top-10 finish in 2017, Hagy missed the entire 2018 season with a persistent wrist injury, and he played only 13 events in 2019 while struggling with a back injury.

After making eight cuts last year, Hagy is back at full health after a solid off-season of preparation.

“I’m happy with what I’ve been doing,” Hagy said. “I’m getting to a point now where I know exactly what I need to work on, and to just keep getting the reps.”

The self-doubt and frustration snowballed for Canadian golfer Adam Hadwin last season.

“I felt like there was a number of tournaments where all it was was a missed putt in a certain moment to either get some momentum or keep momentum, and I wasn’t able to make the putt or get up and down or get a good iron shot when I needed to,” Hadwin said. “It seemed like every event I was close to playing well, making a run and getting into the top 10. And then I ended up finishing 50th.”

Compartmentalizing his frustration week to week proved difficult. One week started to bleed into the next. One minor mishap and he’d be back at that place of frustration.

“It’s very difficult. I had a very difficult time managing that last year, I just couldn’t find a way to pull myself out of the funk,” he said. “I would start off a week OK, and you know, fresh start and here we go. And then that one bad thing or one missed putt would happen during the first couple of rounds, and it was kind of right back where I started.

“So hopefully that six weeks off has allowed my brain to kind of get out of its own way a little bit.”

Hadwin tees of what he hopes is a better 2021 on Thursday at the American Express Championship in La Quinta, Calif.

He spent the month-and-a-half off visiting family, a break that “went by too fast.” But now he’s keen to hit the reset button.

“I didn’t end the year on a very great note. So, it was nice to take some time and just get away from it a little bit, and recharge the batteries and start the year out in a place that I’m comfortable in,” Hadwin said.

The 33-year-old from Abbotsford, B.C., finished fourth at the Rocket Mortgage Classic in July, but his year petered out from that point. He missed three consecutive cuts to finish 2020, including The Masters in mid-November, and sits 158th in the FedEx Cup standings for 2020-21.

The Players Championship had already started in mid-March when the NBA shut down due to COVID-19. The PGA Tour did the same the next day, and it would be two months before the circuit teed off again. The pandemic forced the cancellation or postponement of 11 tournaments.

Hadwin, who was 54th in the FedEx Cup standings last season, said golf has been relatively lucky.

“What we have done hasn’t changed that much, at least the way that our sport is being conducted, the essence of the competition really hasn’t changed,”

he said. “Some of the smaller things maybe, (such as) not as much locker-room access, or how we eat at tournaments, travel may be a little bit different, but not much has changed once you get inside the ropes.”

The shutdown last spring meant extra time with his young family. His wife Jessica gave birth to their daughter Maddox a year ago.

“So, she was three months when everything shut down. And certainly my wife and I have talked quite a few times about how it’ll be very crazy when she grows up, like these are things that will be written in textbooks, when she’s learning, and that we actually went through it.”

It does feel eerie, he said, being in California, which has gone back into lockdown to battle the pandemic’s second wave. His wife and daughter, however, are able to travel with him, since they drive from one tournament to the next.

The break last spring also allowed Hadwin and his wife to launch the Hadwin Family Foundation in May. The Foundation’s aim is to help couples struggling to become parents.

The Hadwins struggled to get pregnant, and finally did through IVF (in vitro fertilization), which is a costly procedure.

“At the end of it, when we came out with our daughter, for a few months, we were both looking at each other and just feeling very thankful that we were in a position financially to be able to afford what we did,” Hadwin said. “We had tossed around the idea about starting a foundation for a while, and we just weren’t sure maybe what our purpose would be.

“After having Maddox after having wanted something so badly, that became part of our idea was helping people grow their families, and helping support the financial costs of growing a family through non-traditional means . . . for those who can’t have kids naturally.”

Hadwin said it’s still a taboo topic, so he and his wife believed by sharing the story of their struggles, they could “make it more of an open topic, it’s not something to be down about or ashamed about, and a lot of people deal with these sorts of things.”

Abbotsford’s Nick Taylor, Roger Sloan of Merritt, B.C., Michael Gligic of Burlington, Ont., and David Hearn of Brantford, Ont., are the other Canadians in the field this week.

HONOLULU — Three shots behind with six holes to play, Kevin Na birdied three straight holes and finished with an up-and-down birdie from behind the 18th green for a 5-under 65 and a one-shot victory in the Sony Open.

Na won for the fifth time in his PGA Tour career, and this one looked unlikely when he three-putted for bogey on the 12th hole at a time where there was no room for mistakes.

He answered with birdie putts of 15, 10 and 6 feet, and the winning shot was out of the right rough on the par-5 closing hole at Waialae and ran just over the back of the green. He chipped to tap-in range for his last birdie.

Na finished one shot ahead of Joaquin Niemann and Chris Kirk, and only one of them got a consolation prize.

Abbotsford, B.C. native Nick Taylor finished in a three-way tie for 11th place at 17-under par. Taylor fired a 3-under 67 in his final round. Mackenzie Hughes of Dundas, Ont., shot a 4-under 66 to end his tournament in a six-way tie for 19th place at 15-under. Brights Grove, Ont. native and 2003 Masters champion Mike Weir finished in a tie for 47th place.

Niemann chipped in for birdie from 55 feet on the par-3 17th and got up-and-down with a long bunker shot on the 18th hole for a 66. Even so, he was runner-up for the second straight week in Hawaii. The 22-year-old from Chile was 45-under par in two events without a trophy to show for it.

Kirk closed with his fourth straight round of 65 — that wasn’t enough to win on a soft Waialae with no wind — and his tough pitch from below the 18th for birdie proved to be massive.

Kirk stepped away from golf in May 2019 citing alcoholism and depression, a bold move that is paying off. He was given a medical extension to make up for lost time, and this was the final event for him to regain full status. Needing nearly 150 FedEx Cup points at the Sony Open, his tie for second was worth 245 points.

As for Brendan Steele, it was another year of disappointment in paradise, this one more of a slow leak. Steele last year had a two-shot lead with two to play and wound up losing in a playoff. This time, he made an 18-foot eagle putt on the ninth hole to take a three-shot lead into the back nine.

He three-putted the easy 10th hole from nearly 80 feet, and his game was so tentative the rest of the way that he didn’t have a birdie chance inside 30 feet until the 17th hole. That was from 10 feet to tie for the lead, and he missed that. Steele also failed to birdie the 18th and closed with a 69.

Na won for the fourth consecutive season, and he attributed the late surge to being happy at home with his wife and two children. He looked comfortable even when the Sony Open appeared to be slipping away.

Once he made the 15-footer on the 13th hole, he started walking them in.

“I knew there was a lot of birdie holes left,” Na said. “I was having fun out there.”

Webb Simpson matched the low score of the final round with a 64 and tied for fourth along with Steele and Marc Leishman, shot shot 30 on the back nine.

Na finished at 21-under 259 and is assured of returning to Hawaii for two weeks next year, starting with the Tournament of Champions at Kapalua. That course can be too big for him. Waialae proved to be a perfect fit.

HONOLULU — Brendan Steele had the lowest score of his PGA Tour career with a 9-under 61, giving him a two-shot lead and another chance to win the Sony Open.

Steele has reason to still be smarting from last year. He had the tournament all but won until a series of errors over the last three holes he played to lose in a playoff to Cameron Smith.

And if Saturday was any indication, even a two-shot lead isn’t safe.

Overnight rain at Waialae Country Club, coupled with the tropical wind not even strong enough to make palm trees sway, left the course as vulnerable as it has ever been.

Steele didn’t even have the low score to himself. Kevin Na also had a 61 and was two shots behind, along with Kapalua runner-up Joaquin Niemann. Na had it going so well he thought about a 59 when he stood over a 10-foot birdie putt on the 17th, knowing that would leave him an eagle away from golf’s magic number. On this day, he had to settle for a 61.

Niemann squinted his eyes into the setting sun as his approach on the par-5 bounced up to 10 feet for a birdie-eagle finish and a 63. In two holes, he went from outside the top 10 to the final group on Sunday.

Steele was at 18-under 192.

Stewart Cink birdied his final hole for a 65 and was three shots behind, along with Charley Hoffman (64), Peter Malnati (64), Chris Kirk (65) and Russell Henley (65).

Abbotsford, B.C., native Nick Taylor, who ended his second round with a two-stroke lead, hit a 2-under 68 to the end the round in a tie for ninth. Mackenzie Hughes of Dundas, Ont., is in a tie for 23rd at 11-under. Brights Grove, Ont. native Mike Weir also hit a 2-under 68, and he sits in a tie for 47th place.

Starting times have been moved up by two hours Sunday with hopes of finishing ahead of heavy rain in the forecast.

Steele had a two-shot lead with two holes to play a year ago when he missed a 6-foot par putt on the 17th hole, hit a wild hook on his approach to the easy par-5 18th and had to settle for par, and then missed the 10th green with an 80-yard shot in the playoff. It was a final hour when everything went wrong.

On this blissful day, everything went right.

And he wasn’t alone.

Keith Mitchell, who had a 62 on Friday, took the lead at one point in the third round and was 8 under through 15 holes on his round when his tee shot landed near a cement wall of a house and cost him a penalty drop. A mediocre finish gave Mitchell a 63, which felt even higher being in the same group as Na.

There were 10 scores of 64 or better. The average score for the third round was 66.7.

Taylor was keeping pace until a pair of bogeys on the back nine. He shot a 68 and was still only four shots back.

Such is the nature of this tournament in this kind of weather. It was wide open on Saturday, and it’s not likely to be any different in the final round.

HONOLULU — Nick Taylor pitched in for an eagle to get his round headed in the right direction, and he kept going until he finished with a good break and one last birdie for an 8-under 62 and a two-shot lead Friday in the Sony Open.

It’s still as crowded as the H-1 at the top, typical of this tournament.

Taylor gave himself at least some separation with a gap wedge to 6 feet for a birdie on No. 8, and then even his worst swing of the day turned into a birdie on the par-5 ninth.

The Canadian hooked his tee shot toward the high netting of the driving range. The ball was so close to the knee-high boundary fence that his only hope was to play the shot left-handed. However, the netting that extends upward from the fence is considered a temporary immovable obstruction. Taylor was given a free drop.

He hit iron to about 50 yards short of the green leaving a good angle, and he clipped a wedge to 2 feet.

“It was a fortunate break,” Taylor said. “Easily could have probably gone under the fence, but to bounce off and get a drop was a break and it was nice to take advantage of it.”

Taylor, who won at the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am last year, was at 12-under 128.

Five players were two shots behind, a group that was decidedly Southern for the second leg of this Hawaii swing — Stewart Cink (63), Webb Simpson (65), Russell Henley (64), Vaughn Taylor (66) and Chris Kirk (65).

It doesn’t stop there. Fourteen players were separated by three shots going into the weekend.

Attribute that to an ideal day of a blue sky and only a light, tropical breeze on a dry course at Waialae. Taylor played in a group with Keith Mitchell, who also shot a 62. Their better-ball score was 55, with only four holes where neither of them made a birdie.

Mitchell also was right around the cut line. Birdies started dropping, and now he’s right in the mix.

Ditto for Harris English, who had at least a share of the lead after every round in his playoff victory last week at Kapalua. He opened with a 70 and was in danger of missing the cut. He shot 64 and was six back.

“I think it’s probably harder out here to make double (bogey) and there’s a lot of birdie opportunities,” Taylor said. “You can make four, five, six pars in a row and you’re probably getting lapped, especially with how the fairways are running.”

Taylor wasn’t even doing that. He was 1 over through 5 holes, slipping behind the cut line. But instead of worrying about the cut, he just kept playing and putting, along with that chip-in for eagle on the 18th.

Waialae has never looked so empty without fans, and Taylor wasn’t sure how to react except to eventually high-five his caddie. Sergio Garcia had a moment like that. He holed a flop shot from right of the sixth green and simply stood there. No one was sure where it went until a caddie reached into the cup and tossed the ball to him.

But it’s plenty crowded on the scoreboard, and the weekend figures to be as wild as ever.

Cink already won the season-opener in the Safeway Open in September, his first victory since the 2009 British Open at Turnberry. He and his wife, a cancer survivor, recovered from COVID-19. His 23-year-old took a leave from Delta Airlines to caddie for him. It doesn’t take much to make the 47-year-old smile.

And then he played golf beneath a gorgeous blue sky in a light, tropical breeze with gentle surf along the edge of Waialae.

“Today was a dream day for playing here at Waialae,” he said. “It was almost no wind. There was a little bit of moisture on the ground from last night, and it was a day where you could really dial it in. You could really hit your spots instead of having to do the usual, which is figure out how wind is going to help or hurt the ball.”

The group three shots behind included Kapalua runner-up Joaquin Niemann of Chile, Collin Morikawa and Hideki Matsuyama, who shot 28 on his second nine for a 65.

Mackenzie Hughes (69) of Dundas, Ont., and Mike Weir of Brights Grove, Ont., (66) head into the third round at 6 under.

David Hearn, from Brantford, Ont., (72), Roger Sloan of Merritt, B.C., (70) and Michael Gligic of Burlington, Ont., (70) didn’t make the 4-under cutline and will miss the weekend.

The weather was so good that Simpson was nervous. He was 1 under for his round in conditions where he felt the good scores would be in the 62 range. And then he made a 25-foot birdie putt on the par-3 fourth, closed with three straight birdies and felt a lot better.

“It’s one of those days where calm winds, you feel like you need to go shoot 7, 8, 9 under, and I was a couple under for a while there,” he said. “Really happy with my finish and I thought if I can get it to double digits, I would be at least close to the lead going into Saturday.”

HONOLULU — Joaquin Niemann had no regrets about the 18th hole at the Sony Open.

Four days after a pair of pars on the final hole at Kapalua led to a playoff loss, Niemann holed a 50-foot chip for eagle on the 18th hole Thursday for an 8-under 62 and a share of the lead with Jason Kokrak and Peter Malnati.

“It was a good way to finish,” Niemann said. “Spent a few days thinking about that last hole, but taking all the positives from the week and pull it out for this week.”

They weren’t easy days for Niemann. The 22-year-old from Chile is still too young to have experienced the inevitable losses that pile up in this sport. He played Sunday at Kapalua with Sergio Garcia, who has experienced plenty of failure, and who told him to think about what all went right.

So much did on a breezy afternoon at Waialae on a course with dry fairways and smooth greens and low scoring. Niemann’s only bogey was when he fell asleep on a 25-foot birdie putt above the hole at No. 12, ran it 10 feet by the hole and three-putted. The finish was exquisite.

Kokrak played bogey-free, and he was as pleased with a 15-foot par putt on No. 1 — his 10th hole of the round — than any of his nine birdies. He had a 25-foot eagle putt for 61 on his closing hole that narrowly missed.

Malnati was the only one at 62 who played in the morning, though conditions were similar for much of the day.

The group at 64 included Daniel Berger, among the 31 players in the Sentry Tournament of Champion last week on Maui, and Jim Herman, who should have been there.

Herman made it to Hawaii a week later than he had hoped and was happier than ever. He recovered from the coronavirus and had his lowest score in his 10th appearance at the Sony Open to get his year off to a good start.

He qualified for Kapalua the Sentry Tournament of Champions by winning the Wyndham Championship, his third career victory. But his COVID-19 test came back positive as he prepared to go to Maui, and self-isolation for 10 days left him no time to get to Kapalua.

“I feel pretty good,” Herman said. “Obviously, the low score today helps you feel a little bit better. Didn’t know what to expect coming out this week.”

Two Canadians were in the group at 65. David Hearn of Brantford, Ont., and Mackenzie Hughes of Dundas, Ont., were bunched in a 13-way tie for 10th place, three points back of the lead. Nick Taylor of Abbotsford, B.C., trails one point behind them after shooting 4-under 66.

Roger Sloan of Merritt, B.C shot a 67, trailed by Mike Weir of Brights Grove, Ont., at 69. Michael Gligic of Burlington, Ont., ended the first round at 2 over.

Scoring was ideal for different reasons than Kapalua on a very different course. The wind off the Pacific shores on the edge of the course is normal. But it’s been dry enough for the ball to roll, helpful on tee shots in the fairway, not so much when it’s off line and head into the rough.

There was one other twist at Waialae — out-of-bounds stakes for about 350 yards down the left side of the 18th fairway. The tour erected them this year out of safety to those coming down the 10th fairway, and without the tents and bleachers because of no spectators, it might have been tempting for more players to take their tee shot on 18 down the 10th.

That never crossed Niemann’s mind. He hit a high draw that still tumbled through the fairway into the rough, came up just short and finished on a good note.

It sure was different from last week. Niemann missed a 6-foot birdie in regulation (and shot 64), and then in a playoff on the par-5 18th, he pulled it slightly and went down a slope left of the green, leaving a tough chip and a par. Harris English won with a birdie putt.

“It was the first time that it really hurt me, like finishing a golf tournament,” he said. “Probably one or two days I just keep thinking on how I couldn’t make birdie on 18 and get it done. I was talking with my coach, with my psychologist. We talked for an hour about the whole tournament, not for that 18th hole. It was a good way to take all the positives from that week.”

English, hopeful of being only the third player to sweep the Hawaii swing, had three bogeys in a four-hole stretch on his second nine and had to birdie two of the last three holes for an even-par 70.

Scoring was so low that only 30 players from the 144-man field were over par.

“They have it playing fantastic,” said Webb Simpson, one of 22 players at 65 or better. “I think all us golfers love it for the most part when we see a good drive and the ball bounce 10 feet in the air, it’s a good feeling.”

KAPALUA, Hawaii — Harris English went more than seven years without winning on the PGA Tour, and he didn’t mind going one extra hole to win the Sentry Tournament of Champions on Sunday.

English missed a 10-foot eagle putt in regulation on the par-5 18th hole at Kapalua for a 4-under 69 to force a playoff with Joaquin Niemann, and he ended it on the 18th with a 6-foot birdie.

Niemann, who closed with a 64, pulled his approach enough to tumble down the steep, shaggy hill. His full swing from thick grass got him to the fringe, but he missed the birdie putt.

English capped off his remarkable turnaround at a tournament he ordinarily wouldn’t be allowed to play. The Tournament of Champions is for winners only from the previous year, but the field was expanded to include anyone who reached the Tour Championship because of the COVID-19 pandemic that shut down the PGA Tour for three months.

Nick Taylor of Abbotsford, B.C. finished in a tie for 29th with American Brian Gay at 13-under par. Mackenzie Hughes of Dundas, Ont., finished in a tie for last with Japan’s Hideki Matsuyama at 4-under par.

The fact English made it to the Tour Championship was proof of turning around his game. He ended the previous season without a full card and mired in a slump that dropped him to No. 369 in the world. He did everything last year but win, and he took care of that in the first event of the new year.

Now the 31-year-old from Georgia is among the top 20 in the world, and guaranteed a return to Kapalua next year.

Niemann had eight birdies through 14 holes and matched the low score of the tournament. His regret might be a 6-foot birdie putt he missed in regulation. All he could do was wait, and he spent most of that hour at a picnic table with Sergio Garcia and their wives, heading to the practice green as English was coming up the 18th.

English won for the third time in his career, and his first title since the OHL Classic at Mayakoba at the end of 2013, his second victory of that year.

Justin Thomas stayed in the mix one day after he was heard uttering a homophobic slur under his breath after missing a short putt. Thomas apologized, and did so again after a 66 left him one shot out of the playoff.

He missed an 8-foot birdie chance on the 16th, and then three-putted from long range on the 17th for bogey. A birdie on the final hole wasn’t enough.

Dustin Johnson, in his first start since winning the Masters on Nov. 15, made an early run until he lost a tee shot in the native grass on No. 12 and made double bogey. He shot 69 and tied for 11th, ending his streak of seven consecutive top 10s dating to the first week in August.

Ryan Palmer, who shared the 54-hole lead with English, had an early lead with an eagle on the fifth hole. His hopes came undone when his tee shot on the par-3 11th turned left with the wind into the shin-high grass. It took him two to get out and he made double bogey. Palmer rallied with four birdies on his last five holes but shot 71 to finish two back.

The most significant wind of the week eventually allowed for some separation, and it came down to English, Niemann and Thomas over the final hour.

English got back in the game by running off four birdies in a five-hole stretch starting at No. 11, and he appeared to be in control until attacking a back pin on the 16th, going just over the green and making bogey.

He bounced back, first with a birdie on the 18th to catch Niemann at 25-under 267, and then with a birdie to win.

KAPALUA, Hawaii — Ryan Palmer went through a range of emotions over the final 15 minutes Saturday that ended with him posting a 9-under 64 for the best round of the week and a share of the lead with Harris English in the Sentry Tournament of Champions.

Nick Taylor of Abbotsford, B.C., is tied for 21st going into the final round after a 4-under 69. Mackenzie Hughes of Dundas, Ont., is in 40th place after a 1-under 72 in his third round.

Palmer thought he might have been in trouble with a thin fairway metal approaching the green on the par-5 18th. It narrowly cleared native grass left of the green and rolled out to 12 feet, and he two-putted for birdie.

His score stood when rules officials determined there was no intent, and no penalty, when he tamped down a divot a few paces away from where his golf ball was rolling after a muffed chip on the ninth hole.

English wasn’t so fortunate with his second shot to the 18th. He was left and came up some 15 feet short of clearing the hazard. His only good break was that a marshal somehow spotted it. Instead of a third shot from 200-plus yards away, he hacked out to 80 feet away and took two tough putts for par and a 66.

They were tied at 21-under 198, one shot ahead of Collin Morikawa, who also flirted with trouble on the closing hole at the Plantation, finished with a birdie and shot 65.

Until the final hole, the third round at Kapalua was all about making birdies to keep from losing ground. Scoring has been exceptionally low, not just by one player but several of them, because of a soft course and little wind.

The top three began to pull away.

Daniel Berger, playing in the final group with English, had a long eagle putt hang on the lip at the 18th and had to settle for birdie and a 67 that left him three shots behind, still in the mix.

Defending champion Justin Thomas finally hit a shot he couldn’t find. Three times this week, he hit it into knee-high native grass and managed to locate the ball and twice saved par. He wasn’t so lucky on the sixth hole, sending it well right and into a deep gorge for a double bogey. Thomas recovered for a 68 and was four back, along with Sungjae Im (67).

Masters champion Dustin Johnson was doing his best to keep pace until his drive on the par-5 15th sailed too far right and into the hazard, leading to a bogey that felt even worse considering it’s a par 5 he can reach in two with an iron. He missed birdie chances coming in and shot 69, seven shots out of the lead.

Xander Schauffele two years ago shot a 62 on the final day to rally from five behind, and such a score is possible in these ideal conditions. But there’s a lot of players to climb, and Englishhasn’t shown any signs of backing off as he goes for his first victory in just over seven years.

Palmer has gone even longer — 11 years since his last individual title on the PGA Tour — and played his best on Saturday. His only big miscue was on the par-5 ninth when he put his second shot in rough left of the green and used the wrong club for a pitch that came up short and rolled down the slope back into the fairway.

He knew where it was headed and began walking, and stepped down a divot a few paces short of where the ball was rolling. That was the violation that led to disqualification for Camilo Villegas from this tournament 10 years ago on the 15th hole. Palmer met with the rules staff and was cleared because there was no intent to improve his lie.

Palmer said when he watched the video, he wasn’t sure what concerned officials. He later added the ball was 5 feet away and “not even close to where I was at.”

So his score was upheld and he now is part of a two-way tie for the lead, a final group between two players who are trying to end a drought a tournament they are fortunate to be playing.

The field for the Tournament of Champions was expanded this year for 2020 winners and anyone who reached the Tour Championship, all because of the COVID-19 pandemic that shut the tour down for three months. Both Palmer and English made it to East Lake. Both would like to make their next victory one that assures them a return to Maui.

Right behind them is the PGA champion, Morikawa, going for his third victory in his last 14 tournaments worldwide.

KAPALUA, Hawaii — A new year, and Harris English keeps right on rolling.

English finished with a 10-foot birdie to cap off an ideal Friday at the Sentry Tournament of Champions with a 6-under 67, giving him a two-shot lead over a quartet of players that includes defending champion Justin Thomas.

Even with a lead, it feels as though the first PGA Tour event of the year is wide open. With virtually no wind, rare for the Plantation Course at Kapalua, scores remained low and several players were stacked up behind him. That includes Masters champion Dustin Johnson, who hit it close enough all round to make a few putts in his round of 65.

“Felt like I got back in the tournament a little bit,” said Johnson, playing for the first time since his Nov. 15 victory at Augusta National.

English is among 16 players at the winners-only event who didn’t win last year. Because of the COVID-19 pandemic that wiped out three months on the tour schedule, anyone who reached the Tour Championship qualified this year. English did everything but win, going from No. 369 in the world to among the top 30.

And he’s playing like it. He was bogey-free and rarely faced any stress. It’s hard to feel that on the western edge of Maui, and English was entertained by a pair of humpback whales splashing their fins in the Pacific below the course.

He was at 14-under 132, two shots ahead of Thomas, PGA champion Collin Morikawa (65), Daniel Berger (65) and Ryan Palmer (67), another player who didn’t win in 2020 and was happy to be here.

Thomas lost some of his Aloha spirit on the back nine. He had a one-shot lead at the turn, missed a short birdie chance on the par-3 11th and then struggled to keep it in play. A drive to the left in the native grass kept him from a good birdie opportunity on the short 12th. He hit another one to the left into high grass on the 13th and made his first bogey.

Thomas also failed to convert chances on the next four holes, and the 18th was looking grim when he missed a long iron and came up 40 yards short, a perilous spot with a front pin and the grain running hard toward the back. He clipped a sand wedge and it was about to go too far when it hit the pin and dropped 3 feet away. He made that for his only birdie on the back nine and shot 69.

He was among 16 players separated by four shots going into the final two days.

Xander Schauffele holed an 80-foot eagle putt on the 18th for a 66 and was in the group at 11-under 135 that included Patrick Reed, who had a 68. Another shot behind was the group that included Johnson, Jon Rahm (66) and U.S. Open champion Bryson DeChambeau (67).

Nick Taylor of Abbotsford, B.C., (71) is the top Canadian going into the weekend with a total of 8-under 138. He shares 22nd place with four other golfers, including Sergio Garcia of Spain (71). Fellow Canadian Mackenzie Hughes (Dundas, Ont.,) has a score of 144 after a round of 71 on Friday.