Knox's seven-birdie round lifts him to T8 on Hawaii, seven behind leader Thomas

By COLIN FARQUHARSON

Russell Knox crammed seven birdies and two bogeys into a third-round, five-under-par 68 which lifted him to joint eighth place in the US PGA Tour's Tournament of Champions at Kapuala, Hawaii.
The Scot's earlier scores were 71 and 69. His total of 11-under par 208 over the par-73 lay-out is seven shots behind leader Justin Thomas (67-67-67 for 201).
Thomas leads by two from Japan's Hideki Matsuyama (69-68-66 for 203.
Inverness-born, Florida-based Knox birdied the third, fifth, ninth, 11th, 15th, 16th and 18th in halves of 35 (one under) and 33 (four under). He had bogeys at the fourth and seventh.

LEADERBOARD
Par 219 (3x73) players from USA unless stated
201 Justin Thomas 67 67 67
203 Hideki Matsuhama (Japan) 69 68 66
205 William McGirt 70 69 66, Jimmy Walker 65 70 70, Ryan Moore 67  67 71.
206 Brendan Steele 72 67 67
207 Patrick Reed 70 65 72
208 Russell Knox (Scotland) 71 69 68, Dustin Johnson 69 70 69, Daniel Berger 68 70 70, Tony Finau 70 68 70, Jason Duffner 68 68 72.
SELECTED SCORES
209 Jason Day (Australia) 70 69 70 (T13)
211 Jordan Spieth 72 69 70 (19th)
215 Bubba Watson 72 72 71 (27th)