Brendan Steele isn’t satisfied with close, not anymore.

Facing the ocean on Waialae Country Club’s 17th green Saturday afternoon, Steele took a hard look at the line leading to the hole just over 27 feet away.

Sure, rolling the ball close enough for a tap-in par would be considered success, dropping it from that range certainly a bonus.

Steele envisioned the latter as he lined up his putter.

“My coach is on the bag this week, and we are working on the mind-set that every putt has a chance to go in,” Steele said. “Doesn’t mean you’re trying to ram it in, but you’re playing it as if you’re trying it make it not just get it close.”

Even so, watching the putt snake toward the hole and fall was still an unexpected thrill, and Steele’s birdie on the par-3 gave a familiar vantage point entering the final round of the Sony Open in Hawaii.

He closed with a relatively tame 8-foot birdie on the par-5 18th to finish off a round of 9-under 61 that pushed him to 18 under for the week and into the 54-hole lead at Waialae for a second straight year.

Some 371 days after faltering on No. 18 then falling in a playoff to Cameron Smith, Steele will tee off this morning aiming to finish the deal this time around.

“I know I’m going to have to go shoot a great round,” said Steele, who enters today’s round two shots ahead of Kevin Na and Joaquin Niemann. “I know it’s going to be really hard. I know guys are going to be coming after me. There should be a lot of birdies out there even with the wind picking up a little bit. I know I’m going to have to shoot one of the best rounds I’ve ever shot to go win it. So that’s what I’m going to go try to do.”

With heavy rain forecast for this afternoon and the possibility of more wet weather on Monday, the PGA Tour moved up today’s tee times to starting at 8:20 a.m. with the last group going off at 10:20. The final round is projected to finish around 3 p.m.

Steele reached No. 18 last year with a fourth PGA Tour victory within his grasp before he pulled his approach behind the grandstands. While he scrambled for par, Cameron Smith got up and down from the bunker for a birdie to force a playoff. Steele then bogeyed the first playoff hole, and Smith’s par was enough to give him the Sony title.

“I was really happy (how) I played last year all the way through the final round,” Steele said. “I would have liked to hit a better shot into 18, but Cameron had a really tough up-and-down and made a great putt, and then hit a great shot in the playoff and forced my hand on the second shot there. I was very happy with everything I did, and I don’t feel like I did anything differently last year than the times that I’ve won. I would like to do the exact same thing tomorrow and hopefully it’s good enough.”

Before the expected turn in the weather today, favorable scoring conditions held up for a third straight round and the field came out firing on Saturday with players charging into double figures in the red. When it was over, only six of the 73 pros failed to break par with a 2-over 72 the high for the day.

Na had 59 in his thoughts before finishing off a 61 to move to 16 under for the week. He led the field when he signed his scorecard, but his stay atop the leaderboard lasted about an hour before Steele closed out another 61 with his birdie- birdie finish.

Na began Saturday’s play five shots behind second-round leader Nick Taylor and burst into the lead in playing a six-hole stretch at 6 under par.

He eagled the par-5 ninth with an 8-foot putt and strung together four consecutive birdies from Nos. 11 to 14 to get to 8 under for the day and 15 under for the tournament.

He walked in a 15-footer for birdie on No. 13 and dropped into a squat as he watched a 17-footer drop on No. 14. He cooled off just slightly, misreading an 8-footer for birdie on No. 17 but made one from inside of 7 feet on 18 to finish his day.

“My ball-striking was great and the fact that I had an outside look at a magic number, 59, was exciting,” Na said. “You know, when I missed the putt on 17, I was so disappointed because I was really trying to make that putt to have a chance for 59 because you can definitely eagle the last hole.”

Niemann had a share of the first-round lead and turned in a 63 on Saturday to match Na at 16 under and will be in today’s final group as well. He finished his day by firing his second shot on No. 18 at the pin to set up an eagle putt from just inside of 10 feet.

A week ago, the 22-year-old from Chile shot a 64 in the final round of the Sentry Tournament of Champions on Maui to take the lead before falling to Harris English in a playoff.

“I think after last week I’m just going to keep putting myself in a good position and hopefully tomorrow have a good round,” Niemann said.

The lead group will tee off with a still sizable pack close behind. A group of five enters the final round three shots out of the lead at 15 under with another four another shot back, including Taylor (68 on Saturday) and Keith Mitchell. Mitchell started the week with a 71 and jumped into contention with a 62 on Friday and 63 on Saturday while trading birdies with Na for much of the afternoon.