Moments after pouring in a birdie putt on Waialae Country Club’s signature 16th green, Jimmy Walker had a quick moment alone on the next tee box to savor the seaside view.

By then Walker had similarly separated himself from the pack in the third round of the Sony Open in Hawaii. He will start another tour of the course on Sunday with a familiar perspective from the top of the leaderboard.

The defending Sony Open champion closed his round on Saturday with 11 consecutive one-putts and broke out of a tight pack with an 8-under-par 62. He’ll take a two-stroke lead over Matt Kuchar into the final round at 16-under 194.

"You look around, this is such a pretty place … and I’ve always enjoyed coming here," Walker said. "I like the golf course. I feel like this is one of the best golf courses we play.

"It’s shorter, it’s tight, the green complexes are very benign to what we normally play, but I just think it’s a good test."

Walker was tied for the 54-hole lead at the Hyundai Tournament of Champions a week ago on Maui, but was caught by Patrick Reed and lost in a playoff. The memory was still fresh when he arrived at Waialae, and he has positioned himself for a run at becoming the Sony Open’s first repeat champion since Ernie Els won in 2003 and ’04.

He rolled in six birdies on Waialae’s back nine on Saturday, including four of his last five holes, and has played his last 11 rounds in Hawaii at 54 under par, counting last year’s 17-under finish at the Sony and last week’s 21 under at Kapalua.

"I definitely wanted to win last week, but … you try to take as much positives as you can out of the situation and figure out what you did, what you could have done different," Walker said.

"It’s nice to get back right where we want to be, having a chance to win, especially after last week."

As Walker made his move, Kuchar, who began the day as part of a three-way tie for the lead, didn’t pay much attention to the scoreboards around the course and kept Walker within range with a 2-under 68.

Brian Harman will join Walker and Kuchar in Sunday’s final grouping after moving to 13 under with a 64 on Saturday. Troy Merritt also enters the final round at 13 under, with Tim Clark and rookie Justin Thomas another stroke back.

While Walker, who entered the week ranked 17th in the world, looks to retain the Sony title, Kuchar, ranked 11th, will shoot for a breakthrough at Waialae after posting top-eight finishes in each of his past three appearances.

"(Walker’s) playing great golf. He should have won last week," Kuchar said. "His year last year was fantastic, certainly got a good track record here, knows how to play this course, and I don’t expect anything but a really good round out of him. I think it’s going to have to take a great round out of me to have a chance."

That said, Walker knows he’ll have to stay hot to fend off the pursuers.

"Somebody is shooting a low round every day and you never know where it’s going to come from," Walker said. "So you’ve got to go out with the expectation you’ve got to shoot a good score tomorrow."

At one point early in the afternoon, five players — Clark, Merritt, Kuchar, Simpson and Thomas — were tied for the lead at 11 under, with another 18 within three strokes.

Walker began the day at 8 under and was at even for the day before taking off with five birdies in his next seven holes. He drained a 30-footer across the 16th green to cap another three-birdie run but gave back a stroke when he needed two swings to escape a greenside bunker on the par-3 17th. 

He appeared to be in trouble in the rough on No. 18, but hammered a 7-iron from 210 yards from the green to set up a 9-foot birdie putt. He finished his day with his 10th birdie on just his 22nd putt of the afternoon.

While Walker and Kuchar are familiar names at the top of the Sony leaderboard, Harman is making a run at the title after finishing in a tie for 32nd last year. He missed the cut in 2013 and tied for 59th in his debut in 2012.

He began the day tied for 14th at 7 under and shot north with a bogey-free 64.

"This is a course that I’ve struggled at the last three years, just haven’t really done anything great," Harman said. "I’m thrilled to death to be in contention."

Merritt also stayed within sight of the lead with a 3-under 67 and was alone in the lead at 13 under after birdies on eight and nine. But he worked to hold his ground the rest of the way, finishing with a birdie on No. 18 after hitting into the rough on his approach.

"I was telling my caddie … before we hit the second shot on 18 that we were stuck in neutral and lulling everybody to sleep including ourselves," Merritt said. "It was nice to get that last one up and down."