Si Woo Kim leads by 1 at Hilton Head with Justin Thomas lurking

HILTON HEAD ISLAND, S.C. (AP) — The vibe at Hilton Head Island is all about ease and relaxation. It felt like anything but that to Justin Thomas on Saturday in the RBC Heritage.

His two-shot lead was gone in two holes, partly because he of a one-shot penalty on the par-5 second hole when he informed the rules official his golf ball might have moved a little more than a dimple (it did).

His worst swing of the day on the 11th hole put him in shallow water inside a red hazard line. He tried to play the shot and barely moved it 15 yards, but not before the mud and muck splashed into his face and led his caddie to tell him he smelled like a wet dog (he did).

“That didn’t seem worth it,” Thomas said, loud enough for the gallery to hear and to laugh.

Thomas at least ended the day on a high note, rolling in a 15-foot birdie putt on the 18th to make up ground on Si Woo Kim, who played bogey-free until the final hole at Harbour Town.

By then, Kim had done enough to still post a 5-under 66 and take a one-shot lead over Thomas (69) and Andrew Novak (66).

“When you win golf tournaments, you need to salvage under-par rounds when you don’t have your best stuff,” Thomas said. “I just fought and tried to stay patient and then was able to salvage a score to where I’m right there tomorrow.”

Kim didn't exactly have that peaceful feeling when he headed to the first tee, two behind Thomas and without a win in two years.

“It’s been a while to play in the final group, so it feels weird. Then a little bit of maybe pressure,” Kim said. “Not the pressure, a little bit like feel weird at the start.”

He started birdie-birdie to catch Thomas. He took the lead when Thomas had his mud-filled adventures on the 11th and made bogey. Kim stretched the lead to as many as three shots until it suddenly got tight again.

Novak birdied the par-3 17th to complete his bogey-free round. And there was a two-shot swing from the final group when Kim came up short of the 18th green and just into the hazard, from here we chopped out of mangled grass and missed the par putt.

“I played great — only missed the last hole, so that’s not a big deal,” Kim said. “So I play pretty much 35 holes really decent. So I’m not going to worry about the last hole for tomorrow. I’m in good position. I’ve been playing good.”

And Thomas made his birdie.

“It was huge,” he said. “I played really well today, really solid. Just didn’t have much to show. The course is getting very difficult, very firm and fast. ... Yeah, it was nice to see an iron shot get up there pin-high and roll that putt in there. It’s nice to finish off like that and ride that momentum into tomorrow.”

Kim was at 15-under 198.

Maverick McNealy shot 64 and was alone in fourth, two shots behind. He was followed by former British Open champion Brian Harman (66) and Tommy Fleetwood, who had three birdies over his last six holes for a 68.

Defending champion Scottie Scheffler had a rough stretch early on the back nine that derailed his momentum, though he still managed a 68 and was very much in the game at only four shots out of the lead.

Scheffler hit a brilliant escape from the trees, the ball never gaining more than 10 feet of altitude from 160 yards away, but it was too strong and rolled against the lip of a bunker, leaving him no shot. He had to make an 8-foot putt to salvage bogey.

He went long of the green on No. 12 and left himself a fast pitch (bogey) and then hit a demanding lob wedge over the bunker to 3 feet on No. 13 and missed the putt.

The weather has been getting warmer and windier by the day, enough to make the course fast and crispy and enough movement in the trees to cause some second-guessing. There are low scores available. It doesn't take much for players to lose momentum.

This is a signature event with no cut and the scoring average has been roughly the same all three days. It's a matter of gets on a roll, who holes putts and who limits mistakes.

For so much of Saturday, that was Kim.

He opened with a pair of 6-foot birdie putts. He handled the par 5s. His longest birdie putt was on the par-5 15th when he got out of position and had to make an 18-footer.

Thomas says he is capable of ending his three-year drought and simply needs the tournament to unfold instead of forcing the issue. This was only a 69 but important to him because he managed a round under par when it felt like nothing was going right, except at the end.

AP golf: https://apnews.com/hub/golf

Maverick McNealy hits from the second hole during the third round of the RBC Heritage golf tournament, Saturday, April 19, 2025, in Hilton Head Island, S.C. (AP Photo/Mike Stewart)

Brian Harman lines up a putt on the second hole during the third round of the RBC Heritage golf tournament, Saturday, April 19, 2025, in Hilton Head Island, S.C. (AP Photo/Mike Stewart)

Tommy Fleetwood hits from the third hole during the third round of the RBC Heritage golf tournament, Saturday, April 19, 2025, in Hilton Head Island, S.C. (AP Photo/Mike Stewart)

Scottie Scheffler watches his shot from the bunker on the second hole during the third round of the RBC Heritage golf tournament, Saturday, April 19, 2025, in Hilton Head Island, S.C. (AP Photo/Mike Stewart)

Scottie Scheffler prepares to hit from the seventh tee during the third round of the RBC Heritage golf tournament, Saturday, April 19, 2025, in Hilton Head Island, S.C. (AP Photo/Mike Stewart)

Andrew Novak hits from the second hole during the third round of the RBC Heritage golf tournament, Saturday, April 19, 2025, in Hilton Head Island, S.C. (AP Photo/Mike Stewart)

Justin Thomas departs the 18th green during the third round of the RBC Heritage golf tournament, Saturday, April 19, 2025, in Hilton Head Island, S.C. (AP Photo/Mike Stewart)

Justin Thomas speaks with an official from the second fairway during the third round of the RBC Heritage golf tournament, Saturday, April 19, 2025, in Hilton Head Island, S.C. (AP Photo/Mike Stewart)

Justin Thomas hits from the 18th green during the third round of the RBC Heritage golf tournament, Saturday, April 19, 2025, in Hilton Head Island, S.C. (AP Photo/Mike Stewart)

Si Woo Kim hits from the 18th tee during the third round of the RBC Heritage golf tournament, Saturday, April 19, 2025, in Hilton Head Island, S.C. (AP Photo/Mike Stewart)

Si Woo Kim putts on the 18th green during the third round of the RBC Heritage golf tournament, Saturday, April 19, 2025, in Hilton Head Island, S.C. (AP Photo/Mike Stewart)

Si Woo Kim walks to the 16th green during the third round of the RBC Heritage golf tournament, Saturday, April 19, 2025, in Hilton Head Island, S.C. (AP Photo/Mike Stewart)

ANTALYA, Turkey (AP) — U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio and his NATO counterparts meet in Turkey on Thursday to prepare a pivotal summit of alliance leaders next month that will set the course for future European security as America focuses on challenges elsewhere.

The meeting in the Mediterranean coastal city of Antalya comes amid a flurry of negotiations aimed at producing a ceasefire agreement between Russia and Ukraine, including talks in Istanbul that Rubio and President Donald Trump's special envoy Steve Witkoff plan to attend Friday. Rubio and Witkoff are coming to Turkey after accompanying Trump on portions of his trip to Gulf Arab countries.

On the sidelines of the NATO meeting, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha met Wednesday with Rubio, who also is having separate talks with new German Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul and Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan of Turkey, whose country is trying to help broker a deal that might end the more than three-year-old war.

Sybiha and Fidan on Wednesday discussed efforts to establish a ceasefire and steps toward securing a lasting peace with Russia, according to the Turkish foreign ministry.

The same day that NATO foreign ministers gather, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy is set to meet with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in Ankara. It's an open question whether Trump or Russian President Vladimir Putin will participate Thursday.

Trump teased a possible visit to Istanbul while flying from Saudi Arabia to Qatar on Wednesday, but there was no immediate indication that his travel plans would change.

“He’d like me to be there, and that’s a possibility,” Trump said, referring to Putin. “I don’t know that he would be there if I’m not there. We’re going to find out.”

Zelenskyy has been pushing for direct talks with Russia but only if Putin attends. Putin, who has rebuffed previous such calls, has been coy and has not committed to a meeting.

The Kremlin on Wednesday said Putin’s aide, Vladimir Medinsky, will head the Russian delegation, which also will include Deputy Defense Minister Alexander Fomin, Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Galuzin and Igor Kostyukov, chief of the General Staff’s main directorate. The list did not include Putin himself.

Zelenskyy also remains keen on Ukraine joining NATO, which Russia has adamantly rejected and Trump appears to have agreed with. So even with a Ukrainian presence in Antalya, it appeared unlikely there would be any decisions made about Ukraine's future, or lack thereof, in the military alliance.

Of greater concern to the U.S. is money, with the Trump administration saying it wants to hear how European members of NATO and Canada plan to boost their national defense investments to 5% of gross domestic product.

In 2023, as Russia’s full-scale war on Ukraine entered its second year, NATO leaders agreed to spend at least 2% of GDP on national defense budgets. So far, 22 of the 32 member countries have done so.

The leaders will set a new goal at a summit in The Hague on June 25. Trump insists that U.S. allies should commit to spending at least 5% to be ready to defend themselves, but that would require investment at an unprecedented scale.

Trump has cast doubt over whether the U.S. would defend allies that spend too little. The U.S. was projected to have spent 3.38% last year, NATO figures show, the only ally whose spending has dropped over the last decade. Asked last month whether the U.S. would match the 5% target, Rubio said, “Sure. We’re heading there now.”

“Make no mistake, this ministerial is going to be different,” U.S. envoy to NATO Matthew Whitaker said this week, adding that “5% is not just a number, it is a necessity for our security. The alliance is facing significant threats.”

He did not outline those threats. NATO leaders insisted at their summit last year that “Russia remains the most significant and direct threat to Allies’ security,” but some countries are uneasy about Trump reengaging with Putin.

Fidan, the Turkish foreign minister who is hosting the meeting, is expected to express Turkey’s commitment to strengthening NATO and call for the inclusion of NATO allies that aren’t European Union members — such as Turkey — into European security and defense initiatives, according to Turkish officials.

Fidan also would advocate a comprehensive, “360-degree security” approach focusing not only on ending the Russia-Ukraine war but also on stability in the Middle East and regions adjacent to NATO members, the officials said.

Meanwhile, the defense spending plan under consideration appears to be for all allies to aim for 3.5% of GDP on “hard military spending by 2032,” and an extra “1.5% related spending (on) infrastructure, cybersecurity and things like that. Also achievable by 2032,” according to the Dutch government.

While the two figures add up to 5%, factoring in infrastructure and cybersecurity would change the basis on which NATO traditionally calculates defense spending. The seven-year time frame is also short by the alliance’s usual standards.

Whitaker, the U.S. NATO ambassador, appeared this week to confirm the plan, saying it “also includes things like mobility, necessary infrastructure, cybersecurity. It is definitely more than just missiles, tanks and howitzers.”

It's difficult to see how many allies might reach even 3.5% of GDP. The meeting in Turkey may provide more clarity.

Cook reported from Brussels, and Fraser from Ankara, Turkey.

Russian President Vladimir Putin speaks during a joint press statement with Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim at the Kremlin in Moscow, Russia, Wednesday, May 14, 2025. (Alexander Nemenov/Pool Photo via AP)

Secretary of State Marco Rubio departs a lunch between President Donald Trump and Qatar's Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani at the Amiri Diwan in Doha, Qatar, Wednesday, May 14, 2025. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)