2025 RBC Heritage leaderboard: Si Woo Kim leaps Justin Thomas for the lead after Round 3 at Harbour Town

Kim raced past Thomas but holds a slim margin with 18 holes remaining in Hilton Head, South Carolina

The third round of the 2025 RBC Heritage featured a change at the top of the leaderboard from the final pairing as Justin Thomas gave way to Si Woo Kim, who jumped the 18- and 36-hole leader for the top spot after posting a third-round 66. The latest PGA Tour signature event remains stacked on top as Kim holds just a one-shot lead on Thomas and Andrew Novak with Round 4 ahead Sunday.

Kim birdied the first two holes of the day to pull even with Thomas, who made four straight pars to open his round, including on the second where he called a one-stroke penalty on himself for slightly moving his ball while moving impediments in the waste bunker. The two remained tied at the top through the front nine with both making birdies on No. 5 and No. 9 to move to 14 under for the tournament. 

The 11th hole is where Kim first moved in front as Thomas yanked his tee shot left into a pond and tried to play out of the water without much success, leading to his first bogey of the day. 

The two again match birdies on No. 13. On No. 15, the lone par 5 on the back side, the biggest swing of the round took place. Both missed the fairway to the right off the tee with Kim laying up from the waste bunker and Thomas trying to go for the green in two from the pine straw. Kim's patience paid off as he was able to give himself an 18-footer for birdie, which he poured in. Meanwhile, Thomas found himself on hard-pan and couldn't keep it on the green with his third, leading to a bogey and giving Kim a three-shot lead. 

It looked like Kim would take at least a two-shot advantage into the final round, but the 18th hole saw another two-shot swing. Kim made his first bogey of the day after missing badly with his approach short and left and not being able to get up and down from the hazard, while Thomas finally made a midrange birdie putt to move just one back (tied with Andrew Novak). 

Going into the final round, the leaderboard is bunched up. Given the low scores we've seen posted this week (61 from Thomas, 63 from Byeong Hun An), anyone within five or six shots of the lead will think they at least have a chance on Sunday. That group includes the likes of Scottie Scheffler (-11), Tommy Fleetwood (-12) and Patrick Cantlay (-10). 

The leader

1. Si Woo Kim (-15): It's hard to call a 66 that puts you in the lead disappointing, but Kim could've gone really low on Saturday. He missed a pair of birdie putts from inside 8 feet on the front nine and just needed to land the plane on No. 18 with a par to give himself some cushion going into Sunday. Still, his ball-striking (aside from the approach on the 18th) was sublime, and he was consistently giving himself birdie opportunities, which is all you can hope to do in the firm, fast conditions at Harbour Town this week. 

The contenders

T2. Andrew Novak, Justin Thomas (-14)
4. Maverick McNealy (-13)
T5. Brian Harman, Tommy Fleetwood (-12)
T7. Scottie Scheffler, Russell Henley (-11)
T9. Patrick Cantlay and three others (-10)

The chase pack has no shortage of strong contenders, but there are also a few surprises at the top. Novak continues to play extremely well this season and closed his round out with a birdie on the 18th to get into the final pairing with Kim. He's never been quite in this position in a signature event, so we'll learn a lot about his nerves early in his round Sunday. 

Thomas has battled admirably the last two days to keep things on track and get in the clubhouse under par with less than his best, but he is going to need to find something much closer to the form that led him to a 61 on Thursday if he's going to get this win. McNealy has gone the opposite direction as Thomas, starting with a pedestrian first round but finding something with back-to-back 65s to get himself into contention. 

Then you have the chasers. Harman is in good form of late, Fleetwood is at the top of the "best players yet to win on the PGA Tour" list, and then the reigning champ and world No. 1 is lurking right there four back. Scheffler said he isn't quite sure why he hasn't had his best stuff the last two days, but like J.T., he's still been able to get under par rounds into the clubhouse and hang around the top of the leaderboard. Cantlay is five back and is probably at the end of the group that feels they have a good shot at winning, but he's known nothing but top 10s at Harbour Town and will be confident in his ability to go low on Sunday. 

2025 RBC Heritage updated odds, picks

Odds via DraftKings Sportsbook

• Justin Thomas (12-5)
• Si Woo Kim (5-2)
• Andrew Novak (6-1)
• Maverick McNealy (15-2)
• Scottie Scheffler (9-1)
• Tommy Fleetwood (12-1)
• Brian Harman (18-1)

From a value standpoint, McNealy, Scheffler and a little sprinkle on Cantlay at 45-1 make sense going into the final round. Thomas obviously has the ability to go low, but he just hasn't been able to find it now for two days. Kim could certainly just go out and win it, but the time to buy in on him has passed. McNealy is trending extremely well with his back-to-back 65s and seems to have figured out some things on the greens, while Scheffler is, well, Scheffler. You can now buy in at a price higher than his pre-tournament price just four shots off the pace. Cantlay, as noted above, has always played well here even if he hasn't won, and if I were to pick someone who might go post 63 on Sunday and apply serious pressure to the leaders, it's him. 

Watch Round 4 of the 2025 RBC Heritage airing live from 3-6 p.m. on CBS, CBSSports.com and the CBS Sports App.