The Live Report, Round 2: Sony Open in Hawaii
By PGATOUR.COM Staff
The Sony Open in Hawaii is the first full-field event of the 2009 PGA TOUR season. PGATOUR.COM is on the scene in Honolulu. We'll provide updates all day long, so check back often. (All timestamps listed for Eastern Time.)
TRACKING TADD (10:54 p.m.): The likeable Tadd Fujikawa just made the first cut of his young PGA TOUR career. And he almost did it the same way he did last time he was around for the weekend, only this time he didn't need an eagle.
The 18-year-old Hawaiian, who turned pro in 2007, only birdied the par-5 ninth Friday, but that was good enough for him to secure a spot on the weekend.
You might recall Fujikawa made the cut here two years ago as an amateur. This time, he'll get to cash his first check and get to do so in front of what will be a decidedly partisan crowd in his home state. -- Brian Wacker
Here's a look at Fujikawa's card:
ROUND OF THE DAY (9:38 p.m.): Tom Pernice, who turns 50 in Sept., had what was easily the best round of the day (and the season, actually), shooting a 7-under 63 that featured five birdies and an eagle on the 18th that came when he holed out from 90 yards.
How good was Pernice on another windswept day at Waialae? Consider that he hit just 50 percent of his fairways. Then consider that he took just 20 putts.
"I hung around and kept it together," Pernice told GOLF CHANNEL after his round. "I'd prefer to try to stay out here [on the PGA TOUR] and have talked to Peter Jacobsen and others and I'm trying to keep myself in good condition."
One way Jacobsen has done that is by working with "zone coach" Jim Fannin, who has helped Pernice, among others like Alex Rodriguez, with the mental side of the game.
By the way, the last time Pernice was here, he posted four rounds of par or better. That streak continues this year thanks to today's score and an opening-round 69. -- Brian Wacker
Here's a look at Pernice's card from Friday:
MARUYAMA INTERVIEW (9:18 p.m.): Here are a couple of snippets from the press room interview with Shigeki Maruyama, who shot a 2-under 68 today:
On why he's putting so well..."What I've been working on is my grip pressure; to keep the same grip pressure throughout the entire stroke. And then here, especially, you need to be really careful when you're downgrain, when you're with the grain, not to let it get away from you. And when I'm against the grain, I'm thinking and concentrating hard on making a good strike, to hit the ball solid on the greens. And that's helped out."
On the hardest, and easiest, golf courses he's ever played..."Probably the hardest course that I've played, are any of the major courses. A couple that come to mind are Shinnecock, Bethpage, the heavy rough and narrow fairways are real difficult. The easiest courses on TOUR are Las Vegas. Major golf courses are too long for me, 7,500, 7,400, big rough, fairways tight. No chance. (Laughter). 7,100, okay. 7,300 or over, no, no good."
On the PGA Championship later this year at 7,700-yard Hazeltine National...Oh, my gosh. No thank you; sayonara (laughter).
FUJIKAWA HAS EYE ON WEEKEND (9:01 p.m.): Tadd Fujikawa is making noise once again at the Sony Open in Hawaii.
Two years ago at the tender age of 16 he captured our imaginations when he made a late Friday run to make the weekend. Since then, he has turned pro and embarked on a somewhat limited professional career. The high school senior is playing hooky the first two rounds of the Sony Open and has a chance to again stick around for the weekend.
Fujikawa earned a spot in the field this week by capturing one of the four open qualifying spots on Monday.
With nine holes to go he has been the model of consistency. A birdie on No. 10, his first hole of the day, followed by eight pars has him in good position. It would be Fujikawa's first time making the cut here as a professional. -- John Maginnes
PERNICE SURGES UP THE LEADERBOARD (8:46 p.m.): Tom Pernice, who hasn't won since the 2001 INTERNATIONAL Presented by Qwest, suddenly finds himself in contention.
That shouldn't necessarily be a surprise, however. Last year, Pernice had six top-10 finishes -- the second-most of his 25-year career. Among those was a T8 here at the Sony Open in Hawaii.
Through his first 15 holes today he has five birdies and no bogeys, moving him to 6 under for the tournament. -- Brian Wacker
ONE AUSSIE ON ANOTHER (8:30 p.m.): Count Nathan Green among the many who would love to be in Adam Scott's shoes -- and not just because his fellow Aussie may (or may not) be dating actress Kate Hudson.
"He's a great guy and I know he sort of has the life that a lot of golfers would love to have," Green said. "He sort of doesn't get recognized that much off the course and makes his $10 million a year and can live a pretty sort of private life where he's not under the scrutiny like Tiger would be.
"He's a good-looking bloke, he's young and he hits it good, and because he plays so well, he plays a pretty limited schedule so he gets a lot of time off. That would pretty much be my dream." -- Helen Ross
GREEN TAKES ADVANTAGE (8:15 p.m.): Nathan Green was pleasantly surprised when he teed off this morning and found that the dire predictions about the weather had not materialized. Particularly after he had heard the wind whipping outside his hotel room Thursday night.
"All the news about that maybe we wouldn't play, had a few of us pretty scared and that it was meant to blow all day," the young Aussie said. "But you get patches out there where it not really blowing at all. They have the tees forward on a lot of holes. So as long as you get your tee shot in the fairway, you still have a few fair opportunities to make birdie."
So in what he called a "stronger version" of the conditions during Thursday's first round, Green fired his second straight 66 to grab sole possession of the lead. He happened to be playing with first-round leader Shigeki Maruyama, who finds himself one shot back after a 68.
"The both of us sort of traded birdies for a while," the 33-yearold said. "(It) definitely helps to play with someone who is playing well."
The Aussie has had success at Waialae before, though, shooting 65-64 on the weekend to finish fifth in his rookie debut in 2006.
"I just like the golf course," Green said. "I think I've always hit the ball reasonably low, and it's just whether I putt well on the greens as to how I play, and I've sort of done reasonably on the greens so far.
"I think it's one of the best courses we play all year. It's dead-flat, but it rewards guys for hitting it straight and not necessarily have to be a long hitter. I think you've sort of got to hit it to the corners a fair bit. It's got a lot to do with controlling your ball." -- Helen Ross
Here's a look at Green's card:
GROUP OF THE DAY UPDATE (8:00 p.m.): Geoff Ogilvy, Boo Weekley and Kenny Perry are playing the back nine as we speak and Perry is having the best day among the three. The Kentuckian who continues to say he wants to win 20 times in his career -- he has 12 career victories at the moment -- is 4 under on the afternoon thanks to a flawless front nine that included four birdies and no bogeys.
Meanwhile, Ogilvy and Weekley are both 1 under in their rounds.
Ogilvy is trying to become the first player to win the Mercedes-Benz Championship and Sony Open in Hawaii in consecutive weeks since Ernie Els accomplished the feat in 2003 with a playoff victory over Aaron Baddeley a week after winning the Mercedes-Benz Championship with a record score of 31 under.
Weekley is looking for his first victory since the Verizon Heritage, which he has won the last two years. -- Brian Wacker
YOUNG GUN (7:45 p.m.): Lorens Chan's bid to become the youngest player to make a cut in a PGA TOUR event appears to be in jeopardy.
Chan, who is 14 years, seven months and 25 days old, is off to a rough start. He shot a solid 72 in the first round and was just under the cut line, but he's made two bogeys and a double bogey in his first five holes today.
The youngest to make a cut on TOUR is Bob Panasik, who was 15 years, 8 months and 20 days old when he played the weekend at the 1957 Canadian Open. Two years ago at Waialae, Tadd Fujikawa was 16 years and 4 days old when he made the cut in the Sony Open.
Fujikawa is back again this year, playing as a pro. He has not cashed a check in a TOUR event since turning pro in 2007, but he is on track to do that this week. The 18-year-old has played four holes and is 1 under and stands even for the tournament.
Right now, the projected cut is 1 over. -- Helen Ross
TOUGH START (7:35 p.m.): As the afternoon wave teed off, half the players in the field started on the hardest hole on the golf course. Most weeks, the first hole at Waialae is a par 5. Heck, most weeks it is actually No. 10. The first hole measure 480 yards and has played back into the wind for the first two days.
The tee shot is awkward because the fairway slides subtly from left to right, requiring a right-handed player to hit a slight fade. Compound that with the fact that it is back into the wind and players are trying to hit a low cut to find the fairway. This is not the shot of choice for most players.
The fairway has been hit by only 43 percent of the field through a day and a half. Additionally, the green may be the safest place on the golf course. Only one in four players have managed to find the surface and putt for birdie.
The ninth hole is a par-5 that runs the other direction and is 25 yards longer than the first. At this point, the ninth hole is playing nearly a half a shot easier than the first. Every player in the field would love to make four on both of these holes. Interestingly enough, there have been far more threes and fours on the par-5 ninth than there have on the par-4 first. -- John Maginnes
QUICK TURNAROUND (7:25 p.m.): The biggest turnaround of the first two days belongs to PGA TOUR rookie Brian Vranesh.
The q-school grad didn't get off to the kind of start he had hoped for in his first ever TOUR event when he shot an 81 that included seven bogeys and two doubles. Vranesh got back on track in the second round, though, when he bettered that score by 10 strokes and made the first two birdies of his TOUR career.
RAIN WREAKING HAVOC (7:15 p.m.): The rain is so unpredictable that GOLF CHANNEL has abandoned its post outside under the palm trees and brought Rich Lerner into a room beside the media center.
The doors behind him are wide open, so you have a good view of the Pacific when he's interviewing the players. -- Helen Ross
SHIGEKI POPULAR AND IN CONTENTION (6:52 p.m.): Shigeki Maruyama finished his interview in the media center, then did several more with Japanese reporters in attendance. Then he sat down in the work area and did a live radio interview. When he was introduced, all the Japanese writers applauded for him -- and he smiled and clapped as well.
That prompted one reporter to say, "And we thought there was only cheering in the press box during the Ryder Cup."
Maruyama shot a second-round 2-under 68 to move to 7 under for the tournament. -- Helen Ross
IN CINK (6:38 p.m.): Stewart Cink was flirting with an early exit after shooting 1 over on Thursday. A bogey-free 65 in the second round not only will keep Cink around for the weekend, it's put him in contention.
CInk started on the back Friday morning and got into red numbers for the tournament with a 33. Birdies on his last three holes left the Georgia Tech All-American in a tie for fifth at 4 under -- a climb of 45 spots up the leaderboard.
A pinpoint iron at the par-3 seventh hole got Cink rolling when it left him with a 34-inch putt for birdie. He made a 9-footer at the eighth hole and then two-putted No. 9 from 41 feet for the final birdie.
The 65 tied Shigeki Maruyama's first round for the low of the tournament. -- Helen Ross
Here's a closer look at Cink's stats through the first two rounds:
GAY ON THE GO (6:25 p.m.): Brian Gay started his second round the same way he ended his first -- with a birdie.
Gay has birdied two of his first three holes, starting on the back nine at Waialae today, and has moved to 6 under for the tournament.
You have to wonder why it took this guy so long to win, which he finally did last year, in his 293rd career start, at the Mayakoba Golf Classic at Riviera Maya. Last season, Gay ranked sixth on TOUR in putting average and 12th in driving accuracy.
Given that Waialae is one of the tightest and toughest courses players will see all season, it's no wonder he's faring well so far. -- Brian Wacker
MATHIS MAKING A MARK (6:00 p.m.): Who is David Mathis? For one, he's one of the players in contention at 5 under at the Sony Open in Hawaii. If he'd quit five years ago the way he almost did, however, we might not know him at all.
Instead, Mathis stuck it out, despite years of toiling on just about every tour there is short of the PGA TOUR. His determination paid off and last season he won the Nationwide Tour's BMW Charity Classic before finishing 14th on the money list.
He nearly went wire-to-wire at the BMW, where he opened with rounds of 65-65 to take the lead. A third-round 68 followed by three birdies over his first five holes on the final day gave him the win.
Friday, he had just one bogey to four birdies, including a 44-foot bomb for birdie on No. 18. For the round, he averaged just 1.77 putts to go with a greens in regulation of 76 percent -- more than 12 percent better than the field average and a key statistic given how tight Waialae is. -- Brian Wacker
Below is a look at Mathis' card from Friday.
STROUD IN STRIDE (5:32 p.m.): Is Chris Stroud reversing his recent habit of getting off to a slow start? He's played on the PGA TOUR for the past two years, but in both seasons he hardly made any money until the Fall Series. Through 31 holes at the Sony Open in Hawaii, however, Stroud was tied for 10th and looking for his first TOUR win.
In 2007, Stroud missed 13 cuts in his first 19 starts during the regular season. Once the Fall Series rolled around, though, he scored three top-15 finishes and tied for third at the PGA TOUR National Qualifying Tournament to retain his TOUR card.
Last year must have seemed like déjà vu for the young Texan, as he missed 14 cuts in his first 22 starts in 2008. Then Stroud played the final five events of the year and rattled off five straight top-30 finishes. He fared so well during that stretch that he moved to 133rd on the money list, then carried that positive momentum into q-school and tied for fourth there.
Though his stint at q-school didn't give him much of an off-season after a busy Fall Series, it would seem that he's well-rested and ready to go. Stroud was tied for 18th in driving accuracy halfway through the second round and tied for 11th in greens in regulation. -- Lauren Deason
HOLMES ABOUT TO GO HOME (5:18 p.m.): J.B. Holmes' trip to Oahu won't last the weekend. The sultan of swat is 9 over through 16 holes today and 12 over for the tournament.
While Waialae, with its tight fairways and smaller greens, doesn't necessarily set up that well for the two-time PGA TOUR winner, it's clear the wind is having an affect on his game. Holmes, who was the driving distance leader in round one at 326 yards, is having trouble keeping his tee ball in the short grass -- he's hit just 38 percent of his fairways here so far.
He should be able to find his swing in a couple of weeks, however. Holmes is a two-time winner of the upcoming FBR Open. -- Brian Wacker
RAINING IN HONOLULU (4:58 p.m.): The rain has finally arrived, but the heavy downpour only lasted about 15 minutes.
The skies are cloudy, though, and the wind is still steady. Who knows what will happen as the afternoon progresses. -- Helen Ross
SCOTT READY TO SHINE? (4:35 p.m.): Adam Scott might be mum about his "friendship" with starlet Kate Hudson, but if he finally reaches his potential as a first-flight world-class player, he might not be able to be so coy given how much bigger the spotlight would be, especially if he starts popping up on TMZ.
Right now, Scott is making a move up the leaderboard at Waialae, where he is 3 under on the day (he just bogeyed the difficult 13th).
Will this be the breakout year for Scott? He's coming off an injury and illness-plagued 2008, and began this season battling a pesky knee injury suffered while surfing, but the 28-year-old Aussie is hoping to turn things around.
"I wouldn't say [2008] was a wasted year, but it's been a frustrating year," Scott said last week from the Mercedes-Benz Championship, where he finished T18. "It was pretty productive in the first half of the year and a lot of things, but having a bit of a break from the TOUR and a break from the game, even though it was a forced break at the end of the year, was quite good for me. It gave me a chance to clear my head and get my ducks in a row, like you said. I was eagerly awaiting 2009, to be honest." -- Brian Wacker
GOING GREEN (4:15 p.m.): Nathan Green finished outside the top 100 on the money list for the first time in his career in 2008, but so far this week he's off to a solid start at 3 under for the day through his first 11 holes and 7 under for the tournament.
Green is doing it with ballstriking today -- only one of his three birdies has come from outside of 5 feet when he rolled in a 22-footer for bird on No. 2, his 11th hole of the day.
Just two years ago, Green was fast becoming another recognizable name from Australia thanks to nine top 25s. His two best finishes that year were at the John Deere Classic (T3) and the Crowne Plaza Invitational at Colonial (T5). He went on to finish 46th in the FedExCup standings and had more than $1.3 million in earnings in what was just his second year on the PGA TOUR. -- Brian Wacker
TOMS MAKING AN EARLY MOVE (3:41 p.m.): David Toms, the 2006 Sony Open in Hawaii champion, is making a move up the leaderboard.
Toms has made three birdies in his first 11 holes and is 3 under for the tournament. In four previous starts at Waialae, Toms has never finished lower than 13th he also tied for fourth in 2002.
The Shreveport native had a rare off year in 2008 -- finishing 136th in the FedExCup race and 131st on the money list. He's back with Cleveland Golf and his old caddy, Scott Gneiser, who was on the bag for 11 of Toms' wins, so things are looking up for the 2001 PGA champ. -- Helen Ross
WHAT TO EXPECT TODAY (3:30 p.m.): With the wind expected to be up again for most, if not all, of today's round scores should be pretty similar to what they were yesterday.
We know Waialae is a much different course than Kapalua, site of last week's Mercedes-Benz Championship, but here's some data to back that up for all you numbers geeks out there. -- Brian Wacker
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ROUND TWO UNDER WAY, FOR NOW (3:15 p.m.): The second round of the Sony Open is in full swing, for now anyway.
The winds are stiff, but the sun is shining at Waialae Country Club. However, this could be the calm before the storm. The worst of the weather is expected to arrive between Noon and 2 p.m. Hawaii time, as the cold front blows across the island of Oahu.
That's when the rain is expected to begin and the highest winds will arrive. Sustained winds in the 20-30 mph range will be accentuated by gusts around 50. The rain could be heavy at times.
Some power outages have already been reported on Oahu, mostly on the windward side of the island. Most state and city offices are closed, as well as the public schools. -- Helen Ross
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