Sony Open in Hawaii, Round 2
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| Sony Open in Hawaii | ||
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By PGATOUR.COM Staff
SECOND ROUND WINDING DOWN (10:25 p.m.): The second round is just about over from Waialae, where Ryan Palmer will take a one-shot lead to the weekend. As mentioned earlier, the only other time Palmer has held the 36-hole lead, he went on to win. What will he do this time? Well, Palmer has plenty of company: Sixteen players are within four shots of the top spot, including Steve Stricker and Davis Love III.
Other big names weren't so fortunate. Luke Donald, Justin Leonard, John Daly and Rickie Fowler are among those headed home after missing the cut. -- Brian Wacker
HANGING WITH BOO (10 p.m.): If there's one thing Boo Weekley is, it's entertaining, no matter the topic.
Weekley to GOLF CHANNEL on John Daly's pants: "They better not dress me in something like that when I fall over dead."
Weekley, notorious for his love of hunting, on what he's been doing in Hawaii: "Ain't much of a beach person," he said. "I ain't getting the water because they got sharks. You'll never hear about me getting killed by any sharks." -- Brian Wacker
NEW LEADER (9:46 p.m.): Ryan Palmer did indeed two-putt from just over 44 feet on the 18th hole for birdie to move into the lead by himself at 9 under. Whether Palmer's lead holds up, we won't know for a little while, but there are very few players left on the course with a chance to catch him. The last time Palmer had a 36-hole lead? The only time, at the 2008 Ginn sur Mer Classic, where he went on to win. -- Brian Wacker
RYAN'S HOPE (9:40 p.m.): We could be looking at a new leader here at the Sony Open in Hawaii with Ryan Palmer in a tie for the top spot as he plays the par-5 18th, where his second shot just found the front right edge of the green. If he can two-putt from just inside 45 feet, he'll move to 9 under and into the lead by himself. -- Brian Wacker
NO HANGING CHAD (9:20 p.m.): The last time we saw Chad Campbell in contention, he was losing a playoff at the Justin Timberlake Shriners Hospitals for Children Open. There was the bizarre calf injury he suffered during the Crowne Plaza Invitational at Colonial that forced him to withdraw. And of course there was that playoff loss at the Masters.
Last year at this time? He was on a plane out of Hawaii after forgetting to actually sign up for the tournament before he'd hopped a plane from Dallas. Not entirely a 2009 you want to sit back and reminisce on. But he's hoping to forget all that this week and got off to a good start with a 6-under 64 Friday that gives him a share of the lead at 8 under as the second round starts to wind down. -- Brian Wacker
ALLENBY OVERCOMES INJURY TO LEAD (8:45 p.m.): Remember when Michael Jordan dropped 38 points on the Utah Jazz in the infamous "flu game" of the 1997 NBA Finals? Well Robert Allenby doesn't have the flu, just a bum ankle. Not that it's slowing him down any. Allenby still leads at 8 under here in the second round, and he said the bad wheel might actually be helping his game, sort of.
"It could be worse," Allenby said when asked how good his score could be if he was healthy. "When you feel good, maybe I know for myself I play a little bit more aggressive, and I go for it a little bit more. Now, I'm sort of backing off a little bit, I'm trying to hit it into certain areas and hoping that I can make up and down, or even hit it close."
That's only part of the story for Allenby, though.
"Coming into this tournament I was hitting the ball as good as I could possibly hit it," Allenby added. "I wanted to make sure when I came out this year I had the form that I had left off with at the end of the last year, with the same ball-striking, the same putting and the same pitching.
"That's why it's a little bit of a damper because I had a lot of confidence coming in here. I'm sort of like a 50/50. There are certain shots I know I can't hit and I'm just hoping that I hit it in the vicinity of where I'm trying to hit it."
Mission accomplished, so far. -- Brian Wacker
FOWLER FADING AGAIN (8:30 p.m.): So much for the debut of Rickie Fowler. The much-talked about rookie is headed toward a missed cut after shooting a 75 yesterday and playing his first eight holes in 2 over today.
Fowler has really struggled off the tee, hitting just seven fairways, which ranks 124th in the field. Ditto on his greens in regulation. He's hit just 11 all week and that ranks 140th. Adding to the trifecta was a balky putter in the opening round when Fowler took 32 putts.
Fortunately for Fowler, though, he has full status on the PGA TOUR after earning his card through q-school. -- Brian Wacker
TRIPLE TROUBLE (8:10 p.m.): Ouch. Zach Johnson made his highest score of the year at the par-3 17th, a triple-bogey 6. The defending champion made one 6 last week at the SBS Championship, but it was only a double bogey on the 17th at the Plantation Course. During the ordeal of the triple, Johnson nearly hit Y.E. Yang's caddie with his first bunker shot. Yang hit his tee shot into the front left bunker, while Johnson was in the front right bunker. Yang played first and his caddie was raking that bunker when Johnson's shot from the other bunker came flying his direction. Someday they might laugh about that. -- Brian Katrek
DALY UPDATE (7:40 p.m.): Unfortunately for John Daly, his pants are garnering the most attention right now. Get a good look at them because he won't be around long at this rate. Daly is 4 over on the week after making two bogeys and a birdie through his first six holes today. That prompted Daly to hit driver off the tee on the short par-4 16th -- "Strategy goes out the window at this point," Nick Faldo quipped. -- Brian Wacker
MERRICK'S GOALS (7:10 p.m.): John Merrick represented his country this past fall at the World Cup, teaming with Nick Watney. This year, one of Merrick's goals is to represent his country again in the fall. Merrick told us after his 68 today that his main goals for 2010 are to win a tournament and to make the Ryder Cup team. -- Brian Katrek
FROM THE INTERVIEW ROOM (6:50 p.m.): Paul Goydos is always good for a quote and this week's been no exception, especially when analyzing his 63 today.
"For me to shoot 63, there is going to be three or four putts in that 15 to 20 foot range probably or a chip in, or a couple of crazy things happened," Goydos said.
Goydos also spent the last two plays with John Daly and Dean Wilson, two players using 20-year-old wedges that conform to the USGA's new grooves rule because of a loophole involving a lawsuit. What did Goydos think?
"That's got to be some lawyer doing his job somewhere back in the 90s," Goydos said. "I don't know that that's something I would do. But that's what the rule is. I think it's funny. That's what happens, not to disparage lawyers too much, but that's what happens when you have more than one lawyer in a room." -- Brian Wacker
INSIDE THE NUMBERS (6:35 p.m.): Robert Allenby is putting better this week than in previous years. That explains why he is at the top of the leaderboard right now. Allenby was 182nd in putts per green in regulation in 2009, but ranks 16th in the field in that category this week. It's really hard to believe this, but Allenby hasn't won on the PGA TOUR in nine years, though he has had three runner-up finishes the last two seasons. -- Brian Katrek
MAJOR DISAPPOINTMENT? (6:20 p.m.): All four reigning major champions are in the field here for the first time since 1978 and for just the third time in tournament history. Yet none are threatening for the lead.
Angel Cabrera and Stewart Cink shot 66 and 68 on Thursday, respectively, but Cabrera is already 2 over through his first two holes and Cink is 1 under through his first three holes. Yang, meanwhile, is even par for the day and tournament, while Glover is continuing to struggle at 1 over through three holes today after a 75 in the first round. That means Glover is now 9 over over his last 39 holes. Yikes. -- Brian Wacker
AFTERNOON WAVE (5:50 p.m.): Despite some good numbers, like Paul Goydos's 63 and Justin Rose's 65, there weren't a whole lot of low numbers to come out of the morning wave of players at Waialae. Now the afternoon wave gets a crack. Two players off to good starts: Ryan Palmer and Zach Johnson. They were among the six players tied for the lead when play began today and they each have an early birdie. Now we'll see if the afternoon groups have it easier or tougher. -- Brian Wacker
ALLENBY ON TOP (5:25 p.m.): For the second day in a row, Robert Allenby was wild, hitting just five fairways. And for the second day in a row he showed stats only mean so much. The Aussie scrambled and found a way to get the ball into the hole, shooting a 4-under 66 to grab the clubhouse lead here in Round 2.
Two reasons why Allenby is in that spot, despite his inaccuracy off the tee: He took 26 putts, which included 10 one-putts, and saved par from the bunker three times. -- Brian Wacker
GOYDOS GOES LOW (4:55 p.m.): It wasn't a career-round for Paul Goydos, but it was close. The two-time winner on TOUR -- which includes a 2007 victory in this event -- just finished off a 7-under 63, which is the low round of the tournament so far and one off matching a personal best. It also moved Goydos, whose last victory on TOUR came in this tournament, into a tie for fifth for the time being on what's been an otherwise difficult day for scoring.
Breaking down Goydos's round, he picked apart Waialae, hitting 12 of 14 fairways and 14 of 18 greens in regulation. He also saved par from the bunker three times and took just 25 putts, which included going 2-for-4 on putts from 15-20 feet and 13-for-14 from inside 10 feet. -- Brian Wacker
Below is a look at Goydos's scorecard from today (click here to replay his round with Shot Tracker):
EARLY CUT CHECK (4:40 p.m.): The cut line is sitting at 1 over, though it's still fairly early in Round 2 and that number could go even higher if the wind blows in the afternoon at Waialae. Still, some pretty notable players are on the wrong side of the number at the moment, including Vijay Singh (3 over today through 14 holes), John Daly (3 over and will tee off at 6 p.m. ET), Lucas Glover (5 over and will tee off at 5:40 p.m.) and Rickie Fowler (5 over and will tee off at 6:20 p.m.). -- Brian Wacker
ALLENBY'S ANKLE (4:25 p.m.): It doesn't look like Robert Allenby has been bothered too much by an injured right ankle. The Aussie is only 1 under today, but still hovering at the top of the leaderboard in what looks like a relatively high day of scoring at Waialae.
Allenby hurt the ankle in a fall outside the clubhouse on Monday. He's been icing it every day since. -- Brian Wacker
SHAKE-UP AT THE TOP (4 p.m.): We began the day with a six-way tie for the lead -- the most after the first round since the 2008 RBC Canadian Open. Since the second round began, Roger Tabellini has moved to the top at 7 under after playing his first eight holes in 3 under.
As for the six guys who shared the lead going into today? None of them have gone on to convert an opening-round lead into a win (see below). And last week, we saw how difficult it is to go wire-to-wire with Lucas Glover's Sunday collapse. In other words, don't expect any of the guys below to be hoisting the trophy on Sunday. -- Brian Wacker
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ROUND OF THE DAY (3:40 p.m.): It's early in the second round, but Paul Goydos has the day's best score going at 6 under through his first 14 holes.
Goydos, who won this event in 2007, is coming off a year in which he had four top-10s and finished 53rd on the FedExCup points list. Not surprinsgly, Goydos has been getting it done with great ball-striking today -- his average approach shot distance to the pin is right at 22 feet. He's also managed to save par from the bunker a couple of times and has missed just two fairways and three greens in regulation. Click here to follow his round live with Shot Tracker. -- Brian Wacker
TRY, TRY AGAIN (3:20 p.m.): Michael Allen just won't go away. He's old enough for the Champions Tour, having turned 50 last year, but plans to play in nearly three times as many PGA TOUR events this year, including this week's Sony Open in Hawaii. He's also played in 344 TOUR events without a victory.
So far, the decision has been a good one. Allen shot 67 yesterday and is 2 under through 10 holes today.
Gillis has made it clear that the TOUR is where he wants to be and that's a place he feels he can win. Or maybe the Champions Tour is just too easy for him. In his first career Champions Tour start, he won the Senior PGA Championship. -- Brian Wacker
GILLIS'S ISLAND (3:10 p.m.): The second round of the Sony Open in Hawaii is in full swing, but before that could happen, the first round had to be completed earlier this morning after it was suspended due to darkness. It was suspended, though, with just one player left on the golf course.
Now, one or two groups left to finish is one thing and not out of the norm, but one player? Said player was Tom Gillis, who had just over 27 feet for eagle on the par-5 ninth hole (his 18th) when Gillis decided that it was simply too dark to finish. Since it was just one player on one hole, his playing partners weren't required to be there, however, as a rules official could attest his score and sign the card.
So Gillis came back this morning and cleaned things up at 8:30 a.m., two-putting for birdie for a 1-over 71. So far, he's even through three holes in the second round. -- Brian Wacker
NAME GAME (3 p.m.): One of the names currently atop the leaderboard at the Sony Open in Hawaii: John Merrick. Not to be confused with, of course, Troy Merritt. It would be easy to confuse the two -- their names are obviously similar and both are young, up-and-coming players on the PGA TOUR. And that's exactly what happened yesterday on the third hole when the scoring sign with Merritt's group read "Merrick" by mistake.
Merritt and Merrick naturally went on to shoot the same score -- a 5-under 65 -- that left them in a logjam tie atop the leaderboard. So far, so good today as far as names are concerned. Merrick is even par through his first six holes, while Merritt, playing in his first PGA TOUR event, will tee off at 6:20 p.m. ET. -- Brian Wacker
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