Expect anything and everything in today’s final round of the Sony Open in Hawaii. The first three days of the PGA Tour’s first full-field event of the year have been heavy on head scratching.
Two golfers 20 years apart go into the final round tied for the lead. On Saturday, Jeff Maggert, who turns 48 next month, caught Matt Every, who was 6 years old when Maggert first played at Waialae Country Club in 1990.
Both are at 12-under-par 198, Maggert firing a bogey-free 6-under 64 to catch the second-round leader.
There are 25 golfers within five of their lead, including Charles Howell III, Steve Stricker, Keegan Bradley and a bunch of guys not nearly as familiar.
Tadd Fujikawa, Hawaii’s favorite golfing menehune, is not in that group. His first shot of the day landed in someone’s back yard. He spent the next 3 hours with 500 of his closest friends, playing near-perfect golf to reach 6 under. Bogeys on the final two holes gave him a 71 and left him tied for 41st, eight shots back.
The day also included a cursing confrontation between Vijay Singh and Rory Sabbatini, who were playing together, and an F-bomb mouthed for 3-D TV on the 18th green.
All this a day after Every came out of nowhere to take the lead and have to explain his 2010 suspension, which involved a marijuana possession charge that was dropped. Every’s honest answers created more excitement than his second-round 64.
"It was weird starting off today because I didn’t sleep real well last night," said Every, who requested only golf-related questions Saturday. "Then I just got off to a shaky start. Could have gone the wrong way fast, but was pretty proud of myself the way I hung in there. Decent round, 2 under is nothing to be ashamed about on this course, especially on Saturday, even though it did play a little easier today."
The Kona wind, what there is of it, is another part of this weird Sony story. Golfers, including Fujikawa, have little experience with it and Waialae’s firm fairways are putting a premium on precision.
Maggert has played in all 14 Sonys and has five top 10s here, counting 1992, ’93 and ’94, when it was the United Airlines Hawaiian Open. He is nothing if not precise, and proved it Saturday with a round that included an eagle and four birdie putts inside 14 feet.
"This course suits me very well," said Maggert, who has won $17 million but went to Q-School two of the past three years to keep his card. "If you’re a big hitter you can take advantage of it, but also a player like myself can compete very well just keeping the ball in the fairway."
Maggert has three tour wins, the last in 2006. He made just six cuts last year and did not have a top 25 for the first time since 1990 — the year he first came to Hawaii and tried to qualify.
Every played the Nationwide Tour last year, finishing 18th on the money list, and his best finish in 29 tour starts is eighth.
Today will be big for two guys who barely recognize each other.
"I have a lot to gain absolutely," Every said, "but I also have a lot to lose. I’m in first place. What else is there to gain right now, you know what I mean? That’s in the back of my mind. But everyone thinks of that, maybe except for a few guys.
"I’ve got to play my best tomorrow and keep it mistake-free, hit a lot of fairways. If you miss a fairway out here, it goes from trying to make birdies to just going for the center of greens and hoping you judge the flyers right. I mean, I’m just ready to get it over with."
If that sounds strange, welcome to the 2012 Sony Open. Every is looking for a breakthrough and his wife is pregnant. He knows a win would be "really cool" for so many reasons, but also understands a loss is something that "happens every week" when you are a pro golfer.
Asked if he could enjoy today, he clarified quite a bit.
"I actually enjoyed myself a lot today (Saturday), which was kind of weird," he said. "I was kind of dreading today. But when I got out here, I was like, I’m so glad I get to play golf today because the easiest thing to do on the PGA Tour is play golf."
Howell, whose worst weekend score at Waialae is 70, will be looking for his sixth top-10 Sony finish after shooting a 66 to share third with Johnson Wagner and Brendon de Jonge, two shots back.
D.A. Points shared low-round honors with Maggert and is another shot back, tied with Duffy Waldorf, who is 49 and eligible for the Champions Tour in August.
The mass of humanity in eighth place includes the 44-year-old Stricker, last week’s Hyundai Tournament of Champions winner, and 40-year-old Harrison Frazar, who lost a playoff with Ernie Els here in 2004.
After 80 golfers made the cut Friday, an additional cut to 70 and ties was applied Saturday, with 70 advancing to today at 1-under 209 or better. Former Sony champs Zach Johnson and Singh, and tour rookie Erik Compton made it on the number. Compton, who has had two heart transplants, finished birdie-eagle Friday to make the first cut.
