Fred Funk paused between questions to watch Paul Goydos’ birdie putt on the Sony widescreen in the corner of the Kapolei Golf Club media room.
"That was pure," Funk said after Goydos rolled in the putt to match him atop the leaderboard.
That was a common assessment Saturday afternoon, when a whispering breeze again left Kapolei defenseless and pristine greens accepted a preponderance of birdie putts in the second round of the Pacific Links Hawaii Championship.
Funk rolled in 11 birdies in a 10-under-par 62, while Goydos circled seven on his scorecard to go along with an eagle in a 63. They’ll enter Sunday’s final round tied for the lead at a 36-hole tournament record 15-under 129.
Yet they still came up short of round-of-the-day honors. Corey Pavin claimed that distinction with a career-best 11-under 61 and will report for a 12:22 p.m. tee time tied with Vijay Singh two strokes behind the leaders.
Doug Garwood fired a 9-under 63 and is part of a five-player logjam at 12 under, a group that includes first-round leader Tom Pernice Jr., who entered the day with a four-shot lead after posting a tournament-record 60 on Friday.
The absence of the winds that typically pose Kapolei’s primary defense and the course’s receptive greens brewed a perfect storm for scoring over the tournament’s first two rounds and the leaders gushed when asked about the paspalum putting surface.
Pavin: "They’re just true as can be."
Funk: "Whatever this guy is doing here is the best I’ve ever seen."
Goydos: "They are embarrassingly good."
"They’re not super firm, they hold shots and we still don’t leave ball marks," Goydos added. "I couldn’t imagine there’s a better putting surface than what we putted on the last two days."
Each of the top four players entering Sunday’s play have won in Hawaii before — although Goydos hadn’t played Kapolei before this week — and combined for 34 birdies and two eagles on Saturday.
A day after Pernice’s 12-birdie day, Pavin shot past his former UCLA teammate with 11 birdies — including three of Kapolei’s four par-3s — in a bogey-free round and will take a run of five consecutive birdies into Sunday.
Pavin’s putter had been a bit troublesome before arriving in Hawaii, but he needed just 24 strokes on the greens on Saturday.
"It’s been a tough year for me on the greens," said Pavin, who dropped two birdie putts of close to 25 feet and ended the day with a 15-footer on No. 18. "It gets pretty frustrating after a while. But I tried to stay patient and finally saw some go in."
"I knew what I was shooting, knew how many under I was, I knew what all my bests were. … But I didn’t really stop and ponder and think about it. I just said, ‘There it is, let’s go play the next hole and play it best I can, just make good shots and see what happens."
Settling for par was a good way to lose ground on the lead on a day when the field posted a scoring average of 68.877 and Funk created scoring opportunities by hitting 16 greens in regulation in his 25-putt round. He leads the field in hitting 33 out of 36 greens so far.
"Today was an exceptional day as far as hitting it close to the hole," Funk said. "Seven of my birdies were, I think, no exaggeration, no more than 12 feet combined."
An admitted scoreboard watcher, Goydos made his surge with four birdies on the front nine and spun in an eagle on No. 11 with a lob wedge from 92 yards away in the fairway.
"That’s just the good stuff that happens when you’re playing well," Goydos said.
He moved ahead of Pavin with birdies on Nos. 14 and 15, overcame a couple of shaky swings –including a flubbed chip from off the 17th green that rolled back behind him — and tied Funk with his 4-footer on No. 18.
"Coming in I was little Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde," Goydos said, "but Mr. Hyde didn’t kill anybody, so that’s good."
Singh opened with a 66, carded five birdies and moved to 13 under with a chip-in eagle on 17.
Pernice set a blazing pace on Friday, but fell back with an even-par 72. A birdie on the par-5 17th helped keep him out of a group of 10 players who shot over par on Saturday.
