Sometimes all it takes is one shot to turn around an entire tournament.

For Daniel Summerhays, that stroke came Thursday standing on the 17th tee late in the first round of the Sony Open in Hawaii at Waialae Country Club.

The 32-year-old had bogeyed three of his previous four holes, missing three putts inside 10 feet, to blow an opportunity to take advantage of pristine weather conditions.

He was even par for the tournament and staring at a tricky par-3 iron shot into a green that is shaded by skyboxes that surround the back and deep bunkers on each side of the hole.

To make matters worse, the wind had picked up for the first time all day.

“It’s not the easiest shot in the world,” Summerhays conceded.

The Utah native made it look so with a 3-iron that he dropped within 5 feet of the cup for a birdie. It started a stretch of 20 holes that Summerhays played in 8 under to move from below the cut line to a tie for 12th heading into the weekend.

“I continued that good momentum into today,” said Summerhays, who is one of four players four shots behind leader Brandt Snedeker. “I played more solid today and felt really pleased with my round.”

Summerhays finished Thursday’s 18 holes with his second eagle of the day and carded six more birdies with a lone bogey on 11 to shoot 5 under on Friday.

It was the tee shot at 17, shaking off the three bad bogeys in his previous four holes, that allowed Summerhays to surge toward the top of the leaderboard.

“(Thursday) was really important. I bogeyed three out of four holes on my back side, and I was even par for the tournament and standing on the 17 tee with a 3-iron in your hand into the wind,” Summerhays said. “I just said, ‘Hey, I can finish birdie, eagle’ and that’s what I did.”

The momentum carried over into Friday’s round, in which Summerhays again took advantage of the closing holes on the front and back side.

The only two par-5s at Waialae are Nos. 9 and 18, which Summerhays has yet to shoot worse than birdie on.

He eagled both on Thursday and followed that up with two more birdies on Friday to make him 6 under on those two holes through the first two rounds.

“I wish there were more than two par-5s around here,” said Summerhays, who has yet to win on the PGA Tour.

Summerhays has finished runner-up twice on tour, including three years ago at the Sanderson Farms Championship, which was his third top-10 finish in a row.

He’s begun the 2015-16 season making the cut in all four events, with two top-20 finishes.

He could be on his way to a third this weekend.

“I’m really looking forward to this year, and I have big goals for myself, you know, but just going to be really objective and patient with the results,” he said. “I’m really excited for this year because I think mechanically my game is better, and then mentally I think it’ll get me over the hump this year.”