KAPALUA, Maui >> There is little doubt the Sony Open in Hawaii benefits from the SBS Tournament of Champions and this year is no exception.
Current world No. 5 and two-time major winner Jordan Spieth is making his second appearance on Oahu. Joining the former top-ranked golfer are world No. 6 Hideki Matsuyama and 21 other golfers in this week’s elite winners-only field on Maui.
There are some notable players skipping the Waialae Country Club stop, including world No. 1 Jason Day, No. 3 Dustin Johnson, No. 8 Patrick Reed and No. 10 Bubba Watson. In all, 23 of the 32 golfers teeing it up this week are in the first full-field event of 2017 next week.
Count two-time Sony Open champ Jimmy Walker among them. He is one of 10 past champions in the field dating all the way back to 2002 winner Jerry Kelly. Vijay Singh, who edged Ernie Els in 2005, is swinging the sticks next week, as is 2006 champ David Toms, who will make his Champions Tour debut on the Big Island in two weeks.
Fred Funk, at age 60, is the oldest player among the 144 teeing it up. There are a couple of big surprises for longtime Sony fans. First, Olympic gold medal winner Justin Rose is playing in Hawaii next week, while local favorite Matt Kuchar is not. It is only the second time since 2007 that Kuchar hasn’t swung the clubs on Oahu.
In all, there are 11 major championship winners in the field, including Singh, who took home three, and Spieth and Zach Johnson, who have two apiece. The others are Toms, Rose, Walker, Keegan Bradley, Stewart Cink, Jason Dufner, Webb Simpson and Y.E. Yang, who caught and passed Tiger Woods at the 2009 PGA Championship. Of those 11 major winners, four are in the top 50 worldwide in Spieth, Walker, Rose and Zach Johnson.
For those who follow the FedEx Cup, there are three past winners of that $10 million grand prize in Singh, Bill Haas and Billy Horschel. A couple of local boys will try their hand at Waialae as well in Kevin Hayashi and Parker McLachlin, who is attempting to regain his tour status.
Day hanging around
World No. 1 Jason Day isn’t threatening the lead just yet, but at the halfway point of the first tournament of 2017, he’s at 7-under 139 and in contention in a tournament he has never won, though he has always finished in the top 10.
He had a 4-under 69 on Friday, but missed several putts by a fraction that could have put him closer to the top had some of those golf balls found the hole. Day played with Reed, whose 8-under 65 was the best 18 of the day and tied Jimmy Walker for the top round of the tournament. Walker had a 65 on Thursday.
“Playing with Patrick today, I felt like I got lapped,” Day said. “But actually I played some decent golf. I burned a lot of edges. I just have to keep giving myself the opportunities. Obviously, it’s there. Even though I’ve taken the time off, it’s there for the taking; if I can take those opportunities. It all happens on the weekend. I should give it a good run. I feel good about my game.”
Inside the numbers
For the second straight day, the hardest hole was the par-4 seventh. And while that 516-yard hole shared that distinction in the first round with the equally challenging par-4 17th, Friday it stood alone with a scoring average of 4.219.
For the second straight day, there wasn’t a single birdie among the 32 golfers who played through. There were 25 pars and seven bogeys. The easiest hole was the par-5 fifth with a scoring average of 4.156. There were three eagles, 21 birdies and eight pars at the 532-yard hole. The scoring average for 18 holes was 70.094, slightly better than the opening-round 70.344.
Spieth helped keep it higher than it needed to be on Friday with a double bogey at the par-3 eighth and a triple bogey at the par-4 17th en route to a 4-under 69. It was the first time in his career that he shot in the 60s with two double bogeys or more on his card in a single round.
