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Two days of wild weather at Waialae Country Club set up perhaps an even wilder sprint to the Sony Open in Hawaii title over the next two afternoons.
A wind-swept field of 144 was reduced to 66 after Friday’s play and 23 — over a third of the survivors — will be within three shots of the lead when Round 3 of their battle with the course and the conditions commences today.
Friday’s winds continued to present a stiff challenge, although not quite as extreme as Thursday’s opening round, when only 30 players finished under par. The morning wave matched that number by lunch, with Brendan Steele and Cameron Davis passing first-day leader Collin Morikawa with twin rounds of 4-under 66 to get to 6 under and tie for the 36-hole lead.
>> PHOTOS: Day 2 of Sony Open at Waialae Country Club
The field fought back Friday with 62 rounds below par and six bogey-free cards. Still, with winds keeping flags taut and blowing squalls through the course at various points, 65 remains the tournament’s low round so far and the cut line settled at 1 over — claiming defending champion Matt Kuchar; Justin Thomas, winner of last week’s Sentry Tournament of Champions on Maui; and Patrick Reed, who lost to Thomas in a playoff last Sunday.
Steele and Davis will tee off in today’s final group at 1 p.m., with nine players, including Morikawa, just one shot back and another five at 4 under.
Although the California resident won’t qualify for the kama’aina rate at a local course, Morikawa could be considered the strongest Hawaii presence remaining in the field. He scuffled for much of Friday after crafting a bogey-free 65 on Thursday and dipped to 3 under after consecutive bogeys on Nos. 14 and 15. But he rejoined the group at 5 under with a birdie-birdie finish, highlighted by a 15-foot putt on the par-3 17th, sending him into the weekend on an upswing after a round of even-par 70.
“The putt on 17 was big, I think that’s going to be big for the rest of the weekend,” Morikawa said. “The last few swings were really good for the day … I’m pleased with the round. It’s still windy out here, there’s still a lot of crosswinds, so even par is never bad. I’ll really need to do something a little more special for the weekend.”
The final group will feature two Australians: Davis and Cameron Smith (part of the group at 5 under), along with Steele, a three-time winner on tour making his first Sony Open appearance since 2011, when he carded rounds of 77 and 70.
Steele eagled No. 18 with a 14-foot putt to make the turn at 1 under and birdied five of his last six holes, with a double bogey on No. 6 mixed in.
“It was a wild finish,” Steele said after closing with three consecutive birdies. “I made one bad swing and made a double in between there.
I was really happy with how I bounced back to make those good swings and good putts on the last few holes.
“There were definitely times when (the wind) laid down a little bit today. The gusts (Thursday) I think got up to around 40 (mph). We haven’t quite seen that today, maybe only a couple times. Then it would lay down to like 20, 18 … which sounds like a lot. Normally that would be about as much as we see, but out here this week that makes it a little more playable.”
Davis posted a birdie-birdie finish for the second straight day to close out his 66 and enters the weekend in contention a year after missing the cut in his first Sony Open at 4 over. It’s a new view for Davis, who had never been above a tie for 10th after any round on the PGA Tour.
“I think I’ve got a couple shots working pretty well off the tee and into greens, and it’s just about not making too many mistakes,” Davis said. “With it being so soft, the balls are holding on the fairways, so it’s a little easier to keep them in play.”
Along with Morikawa, the group of immediate pursuers heading into moving day includes 2010 Sony Open champion Ryan Palmer and 2011 PGA Championship winner Keegan Bradley.
Much of the drama for the tournament’s big names entering the week played out near the cut line rather than the top of the page.
Kuchar carded a 3-over 73, his highest score at Waialae since a 75 in the second round in 2010, and missed the cut for the first time since at 2 over. Reed played his front nine at 5 over to effectively end his trip and carded a 74 to finish the week at 3 over.
Thomas, the 2017 champion, ended the morning at 1 over for the day and 3 over for the tournament less than a week after claiming his 12th career win in the playoff in similar conditions at the Plantation Course in Kapalua. A drive into the water at No. 2 led to a double bogey and he went to 4 over with a bogey at the par-3 fourth. He made a run at surviving for the weekend with three birdies in his final five holes, but will end up watching instead.
“Probably was a little exhausted from last week, which is a good thing. No, I mean, played like crap, so I deserve to have a weekend off,” Thomas said.
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