Ferd Lewis: When it comes to helping pizza chain, Peter Malnati usually delivers

On days like Thursday, when a flurry of nine birdies helped lift Peter Malnati into a three-way share of the first-day lead at the Sony Open in Hawaii, it has usually meant that one of the Midwest’s largest pizza chains has had to come up with some dough.

Malnati’s career-best-tying 8-under-par 62, fashioned amid the morning winds, gave him an early lead later matched by Jason Kokrak and Joaquin Niemann in the afternoon heading into today’s second round of the PGA Tour’s first full-field event of the year at Waialae Country Club.

The shared Malnati name, his success on the PGA Tour early on and an avowed appreciation for richly sauced, Chicago-style deep dish pizza in 2017, caught the attention of the Illinois-based Lou Malnati pizzerias, which boasts 57 family-owned restaurants across four states.

“We know what you’re thinking: ‘What’s the family connection?’ The truth is, there isn’t one,” the pizza folks like to say on their website. “But Peter has a big heart and he almost loves pizza as much as we do, so he fits right in with this family.”

Malnati, a 33-year-old Knoxville, Tenn., native, said, “(I’m) not related to Lou Malnati’s Pizzeria, but I know the family well … it’s the best deep dish pizza.”

So much so, apparently, that he might be the only player on the PGA Tour who sports a pizza sponsor’s patch on his right sleeve.

Together, billed as “Team Malnati,” they have combined to raise thousands of dollars, $25 per birdie and $50 per eagle at a time, for the Malnati Brain Tumor Institute of the Robert H. Lurie Comprehensive Cancer Center of Northwestern University.

On Thursday, Malnati set the round’s tone early with birdies on two of the first three holes and closed with four more on the final seven holes. Along the way he birdied both par 5s and three of the par 3s.

The 62 was the best of his seven opening rounds at Waialae to date by seven stokes.

For Malnati, it was a start of 2021 that carried over the touch he gained late in 2020. Malnati had top-25 showings in three of his final events last year, including a runner-up finish at Sanderson Farms in October. “I was playing great last fall and kind of just tried to keep the momentum going over the little break and do just enough work to stay sharp and to come out and play well here (Thursday),” he said.

Malnati, who tied for 12th at Sony in 2020, said, “I was able to hit some great shots on holes 17 and 18 (for birdies),” where he was reminded of the impact of COVID-19 on the galleries here. “The Hawaii fans usually fill the grandstands on those, so for those holes to be quiet is certainly a reminder of the battle we’re still facing with this pandemic.”

On their website, the pizzerias have listed a couple of Malnati-based promotions tied to his performance, including one that has sent its email customers a coupon for $5 off a large pizza when he has a top-10 finish at a PGA Tour event.

Which has meant that over the years of the sponsorship that Malnati has been able to count on a notable rooting section in and around Chicago hungry for him to succeed.

Reach Ferd Lewis at flewis@staradvertiser.com or 529-4820.