Peter Jung made a great run at making the cut at the Sony Open in Hawaii, and he did so with poise not often seen in a 19-year-old amateur.
Jung, a Maryknoll School graduate, shot a 5-under-par 65 in Friday’s second round at Waialae Country Club to finish two strokes off the cutline at 137.
Jung’s 65 tied for the second-best score ever by a Hawaii-born golfer, behind Tadd Fujikawa’s 62 in 2009.
“I’m sure it’s one of my greatest accomplishments so far,” said Jung, a Washington State freshman. “Playing the tournament and performing, knowing I can play like this, it gives me a lot of confidence.”
Jung birdied Nos. 5 and 6, eagled No. 9 and birdied Nos. 10 and 18. The birdie on the 10th put him at 3 under with the projected cutline at the time just one stroke away.
“All week I was hitting it well. Yeah, stayed patient,” said Jung, one of two amateurs in the event. “I got my first birdie, I forget which hole, but after that it was on. Putter was good.”
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On the ninth, he drove the ball 321 yards off the tee, hit an approach within 14 feet, then sank the putt.
“I think I had 85 pin; I hit like a half 6; breeze was slightly into from the right,” Jung said. “I went right at it. Yeah, I went just over. I chose my line, hit it over, and it went in. It was a good putt.”
In the crowd was Washington State coach Dustin White, who said Jung is “very even-keeled. You can’t tell whether he’s 4 under or 4 over, and I love that. He’s very composed.”
Jung said: “I’m sure everybody has racing minds, but I think the mental aspect of my game is definitely my strong suit.”
Jung was somewhat unlucky as far as the cutline, which moved to 5 under late in his round — tied for the lowest in tournament history,
He parred Nos. 11 through 16 before a bogey on the 17th doomed his chances of making the cut. Jung recovered on the 18th with an 80-foot pitch to within 17 inches of the hole and a tap-in.
“I saw the board somewhere along the line, probably 13, around there. I saw it was 4 (under) so I — my goal was to wait until the last hole and try and birdie that. I didn’t really want to press,” Jung said. “And then 17, I bogeyed, but I didn’t know the cut was at five. That was just poor decision-making off the tee. It’s nice to finish with a birdie, right?”
Jung said a low score was possible after his opening-round 72. He then made good on that prediction Friday.
“I mean, those numbers are always out there,” he said. “You got to believe first. It’s tough. To perform under pressure I think takes a lot of confidence, a lot of practice, and I just believed. I thought the shots I hit I hit them well. Just the targets I chose were not the greatest.”
Jung played in the 2019 Sony Open in Hawaii and missed the cut with a 162.
“2019 I was 16 years young and I don’t really remember it,” he said. “It was a lot of emotions running. I just think I matured off the golf course a lot more. I think that was the biggest thing.”
As for the future, it looks very bright for Jung, who won a local amateur qualifier to get into this year’s tournament.
White, his college coach, liked what he saw out of Jung.
“I’m glad I could make the trip and watch him play regardless of whether he shot a 65 or a 75,” said White, who added Jung played in three of five tournaments in the fall. “I’m just here for support. He came a long way in the fall. He came home and worked hard. He earned his way in here and he played some stellar golf today. I think this will be a huge boost of confidence for him going forward.”
White added: “Going forward he is going to be one of our guys.”
When asked what he’ll remember the most about this year’s tournament, Jung said: “There isn’t really one. The good shots, I mean, it’s great. It’s nice to hit good shots, but I think just sometimes when you don’t really think about anything you’re just walking and you see yourself walking inside the ropes with all your friends and family around, I think that’s — the boring moments I guess, I think that’s what was most memorable for me.”
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Second round scores
Russell Henley 62-63—125
Hao-Tong Li 63-65—128
Matt Kuchar 64-65—129
Michael Thompson 63-67—130
Stewart Cink 68-63—131
Corey Conners 64-67—131
Chris Kirk 66-65—131
Patton Kizzire 63-68—131
Hideki Matsuyama 66-65—131
Keita Nakajima 67-64—131
Seamus Power 63-68—131
Davis Riley 65-66—131
Brandt Snedeker 66-65—131
Adam Svensson 64-67—131
Dylan Wu 65-66—131
Wesley Bryan 67-65—132
Cameron Davis 66-66—132
Billy Horschel 65-67—132
Charles Howell III 69-63—132
Kevin Kisner 68-64—132
Jason Kokrak 64-68—132
Maverick McNealy 65-67—132
Kevin Na 61-71—132
Ryan Palmer 64-68—132
Hayden Buckley 67-66—133
Luke Donald 68-65—133
Harris English 66-67—133
Lucas Glover 67-66—133
Talor Gooch 67-66—133
J.T. Poston 64-69—133
Greyson Sigg 67-66—133
Kyle Stanley 66-67—133
Sepp Straka 66-67—133
Brendon Todd 67-66—133
Kevin Tway 66-67—133
Vincent Whaley 66-67—133
Ryan Armour 71-63—134
Paul Barjon 66-68—134
Christiaan Bezuidenhout 65-69—134
Keegan Bradley 69-65—134
Joseph Bramlett 68-66—134
Jim Furyk 62-72—134
Si Woo Kim 68-66—134
Russell Knox 67-67—134
Justin Lower 67-67—134
Sahith Theegala 65-69—134
Erik Van Rooyen 66-68—134
Kevin Chappell 63-72—135
Brett Drewitt 68-67—135
Brian Harman 67-68—135
Kramer Hickok 66-69—135
Jim Knous 68-67—135
Satoshi Kodaira 71-64—135
Ben Kohles 68-67—135
Kyoung-Hoon Lee 69-66—135
Marc Leishman 67-68—135
Denny McCarthy 71-64—135
Keith Mitchell 67-68—135
Henrik Norlander 68-67—135
Andrew Putnam 68-67—135
Sam Ryder 68-67—135
Webb Simpson 67-68—135
Hudson Swafford 68-67—135
Vaughn Taylor 65-70—135
Jimmy Walker 69-66—135
Joshua Creel 72-WD
Missed Cut
Scott Gutschewski 70-66—136
Bill Haas 69-67—136
Nick Hardy 70-66—136
Zach Johnson 72-64—136
Sung Kang 69-67—136
Hank Lebioda 70-66—136
Graeme McDowell 70-66—136
Andrew Novak 72-64—136
Andy Ogletree 65-71—136
Rory Sabbatini 69-67—136
Chase Seiffert 70-66—136
Callum Tarren 68-68—136
Camilo Villegas 72-64—136
Abraham Ancer 66-71—137
Joel Dahmen 69-68—137
Emiliano Grillo 69-68—137
Chesson Hadley 69-68—137
Peter Jung 72-65—137
Takumi Kanaya 66-71—137
Adam Long 70-67—137
Cameron Percy 67-70—137
Chad Ramey 67-70—137
Brian Stuard 70-67—137
Bo Van Pelt 67-70—137
Brian Gay 69-69—138
Tom Hoge 66-72—138
Sungjae Im 71-67—138
Stephan Jaeger 66-72—138
Matt Jones 70-68—138
David Lipsky 68-70—138
Ryan Moore 70-68—138
Aaron Rai 67-71—138
Roger Sloan 71-67—138
Alex Smalley 67-71—138
Cameron Smith 67-71—138
J.J. Spaun 69-69—138
Cameron Young 71-67—138
Austin Cook 71-68—139
Tyler Duncan 64-75—139
Branden Grace 70-69—139
Brent Grant 70-69—139
Harry Higgs 69-70—139
Mark Hubbard 70-69—139
Chan Kim 70-69—139
Kurt Kitayama 69-70—139
Nate Lashley 70-69—139
William McGirt 69-70—139
Trey Mullinax 67-72—139
Austin Smotherman 70-69—139
Robert Streb 67-72—139
Jared Wolfe 71-68—139
Brandon Wu 68-71—139
Rikuya Hoshino 70-70—140
Jerry Kelly 69-71—140
Adam Schenk 70-70—140
Brendan Steele 69-71—140
Curtis Thompson 72-68—140
Dawie Van der Walt 70-70—140
Jim Herman 73-68—141
Bo Hoag 71-70—141
John Huh 71-70—141
Peter Malnati 73-68—141
Parker McLachlin 71-70—141
Taylor Pendrith 71-70—141
Seth Reeves 68-73—141
Richy Werenski 68-73—141
Kevin Carll 70-72—142
Lee Hodges 69-73—142
Beau Hossler 67-75—142
Kelly Kraft 69-73—142
Garrett Okamura 68-74—142
David Skinns 72-70—142
Martin Trainer 68-74—142
Michael Gligic 72-71—143
Koichiro Ishika 72-71—143
Max McGreevy 74-69—143
Bruce Doucett 71-75—146
Jared Sawada 73-75—148
