Matsuyama still in contention in Hawaii

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Japanese star Hideki Matsuyama produced a career best nine-hole score of 28 to charge into contention at the Sony Open in Hawaii on Friday.

After being two-over through 11 holes, the 28-year-old Matsuyama brilliantly sank five birdies and a closing eagle in a glorious seven-hole stretch for a second round of 5-under 65 and ended the day in tied seventh position.

He will enter the weekend rounds at Waialae Country Club three back of leader Nick Taylor of Canada, who carded a career low 62 to lead the storied PGA TOUR event on 12-under 128.

Matsuyama’s effort, which he produced on the front nine after starting his day from the 10th, was only the third ever in the tournament history since 1983 as he chases a sixth career PGA TOUR victory. He is also seeking to emulate compatriot Isao Aoki’s famous victory in Hawaii in 1983 which saw him become the first Japanese winner on TOUR.

K.J. Choi of Korea, 50, was also in fine form in his first start of 2021 as he turned back the clock with a bogey-free 65 to lie four back in tied 15th place.

Matsuyama, whose last victory came in 2017, languished near the projected cut line for much of his round following three early bogeys against a lone birdie before he romped home in style when his putter began to find its range.

A 15-foot birdie conversion on the third hole was quickly followed up by a massive 38-foot conversion at the next. Matsuyama parred the fifth before cruising home in style by converting three more birdies and a 10-foot eagle on the par-5 ninth hole.

“It didn’t matter what I did on the front, things just weren’t going my way. But thankfully some putts started to fall on the back nine and I was able to turn things around a little bit. Now if I can just continue the momentum from today through the weekend, I hope to put myself in a position to win,” said Matsuyama, who entered the week in 22nd position on the FedExCup points list.

It was a welcome return to form for the Presidents Cup International Team star as he shared last place at the Sentry Tournament of Champions last week. Matsuyama hit 11 fairways and 16 greens in regulation on Friday and was rewarded for his patience when his putting eventually got hot.

A decade on after the last of his eight PGA TOUR wins, the evergreen Choi, who now plies his trade on the PGA TOUR and PGA TOUR Champions, emerged as a potential threat at the Sony Open, an event he won in 2008 and has two other top-10 finishes.

He pencilled down birdies on Hole Nos. 10, 14, 1, 7 and 9, which included a lengthy 50-foot birdie on the first hole. “I’m very happy and the weekend is vital,” said Choi, who scrambled beautifully with five up-and-down par saves.

“My game is improving, the short game and putting feels it is getting better. My hometown is in Dallas which is very windy and you have to control your shots. In 2008, I did it here and I was the champion. It always feels comfortable for me here even though there are no fans which is very sad.”

India’s Anirban Lahiri and Korea’s Si Woo Kim will enter the third round on 134 following rounds of 65 and 70 respectively while K.H. Lee and Sungjae Im of Korea, Japan’s Satoshi Kodaira and Ryosuke Kinoshita also made the halfway cut set at 137.

36-hole cut: 73 players at 4-under 136 from a field of 143 professionals and one amateur

Second-Round Leaderboard

Nick Taylor 66-62 – 128 (-12)

Stewart Cink 67-63 – 130 (-10)

Webb Simpson 65-65 – 130 (-10)

Russell Henley 66-64 – 130 (-10)

Vaughn Taylor 64-66 – 130 (-10)

Chris Kirk 65-65 – 130 (-10)

Things to Know

Nick Taylor (-12/1st) shoots a career-best 62 and is the 36-hole leader/co-leader for the second time in his PGA TOUR career; converted his other second-round lead into a win (2020 AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am)

Chris Kirk (-10/T2) is making his last start under his Major Medical Exemption; needs to earn 148.934 points to remain in that category for the rest of the season

Hideki Matsuyama (-9/T7) shoots 28 on the front nine, his career-best nine-hole score and the third front-nine 28 in tournament history (since 1983)

Billy Horschel (-9/T7) is the only player bogey-free through 36 holes

Charles Howell III (-5/T46) is 20-for-20 in making the cut at the Sony Open in Hawaii

Cards 8-under 62, his career-best score on the PGA TOUR (Previous: 63, four times)
Posts 12-under 128, his best 36-hole start on TOUR (Previous: 14-under 129/2020 AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am; 11-under 129/2019 RBC Canadian Open)
Converted his only other 36-hole lead when he won wire-to-wire at the 2020 AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am
Seeking to become the tournament’s second consecutive international winner; the last back-to-back international winners were Vijay Singh (2005) and Ernie Els (2003, 2004)
Seeking his first top-25 finish since winning the 2020 AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am

Additional Player Notes

Chris Kirk (-10/T2) is making his last start under his Major Medical Exemption; needs to earn 148.934 points to remain in that category for the rest of the season

Stewart Cink (-10/T2) shot 7-under 63, his 126th bogey-free round on TOUR. Since the start of the 1996 PGA TOUR season, he has the fourth most bogey-free rounds of any player.

Cink has the longest active streak of par or better rounds (26) at the Sony Open in Hawaii; his last over-par score was a second-round 71 in 2013

Webb Simpson (-10/T2) has the longest active streak of top-20 finishes at the Sony Open in Hawaii entering 2021 (6)

Russell Henley (-10/T2) is seeking to add to his 2013 title and become the tournament’s sixth repeat winner

Vaughn Taylor (-10/T2) was bogey-free through his first 32 holes, the third-longest streak to start a tournament in his PGA TOUR career

Hideki Matsuyama (-9/T7) shot his career-low nine-hole score (28). He is the third player to shoot 28 on the front nine at the Sony Open in Hawaii since 1983. Matsuyama joins Webb Simpson (2015/R1) and Toshinori Muto (2012/R2) as the only players to shoot 28 on the front nine at this event since 1983.

Billy Horschel (-9/T7) is the only player bogey-free through 36 holes. It is the third time he has played the first two rounds bogey-free (2015 AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am, 2019 RBC Heritage).
First-round co-leader Peter Malnati (-9/T7) was 5-over through seven holes, but rallied to shoot 1-under 69

The two other first-round co-leaders: Joaquin Niemann (-9/T7), Jason Kokrak (-7/T19)

Making his 20th consecutive start at the Sony Open in Hawaii, Charles Howell III (-5/T46) has made the cut in each of his 20 starts at the tournament

Monday Qualifier Nick Hardy is T15 at 8-under

Defending champion Cameron Smith is T19 at 7-under

This is the third year with at least five rounds of 62 or better in the first two rounds at the Sony Open in Hawaii (since 1983); 2015 and 2017 both had five scores of 62 or better before the weekend

Bogey-free rounds:

R1 (12): Jason Kokrak (62), Vaughn Taylor (64), Jim Herman (64), Si Woo Kim (64), Billy Horschel (65), Nick Taylor (66), Emiliano Grillo (66), Cameron Smith (67), Charles Howell III (67), Grayson Murray (67), Sungjae Im (68), Sam Ryder (68)

R2 (15): Stewart Cink (63), Nick Hardy (63), Harris English (64), Adam Scott (64), Marc Leishman (65), K.J. Choi (65), James Hahn (65), Pat Perez (65), Lanto Griffin (65), Billy Horschel (66), Sergio Garcia (66), Bronson Burgoon (66), Chris Baker (67), Troy Merritt (67), Matt Jones (67)