England’s Harry Hall and in-form Hideki Matsuyama slipped back as Patrick Fishburn and Denny McCarthy held a tie for the lead at the halfway point of the Sony Open in Hawaii.
Hall fell away from an early share of the lead to find himself tied 18th after an level-par second round left him four back on the leaders on six under, while Japan’s Matsuyama, who enjoyed a record-breaking victory at The Sentry last week, is tied for 42nd place at four under.
USA’s Fishburn had a run of three straight birdies on the back nine at the start of his round and chipped in for birdie on the fifth hole, closing with one last birdie for a five-under 65 to lead him at 10 under for the tournament.
He shares the halfway lead with compatriot McCarthy, who finished four under with a 25-foot birdie on the fifth hole his highlight on his way to a 66. McCarthy, regarded as one of the better putters on the PGA Tour, though did miss an eight-foot birdie attempt on the closing hole which would have given him the outright lead.
Tied at 10 under, the American pair finished one shot clear of Kensei Hirata (63) and Eric Cole (67), who had a chance to tie for the lead until missing a four-foot birdie putt on the par-five 18th at Waialae.
Also one shot back was 36-year-old rookie Paul Peterson, who played on five previous tours around the world before getting his PGA Tour card this year. He chose to finish his round on the par-five ninth hole, two-putted for birdie and a 67 in near darkness.
Among those two shots behind were Austria’s Sepp Straka and Zach Johnson.
Will there be a debut PGA Tour victor on Sunday?
The leading five players going into the weekend have never won on the PGA Tour, which could be key because an invitation to The Masters in April is at stake. But winning is a long way off with 25 players within four shots of the lead and 36 holes to play.
The 32-year-old Fishburn has carded a pair of five-under rounds so far and said the key to his performance was “probably just keeping the ball in the fairway”.
“I’ve hit a lot of fairways and feel really comfortable with the putter,” he said. “First round I made a few long ones and today felt like everything was kind of going where I wanted it to on the greens.
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“Just a matter of judging the wind and the break. Feel like I’m rolling the ball really well, so excited for the next two days.”
A week after posting the lowest 72-hole score in PGA Tour history last week, Matsuyama is now six off the pace here after posting a one-under 69, although remains in the outside mix to try to become the third player to win the Hawaii tournaments in the same year.
Watch the Sony Open in Hawaii over the weekend live on Sky Sports. Live coverage continues on Saturday with Featured Groups from 6pm on Sky Sports Golf, ahead of full coverage from 9pm. Stream golf and more with NOW.
Source : Sky Sports
