Sydney’s Cameron Davis has a share of the lead with American Brendan Steele after another wet and windy day at the Sony Open in Hawaii.
The wind wasn’t as strong as Thursday’s opening round but the duo’s four-under-par 66 for a halfway total of 134 has them holding off another Australian Cameron Smith (135) by one shot.
The pair are tied at six under overall, the highest score to lead the Sony Open through 36 holes since 2006. More unusual was the cut being at one-over 141, leaving only a seven-shot differential between first and worst.
Smith is tied at five-under with Keegan Bradley and seven other players including young American first-round leader Collin Morikawa and former Hawaii champion Ryan Palmer.
Davis was a model of consistency, mixing five birdies and a bogey.
The 24-year-old’s best shot came on the par-4 13th when he coolly rolled in a 26-foot putt for birdie to keep his dreams of a maiden PGA Tour victory alive.
In the tough conditions at Waialae, defending champion Matt Kuchar, Justin Thomas and Patrick Reed have missed the cut, along with Australian Cameron Percy.
Early contender Matt Jones fired a one-over 71 on Friday to be two under after two rounds, with fellow Australian Marc Leishman (68, 70). Rhein Gibson (70, 69) is one under.
Surprise of the week was the failure of last week’s winner of the tournament of Champions, Justin Thomas to make the cut.
“I’m playing great, playing good enough to still be winning this week,” Thomas said after two double-bogeys ruined his round of 71. “Probably a little exhausted from last week, which is a good thing. No, I mean, played like crap so I deserve to have the weekend off.”
It was his first missed cut since the US Open last year at Pebble Beach.
Patrick Reed also won’t be playing on the weekend. The Texan made a 35-foot par putt and chipped in for birdie, but it was all the other putts he missed, along with a flubbed pitch that went into a bunker and led to double-bogey which cost him.
The pair finished at 143 to miss by two shots.
“I was missing my putts short, I had two three-putts. I missed everything,” Reed said.
It was his first missed cut since the PGA Championship in May.
Matt Jones and Rhein Gibson, who are still to complete their second round, lead the other Aussie contenders, sitting at two under while Victorian Marc Leishman is at one under.
SCORES:
134: Cameron Davis (AUS) 68 66, Brendan Steele (USA) 68 66,
135: Rob Oppenheim (USA) 70 65, Ryan Palmer (USA) 67 68, Keegan Bradley (USA) 69 66, Russell Knox (SCO) 70 65, Sam Ryder (USA) 67 68, Bo Hoag (USA) 70 65, Cameron Smith (AUS) 70 65, Collin Morikawa (USA) 65 70, Rory Sabbatini (SVK) 68 67
136: Michael Gellerman (USA) 69 67, Hudson Swafford (USA) 69 67, Ted Potter Jr. (USA) 67 69, Brian Harman (USA) 68 68, Andrew Putnam (USA) 69 67
137: Henrik Norlander (SWE) 71 66, Webb Simpson (USA) 71 66, Im Sungjae (KOR) 69 68, Tim Wilkinson (NZL) 68 69, Zach Johnson (USA) 69 68, D.J. Trahan (USA) 69 68, Patrick Rodgers (USA) 68 69
138: Marc Leishman (AUS) 68 70, Peter Malnati (USA) 72 66, Alexander Noren (SWE) 69 69, Matt Jones (AUS) 67 71, Brendon Todd (USA) 68 70, Kevin Kisner (USA) 69 69
139: Sepp Straka (AUT) 70 69, Scott Piercy (USA) 70 69, Nate Lashley (USA) 70 69, Corey Conners (CAN) 68 71, Zac Blair (USA) 72 67, Emiliano Grillo (ARG) 70 69, Tom Hoge (USA) 71 68, Satoshi Kodaira (JPN) 69 70, Nick Taylor (CAN) 70 69, Charles Howell III (USA) 72 67, Rhein Gibson (AUS) 70 69, Brandt Snedeker (USA) 72 67, Michael Thompson (USA) 70 69
140: Joel Dahmen (USA) 74 66, Abraham Ancer (MEX) 69 71, Lanto Griffin (USA) 71 69, Daniel Berger (USA) 70 70, Mikumu Horikawa (JPN) 73 67, Scott Harrington (USA) 69 71, Jerry Kelly (USA) 70 70, Graeme McDowell (NIR) 71 69, Mark Anderson (USA) 72 68, Matthew NeSmith (USA) 71 69, Rikuya Hoshino (JPN) 73 67, Kramer Hickok (USA) 72 68, Joseph Bramlett (USA) 73 67, Chase Seiffert (USA) 71 69
141: Harry Higgs (USA) 73 68, Brian Stuard (USA) 73 68, Hideki Matsuyama (JPN) 74 67, Pat Perez (USA) 68 73, Talor Gooch (USA) 70 71, Vaughn Taylor (USA) 75 66, Jimmy Walker (USA) 70 71, Joaquin Niemann (CHI) 71 70, Carlos Ortiz (MEX) 72 69, Ben Martin (USA) 73 68
