Matt Kuchar should be sleeping well after Round 2 as he leads at the halfway point.

Emergency 9

Here are nine tidbits from Round 2 of the Sony Open in Hawaii that gamers can use tomorrow, this weekend or down the road. Waialae Country Club in Honolulu plays 7,044 yards to Par-70 and has hosted this event since 1965.

Chopping Block

As I remarked in The Confidence Factor, par isn’t going to be of much use this week. Of the 144 players who began the week, 81 professionals and two amateurs who posted two-under-par 138 will get at least one more chance on Saturday. Since more than 78 players qualified there will be second cut (top 70 and ties) after Round 3. Hope you don’t get MDF’d! The weather, again, won’t have a say this weekend. Aloha!

Ageing Well

Matt Kuchar backed up his opening round 63 with a matching edition on Friday to lead on 14-under heading into the weekend. His only bogey was erased by an eagle and the 40-year old is second in Strokes-Gained: Putting. And as expected, he’s played the Par-5 holes in five-under with three birdies and an eagle, hahaha.

Putt-Nam!

After racking up 174 feet of makes on the greens in Round 1, Andrew Putnam’s red-hot putter didn’t take Friday off. He added 113 more feet and gained just over two more shots against the field on the short grass. YOU SHOULD HAVE TAKEN MY BET! Leading the field in Strokes-Gained: Putting on the week, he was No. 100 on TOUR last year. He’s just one back and will play in the final group with Kuchar in Round 3.

Hangin’ 10

These were the top-10 selected golfers in the PGA TOUR Fantasy Golf One & Done game presented by SERVPRO. If you’re wondering why you’re not doing well, here’s why:

Rank	Player	Place	% Ownership
1	Gary Woodland	T46	14.68
2	Charles Howell III	T20	14.38
3	Marc Leishman	T5	13.30
4	Justin Thomas	T20	10.59
5	Bryson DeChambeau	T35	5.81
6	Cameron Champ	T46	4.34
7	Cameron Smith	T12	3.73
8	Patton Kizzire	T20	2.86
9	Matt Kuchar	1st	2.82
10	Kevin Kisner	T65	2.49

The late-early draw was the proper side of the draw in the first two rounds. Friday’s first-wavers posted 68.28 to 69.53 for the afternoon gents. Remember, they never hand out the BIG CHECK or the trophy at the halfway point. Hang on!

Chez, Mate

Usually a card with three bogeys and a double after 36 holes can get you an early start home from Waialae. Super Chez Reavie laughs at such nonsense! He holed out from 101 to start his day on No. 10 before adding another field shot from 149 on No. 16 to turn in 30. Just for good measure his wedge from 101 on No. 6 also went in. If he has a bit of bad luck on the weekend, you’ll know it’s the GOLF GODS just getting everything back to level par.

Low Round of the Day

Gamers know that Waialae angles towards the veteran player but I’m not sure which of us had our money on Stewart Cink firing off the low round of Friday with 62. The 45-year old veteran is making his 16th start on Oahu and has now made eight cuts in nine tries this decade. Starting the weekend T3 he’ll look to improve on his best finish of T20 since 2006.

Scary Gary

After playing his first nine holes in 38, he’s added 33, 33 and 33 and sits T46. Half of his birdies are on the Par-5 holes so he’s going to need to dial in the flat stick to make a run on the weekend. He’s lost a stroke to the field on the greens this week and has needed 31 putts in each of the first two rounds.

MC HOF

I opined yesterday that gamers would see a reaction from Woodland and Spieth and they both responded with 66 (-4). Spieth needed one more to play the weekend and his eagle chip at the last just missed. He said after the round he’s not upset and likes that he’s making progress. Got it, gamers? … Joining Spieth on the wrong number were 2009 champ Zach Johnson, Safeway Open champ Kevin Tway, Aloha legend Jerry Kelly (69-70) and the always baffling Si Woo Kim. … No. 16 Bubba Watson, No. 23 Paul Casey and No. 41 Adam Scott didn’t fire either.

Study Hall

First round leader Adam Svensson (61-74) is T20. … Defending champ Patton Kizzire will have a chance to keep the trophy as he’s also T20. … Charles Howell III posted 66 to move up 32 spots to T20. … Kyle Stanley shot up 81 spots as his 64 wiped out most of his first round 73. … Round 1 checked in at 69.639 but Round 2 went even lower at 68.903. … There are now 16 bogey-free rounds on the week with 11 posted on Friday. … Keith Mitchell closed his round in style to sit T9.