Power misses cut by two in Sony Open
HONOLULU, HAWAII - JANUARY 15: Collin Morikawa of the United States plays his shot from the 11th tee during the second round of the Sony Open in Hawaii at the Waialae Country Club on January 15, 2021 in Honolulu, Hawaii. (Photo by Gregory Shamus/Getty Images)
A rusty Séamus Power missed the four-under par cut by two strokes at the Sony Open in Hawaii.
Playing for the first time since undergoing elbow surgery in November, the West Waterford man (33) followed an opening 70 at Waialae Country Club with a 68 to finish on two-under par.
American Nick Taylor shot an eight-under 68 to lead by two strokes on 12-under from Stewart Cink (63), Webb Simpson (65), Russell Henley (64), Vaughn Taylor (66) and Chris Kirk (65).
Power bogeyed the third and fourth to slip to two-over but while he fought back with four birdies in his next six holes, he finished with eight straight pars.
He had hoped to make the field for next week’s The American Express at La Quinta, where Brooks Koepka, Jon Rahm, Patrick Reed, Gary Woodland, Francesco Molinari and Phil Mickelson start, but he is currently 10th alternate.
Sony Open in Hawaii 2021
(14th of 50 events in the 2020-21 PGA TOUR Season)
Honolulu, HI January 14-17, 2021 Purse: $6,600,000 ($1,188,000) Waialae Country Club Par/Yards: 35-35—70/7,044 500 FedExCup points to winner
Second-Round Notes – Friday, January 15, 2021
Weather: Partly cloudy. High of 82. Wind E 6-12 mph.
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
Second-Round Lead Notes
7 Second-round leaders/co-leaders at Sony Open in Hawaii to win (since 2000)
Most recent: Matt Kuchar/2019
5 Second-round leaders/co-leaders to win this season
Most recent: Harris English/Sentry Tournament of Champions
Nick Taylor (-12/1st)
Age: 32 (April 14, 1988)
Turned Professional: 2010
FedExCup 141
OWGR 135
Starts at Sony Open 5
Top-10s at Sony Open 0
Career PGA TOUR starts 175
Career PGA TOUR wins 2
Career PGA TOUR top-10s 11
PGA TOUR starts in 2020-21 7
PGA TOUR top-10s in 2020-21 0
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)
