Eric Dugas had the best first-day score Thursday from among the four local golfers at the Sony Open in Hawaii.
The Makena Golf Club (Maui) pro shot 1-over-par 71 and was tied for 48th place when play ended due to darkness around 6:30 p.m.
Dugas was 4 over after 12 holes, but rallied with a birdie on No. 13 and then eagled No. 18 to complete the round.
“I just had an opportunity, a good lie, an opening, got a good bounce to get it on the green and I made a similar putt to one I made last year (for a birdie),” said Dugas, who made the two-day cut last year but missed the Saturday cut and finished tied for 72nd. “So I kind of knew the read had a good feel on it and it went in so happy to go home on that note.”
Parker McLachlin, playing in his 10th Sony Open, shot 4 over par in the morning at his home course.
Jared Sawada, who made the cut in 2017 and finished tied for 69th, shot 4-over 74 on Thursday.
“I wish I got off to a better start, but having putts from 75 feet on the first two holes didn’t make my job any easier,” Sawada said. “Even for the local guys we haven’t seen it blow this hard, normally 25 (mph) at the most. This is 35 at least.”
Sawada was finishing up on No. 18 when the horn sounded suspending play after the current hole.
Tyler Ota was among the 14 players who still had first-round work to complete this morning before the second round. Ota was shooting even par after eight holes, but faltered, and was 4 over with three holes left to play.
Howell’s streak ends at 23
Charles Howell III has seen much of what Waialae Country Club has to offer over the past 18 years, but nothing quite like Thursday’s blustery opening round of the Sony Open in Hawaii.
“Never seen it like this,” Howell said after his 19th consecutive Sony start. “It’s the windiest I’ve seen it for this amount of time and this is definitely unusual compared to what we’ve been used to seeing.”
Howell returned to Waialae this week as the event’s all-time money leader, having collected over $2.8 million with 10 top-10 finishes since 2002, including a tie for eighth last year. He’s made the cut in all but two of his Sony Open starts and his 2-over-par 72 on Thursday ended a streak of 23 consecutive rounds in the 60s at Waialae dating back to the opening round in 2014. Go back a couple of years earlier and the run had been 31 of the previous 32 rounds.
Howell called Thursday’s conditions and the requisite club selection adjustments “drastically different” relative to previous visits, “but everybody has to play in it. The golf course is quite challenging when it’s like this with the doglegs and the crosswinds and things of that nature, but it’s got plenty of teeth in it.”
Inside the numbers
With 14 golfers still having to complete their rounds, the final numbers of the first day won’t be in until about an hour after the second round had begun. But the early results reflect the difficult tradewinds the 144 players had to endure on Thursday.
The scoring average sits at 2 over par and will be in the neighborhood once the last of the stragglers complete their rounds. Only 30 golfers finished in the 60s, with 47 rounds at even par or better. This year, the top 65 and ties will play on through the weekend.
There is no made cut did not finish this year. Whoever makes it to the weekend will play on Sunday. The cut could be as high as 4 over if the weather continues.
