Nick Taylor fashioned the best second round at the Sony Open in Hawaii today with an 8-under par 62, and is in the lead alone by two shots at 12 under for the event. But no one has anything sewn up midway through the PGA tournament at Waialae Country Club.

Russell Henley, Stewart Cink, Webb Simpson, Chris Kirk and another Taylor, first name of Vaughn, start play Saturday at 10 under.

Then there’s a throng of eight players, including two of the three first-round leaders, Peter Malnati and Joaquin Niemann, who are three shots back at 9 under. The third first-round leader, Jason Kokrak, fell back to a tie for 19th after a 1-over 71 today.

Henley, who shot 64 today, won this event in 2013 as a 23-year-old rookie making his tour debut … with what was then an event-record 24 under par. ”Usually if somebody ever knows who I am, they usually talk about, ‘Man, you really ran away with it here,’” he said.

This year’s winner might post a similar score, especially if Nick Taylor keeps firing away like he did as the afternoon progressed. His 9-under-par explosion sustained over the final 13 holes started after a bogey and featured an eagle before the turn.

The 10-year pro and two-time tour winner from Canada who played college golf at Washington said he was thinking more about making the cut than taking the lead when that bogey put him at 3 under for the tournament.

“Through five holes I was 1 over (for the day) and I assumed the cut was going to go to four,” Nick Taylor said. “It’s sometimes easy to get in the process of grind mode and think about the cut. I did a good job of that, hitting some good shots and moving away from that.”

Defending champion Cameron Smith shot 66 today, which also put him at 7 under and T19.

Cink and Simpson, each a winner of a major championship and seven PGA Tour events, climbed to the lead in the morning. Vaughn Taylor and Henley joined them early in the afternoon.

“(The wind) blew opposite of what the forecast was, and that’s just the fun of it,” Henley said.

Vaughn Taylor, playing in the afternoon, started the round at 6-under, and caught up to Cink and Simpson with a birdie on his 12th hole of the day. He fell back with a bogey on No. 6 (he played the back nine first) but closed with a birdie on No. 9 to climb back into the tie at 10 under for the event with his 66 for the day.

Simpson shot 5-under 65, matching his first-round effort. Cink’s 63 looked like it would stand as the best round of the day until Nick Taylor’s late afternoon blitz.

Nick Taylor made the double-digit under-par club a fivesome with a birdie on his 14th hole. It was a five-way tie for first until his birdies on his last two holes of the day put him alone at the top.

Then Kirk, playing in one of the last groups, birdied his last two holes to again make it a party of five at 10 under — except now they are in a tie for second, not first.

Simpson won the 2012 U.S. Open. He is 17th in all-time career earnings in this tournament and has finished in the top five in his last two Sony Open appearances (2020 and 2018). He has never missed a cut in 11 starts here.

Cink beat Tom Watson in a playoff to capture the 2009 British Open championship. This is his 16th Sony Open and he has made the cut 12 times.

None of the three players who attended school or work in Hawaii — Parker McLachlin, Eric Dugas and Evan Kawai — made the cut.