Every goes clear with a 64

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A sizzling 6-under 64 has given unheralded Matt Every the lead heading into the third round of the Sony Open.

On a day when overnight leader Graham DeLaet was tumbling down the leaderboard, a sizzling 6-under 64 has put unheralded Matt Every into the second round lead at the Sony Open in Hawaii.

The 28-year-old American, who was suspended by the PGA for three months in 2010 after being arrested in his hotel room on a drug charge, played flawless golf on a breezy day at Honolulu’s Waialae Country Club, birdying his last three holes as he moved to a halfway total of 10-under 130 and took himself two shots clear of nearest pursuers Carl Pettersson of Sweden and David Hearn of Canada.

Two more Americans Doug LaBelle and Pat Perez are tied for 4th with Zimbabwe’s burly Brendon de Jonge, who rocketed into contention among the front-runners with a tournament best 62

DeLaet, the Canadian who made the biggest news here on Thursday when he secured the lead with a stunning 63, could not repeat his heroics, his second-round, two-over 72 dropping him down into joint 37th place on the leaderboard.

Every, better-known on the feeder Nationwide Tour where he has played most of his golf, believed that patience was the key to his good round.

He said: “I just stayed patient after I made some putts that didn’t fall on the front (nine).”

“Things are just working out right now, but it’s only two days and I’ve got two more to go.”

Every only teed off on the PGA Tour on five occasions last year, following his suspension in 2010 during his rookie season when he was arrested on a misdemeanor marijuana charge.

In a statement issued at the time, he denied possessing the drug, but apologised for his poor judgment. He was later suspended for 90 days by the PGA Tour.

“I don’t think I was doing anything wrong, but it happened,” Every told the Golf Channel on Friday. “I am the same person, I have the same friends. I don’t think it’s that big a deal.

“There’s a lot worse stuff that goes on out here than what I got in trouble for.”

Steve Stricker, at No 5 the USA’s highest World-ranked golfer who last week won the PGA Tour’s season-opening Tournament of Champions at Kapalua, briefly held a share of the lead at 7-under before slipping back to five-under with a 1-under 69.

That has left him trailing Every by five shots in joint 17th place and will have given him a lot of work to do if he is to become just the second man after South Africa’s Ernie Els to win both events on the season-opening Hawaii swing.

Defending champion Mark Wilson? Sadly he won’t be around at the weekend to defend his title

Wilson added a 2-under 68 on Friday to his opening 3-over 73 on Thursday and it simply wasn’t enough to save him from the cut

“My short game kind of let me down yesterday (Thursday),” said Wilson, referring to the fact that he bogeyed five of the seven greens that he missed in regulation in the first round.

He played better golf on Friday and he was a bogey-free at 3-under after his first eight holes, but then he lost his touch and as he said, he didn’t get enough out of his round.

“I don’t know how I only shot 2 under to be honest with you,” he said.

TOP 10 LEADERBOARD
(USA unless stated, par 70):

130 Matthew Every 66 64

132 David Hearn (Can) 66 66, Carl Pettersson (Swe) 65 67

133 Brendon De Jonge 71 62, Pat Perez 66 67, Doug La Belle II 66 67

134 Spencer Levin 67 67, Bud Cauley 66 68, Kris Blanks 68 66, Kyle Stanley 66 68, William McGirt 67 67, Charles Howell III 67 67, Keegan Bradley 67 67, Jeff Maggert 69 65, Sean O’Hair 67 67, Johnson Wagner 68 66

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