Sony Open in Hawaii Round 2: Fishburn and McCarthy Split the Lead at Waialae

Waialae spent Friday reminding everyone that last week's birdie buffet on Maui was a different kind of meal. Nobody ran away, a lot of good players went home, and the two names on top at the halfway mark of the Sony Open in Hawaii belong to players still chasing a first PGA TOUR win.

Patrick Fishburn shot 5-under 65 and Denny McCarthy added a 66 to share the 36-hole lead at 10-under 130. Kensei Hirata fired a 63 to sit one shot back alongside Eric Cole and rookie Paul Peterson. With 36 holes to play, 25 players are within four shots of the lead.

Fishburn's Fast Start

Fishburn started on the back nine and wasted no time, rattling off three straight birdies right out of the gate. The highlight on the way in was a chip-in birdie on the fifth, and Fishburn closed the round with one more birdie to grab a share of the top spot.

The context makes it better. Fishburn, 32, is a second-year player from Utah who finished No. 104 in the FedExCup as a rookie, outside the top 100 who keep full cards, and needed a strong fall to lock up status for 2025. A year ago, Fishburn came to Oahu for rookie orientation as a Korn Ferry Tour graduate, only to find out the field was full. This is Fishburn's first Sony Open start, and the difference between hoping for a spot and knowing one was coming showed up in the quotes.

"It was a big relief being on the plane knowing I was going to get a tee time," Fishburn said, per the AP.

McCarthy's Give and Take

McCarthy, who opened with a bogey-free 64 after a putter switch, had a messier Friday that still ended in the same place: the top of the board. A couple of short par putts got away early. Then the new putter started paying the bill, starting with a 25-foot birdie on the fifth. McCarthy had an 8-foot birdie try on the closing hole to take the outright lead, but it slid by.

Playing in the afternoon on greens with plenty of foot traffic, McCarthy shrugged off the short misses because the longer ones kept dropping. "Kind of even outs," McCarthy said.

McCarthy also offered the most useful scouting report of the week so far. "This one is tougher for sure," McCarthy said, comparing Waialae with Kapalua. "You're not going to have a 35-under winner here."

Hirata and the One-Back Crew

Hirata's 63 was a jolt, a jump up the board to 9-under 131. Hirata had opened with a 68, so Friday's seven-under effort turned a quiet start into a real position.

Cole had a chance to join the leaders and could not convert, missing a 4-foot birdie putt on the par-5 18th that would have tied for the lead after a 67. Peterson, the 36-year-old rookie who shared the first-round lead in a PGA TOUR debut, kept the dream going with a 67 of his own. Peterson finished on the par-5 ninth in near darkness and two-putted for birdie to stay one back.

The top five on the board have never won on the PGA TOUR, and that matters here more than usual. A win this week comes with a Masters invitation.

Zach Johnson, Still Swinging

The feel-good subplot of the day came from a former U.S. Ryder Cup captain. Zach Johnson, who first joined the TOUR at this tournament in 2004 and turns 49 next month, holed a 9-iron from the third fairway for eagle and turned in 31 on the way to a 66. Johnson is two back at 8-under 132.

Johnson has no full status anymore and needed an exemption to play this week. "I'm not going to play like a massive schedule this year," Johnson said. "Been a fresh start. Very, very simple in my approach."

Sepp Straka (66), Lee Hodges (64), Alex Smalley (64) and J.J. Spaun (66) are also at 8 under. Gary Woodland, who returned to golf at this event a year ago after brain surgery to remove a lesion that had caused seizures, shot his way to 6-under 134. "I'm trending in the right direction," Woodland said.

Matsuyama Hangs Around

Hideki Matsuyama shot 69 and sits at 4-under 136, six off the pace. Matsuyama is trying to become just the third player to sweep both Hawaii events in the same year, a feat Justin Thomas last pulled off in 2017. There will be no repeat of last week's 35-under record pace at Waialae, but Matsuyama made it to the weekend with a shot to spare and has 36 holes to make a move.

The Cut and the Weekend

The cut fell at 3-under 137, a high bar for a course that bunches players this tightly. Among those heading home were 15 players who teed it up at The Sentry last week, including Billy Horschel, Chris Kirk and Austin Eckroat.

The leaderboard behind Fishburn and McCarthy reads like a lineup of grinders, with plenty of names hovering around 6 under, including Nico Echavarria at 7 under and Nick Taylor at 6 under. Waialae rarely produces a runaway, and the weekend could reshuffle all of it. What we know after Friday: two players with zero TOUR wins between them own the lead, and a trip to Augusta is sitting on the table for whoever closes.

Catch up on Thursday in our Round 1 recap. Full scoring is on the official PGA TOUR leaderboard (opens in a new tab), and the TOUR's Round 2 story (opens in a new tab) has more.

Sources: PGA TOUR (Round 2 story and leaderboard), AP. More golf coverage on Undrafted.

Photo: PGA TOUR.