Cook Shoots 62 to Lead by Three

John Cook had already posted a 62 in the second round of the Sony Open at Honolulu when Jerry Kelly headed to the first tee.

To see Cook’s name atop the leader board brought back sour memories. Kelly was poised to win his first PGA Tour event last year in the Reno-Tahoe Open until he made triple bogey late in the final round, which enabled Cook to win by a stroke.

Even more troublesome was the size of Cook’s lead.

“I knew I had to catch up, not let him have six shots between us,” Kelly said. “I’m glad there’s only three, but I wish there were none.”

Cook had a magic number in mind, but only briefly. He had a birdie putt on his 17th hole and a par five after that--a birdie-eagle finish would have given him 59.

“You don’t get that many chances,” Cook said.

This wasn’t one of them. He settled for an eight-under 62 to match his career-low round in 23 years on the PGA Tour and take a three-stroke lead over Kelly.

They will be paired in the final group today.

“We can talk about Reno,” Kelly said, joking.

Asked if he was bitter about that loss in Nevada, Kelly shook his head. He brought that on himself, a triple bogey on the 16th hole.

“It’s not stuck in my craw,” Kelly said.

Cook took advantage of breeze, balmy conditions to finish two rounds at 12-under 128. That tied the 36-hole record at Waialae Country Club, last matched a year ago by Brad Faxon, who went on to win by four strokes.

*

Tiger Woods splashed his way into contention in the New Zealand Open today, shooting a four-under-par 67 to close within four strokes of the lead at Paraparaumu Beach.

Woods had a three-under 210 total, while Australia’s Stephen Leaney topped the leaderboard at seven under after only four holes in the round delayed by rain and flooding for 3 hours, 15 minutes.

Woods birdied the second and fourth holes and made an eight-foot eagle putt on No. 6 after driving the green on the 310-yard, par-four hole. After settling for par on the par-five seventh, he made a curling 10-foot birdie putt on No. 8. He followed with three consecutive pars and was in the middle of the 12th fairway when play was suspended.

After the delay, he returned to birdie the 12th, but dropped a stroke with a bogey on No. 13. He made a seven-foot birdie putt on No. 15, but lost another stroke with a bogey on No. 17.

Woods finished with a birdie--his third of the tournament on the par-five 18th--after just missing a 25-foot eagle putt.

Jae An, the 13-year-old amateur from South Korea who attends school in New Zealand, shot a 71 for a 3-over total.