DIVOTS

'07 champ Goydos makes move

Past Sony Open in Hawaii champion Paul Goydos fired a 7-under 63 yesterday for the best round of the opening 36 holes. He moved up 73 spots on the leaderboard to a tie for 12th at 5-under 135.

Goydos won this event in 2007, the year Tadd Fujikawa captured the nation's heart with his performance here as a sophomore from Moanalua High. The 45-year-old from Long Beach, Calif., had seven birdies and no bogeys and managed three 2s on his card to put himself in contention, just four shots off the pace.

“;Yes, 2s don't add up very quick,”; Goydos said. “;It does make it a lot easier. Just a good day with the putter and a good day with the irons and a good day with the driver. That generally works out pretty well.”;

Kua comes up short

A 4-over 74 ended UH sophomore T.J. Kua's dreams of making the cut in his first PGA Tour event.

Kua's round went haywire on the front nine (he started on No. 10) when he left a 7-footer for par on No. 4 short. He missed a 6-foot birdie putt on No. 5 and double-bogeyed No. 6 after his tee shot faded right into the deep rough.

“;I got a little frustrated with myself at the end missing those two putts,”; Kua said. “;It got to my head and I pulled my drive on six because I let it bother me.”;

Kua left the course with a good feeling after coming back on his final hole to roll in a 10-footer for birdie to finish at 3-over 143, two shots off the cut.

“;This is probably the best learning experience I've gotten so far,”; he said.

Triple trouble for Johnson

Defending Sony Open champ Zach Johnson had a triple-bogey 6 at the par-3 17th (his eighth hole), but overcame it with eight birdies in his round. He hit his first shot in the second bunker to the right of the green. The sand was inconsistent from a bunker he was in at the 17th in the first round.

“;Based on what I was feeling at my feet, I was expecting there to be a lot of sand,”; Johnson said. “;And I hit concrete essentially.”;

That left him with a plugged lie in the bunker 20 yards across the green. He couldn't go for the stick because he would have been back in the original bunker, so he aimed for the front of the green. Lying three, he chipped up for his fourth shot and two-putted from 20 feet. Or as Johnson put it: “;I made a 2-footer for a 6.”;

Inside the numbers

The scoring average dropped nearly a full stroke from a 70.903 on Thursday to a 69.958 yesterday. The hardest hole was the par-3 fourth with a scoring average of 3.303. The easiest hole was the par-5 ninth with a scoring average of 4.388.

Paul Arnett and Billy Hull, Star-Bulletin