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Clark, Merritt share early lead at Sony Open

Tim Clark kept the ball in play on the tight fairways of Waialae, took advantage of dry conditions that allow for more roll, and posted his second straight round of 5-under 65 on Friday for a share of the Sony Open lead with Troy Merritt among the early starters

Doug Ferguson (The Jakarta Post)
Honolulu
Sun, January 18, 2015

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Clark, Merritt share early lead at Sony Open

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im Clark kept the ball in play on the tight fairways of Waialae, took advantage of dry conditions that allow for more roll, and posted his second straight round of 5-under 65 on Friday for a share of the Sony Open lead with Troy Merritt among the early starters.

Merritt had a 64 to join Clark at 10-under 130.

Clark finished his round with a 278-meter tee shot that set up a two-putt birdie on the par-5 ninth hole. Hitting 274-m drives on the PGA Tour is not a big deal these days, but it was for Clark, who considers himself one of the shortest hitters in golf.

It was a testament to how he is feeling, tiny change in his swing to set up taller over the ball and the firm fairways.

And he wasn'€™t complaining.

'€œIt'€™s obviously very tight off the tee, and I like to drive it here a lot,'€ Clark said. '€œAnd when it'€™s firm like that, I'€™m getting a lot of run, so I'€™m hitting it farther than I normally do. Hitting driver and being aggressive gives me shorter clubs in than most of my opponents, where most courses they'€™re 20 and 30 by me.'€

Last week at Kapalua was not one of those courses, along with the fact it was soft on the Plantation course, which Clark found a bit of a mystery because it never rained during the week. He liked the way he was swinging the club, even though he finished 12 shots behind.

'€œI hit the ball great last week,'€ Clark said. '€œI could tell I was hitting it good. I knew coming to a course that I loved would be nice.'€

Russell Knox, who learned to swing harder when got on the PGA Tour, had five birdies in a tidy round of 65 and was one shot behind.

Paul Casey, Webb Simpson and Camilo Villegas were among the late starters on a day of sunshine and some '€œvog'€ '€” volcanic ash in the air that occurs without the typical trade winds blowing for several day '€” though there was no wind and not much resistance at Waialae.

Defending champion Jimmy Walker had another 66 '€” his 15th consecutive round in the 60s in Hawaii '€” and was in the group two shots behind the early leaders that included 2010 Sony Open winner Ryan Palmer, who had a 63.

The cut looked as though it would be 2-under 138 with so few players running into trouble.

In Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, Rory McIlroy made his first competitive hole-in-one as a professional as part of a brilliant back nine that propelled his pursuit of Martin Kaymer in the second round of the Abu Dhabi Championship on Friday.

The world No. 1 threw his hands in the air and high-fived playing partner Rickie Fowler after his 9-iron from 177 yards at the par-3 15th landed a yard from the hole, hopped right and trickled into the cup.

'€œIt never left the pin,'€ McIlroy said after ticking off one of the few things he'€™d yet to achieve in his golf career.

A 6-under 66 '€” completed with a 15-foot birdie putt at No. 18 '€” moved McIlroy into third place on 11 under, two shots behind Kaymer, to set up a potentially thrilling duel over the weekend between two players who won three of last year'€™s majors.

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