Duval, Villegas and Wie catch the eye at Sony Open
IN: News | US PGA | Sony Open in Hawaii (2006) | Round Two | by Bruce Young | 14 Jan 2006
While much of the hype was centred around second round leaders Chad Campbell and Jim Furyk and the remarkable bounce back round of 68 by Michelle Wie, there were several other good stories to come out of day two of the Sony Open in Hawaii.
Camilo Villegas is considered by many as one of the future stars of the USPGA Tour and today he offered further proof of his significant potential when he produced a second round of 64, the best of the day, to move within two of the lead. Villegas graduated from the Nationwide Tour in 2005 by finishing 13th on that tour's money list. Despite a prolific winning record in collegiate golf, Villegas has yet to win in his eighteen month professional career but he is developing a reputation for being able to go low and in his very first event as PGA Tour cardholder he now finds himelf within two of the lead.
Through eight holes of round one of this event David Duval was at six over and looked a forlorn hope of being around for the weekend. He eventually finished with 75 on day one and today, with little to lose, he powered through his front nine in three under to be inside the cut line by two at that point. He dropped two shots and then needed a birdie at the last to make the cut of three over. Two fine shots to the par five to twenty feet, set up the two putt birdie and he had made just his second cut in his last twenty one starts on the PGA Tour. The other was at the Valero Texas Open in October. He had, though, finished well at the Dunlop Phoenix in Japan when 7th behind Tiger Woods.
Michelle Wie overcame the emotion of a first round 79 when so much expectation rested on her to bounce back with a second round 68 to beat eighteen players over the thirty six holes. Following her first round Wie had been close to tears and despite the merits or otherwise of her playing USPGA Tour events, it is hard not to admire what was a significant achievment by the 16-year-old school student. It was perhaps ironic that she played with Villegas in rounds one and two.
