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The Honolulu Advertiser

Posted on: Saturday, January 15, 2005

Hawai'i's Meyer, Wilson make Sony cut

By Bill Kwon
Special to The Advertiser

Greg Meyer walked off the 18th green at yesterday's second round of the Sony Open in Hawai'i, smiling after making perhaps the most important par of his life.

It gave Meyer an even-par round of 70 for a 36-hole score of 141, good enough to make the cut along with fellow Hawai'i native Dean Wilson in the PGA Tour's first full-field event of the year.

They did. Michelle Wie didn't. Nor did four other local golfers — David Ishii, John Lynch, Kevin Carll and Jonathan Mathias.

There won't be any shouts of "Go Michelle" during the weekend at the Waialae Country Club again but Meyer hopes he and Wilson will do Hawai'i proud.

"Hopefully, we can fire a good one (today) and fire a good one Sunday," Meyer said.

Still, the 43-year-old Hilo native isn't a household name like Wie.

As Meyer signed autographs following his round, one of the youngsters in line asked, "And, who are you?"

"Tiger Woods," replied Meyer.

Meyer might still need an introduction to some golf fans but not Wilson, unless it's to Sony tournament officials.

"It's good to make the cut here. Last year I didn't make the cut and it was sad not playing the weekend in front of the hometown crowd," said Wilson, who also shot a 70 for a 139 total.

"I got off to a bad start and then hitting a wayward shot on nine," Wilson said. "Fortunately, I was able to make a 6 there instead of 7 and it carried over on the back nine and I played well there."

Wilson, 35, the only local pro on the PGA Tour, bogeyed the 488-yard, par-4 opening hole —ranked No. 1 in difficulty with a 4.503 average for two rounds — and got his only three-putt of the day in bogeying the third, which he now has played 3 over in two rounds.

He got to even for the tournament at the par-3 seventh, birdieing it for the second day in a row, this time sinking a 35-foot putt. But he made the turn at plus-1 by hitting his second shot out of the bounds at the par-5 ninth for a bogey.

Then he birdied the par-4 12th for the second day in a row.

"That's another favorite hole, huh?" said Wilson, who lost it back at 16 by driving into the rough with no shot to the green.

But he birdied 18, using 3-wood, 3-wood and an L-wedge to two feet, making the cut of 142 with three strokes to spare.

"Getting a spot (exemption) would have been a nicer way to go, but it worked out good for me," said Wilson, who got into the tournament as the fourth alternate.

Meyer joined 53-year-old Dick Mast, who played in his threesome, and Sean Murphy as the Monday qualifiers among the 78 playing the weekend.

A triple-bogey 7 at the eighth hole nearly cost Meyer that opportunity.

"I worked really hard (he birdied 5 and 7) only to give it back all at once like that. It was kind of disappointing," said Meyer, who knew he was flirting around the cut line.

"I tried to stay calm and patient, forget about it, and just continue to make good shots and give myself chances," added Meyer, who parred six straight holes before birdieing 15.

"And the birdie at 17 was huge," said Meyer, who hit a 5-iron and sank a 25-foot putt. "It had just enough to trickle in the hole."

Ishii missed the cut for only the fifth time in 19 Sony/Hawaiian Open tournaments at Waialae by three strokes with a 72-—145.

Bogeying the third and 17th holes — which both played into the opposite Kona wind — both days didn't help. They were his only bogeys in yesterday's round.

"I don't like this kind of wind. It's hard. It made the easy holes easier and the hard holes harder. But I didn't birdie the easy holes," Ishii said.

"At least Dean is going to make it."

And "Tiger" Meyer.