When tournament officials told Lori Fujikawa they planned to add more security for her son Tadd yesterday in the Sony Open in Hawai'i, her response was a quizzical, "why?"

What, indeed, could be safer than the toast of the golf world surrounded, embraced and energized by a few thousand of his closest admirers? Dozens of whom he exchanged comments and ebullient high-fives with along the rope line, on the way to a 4-under-par 66 that put him 7-under overall and tied for eighth, six strokes back of leader Charles Howell III entering today's final round.

Backed by swelling galleries that reached 15 deep in places on the final hole, the 16-year-old Moanalua High School sophomore put himself in the best position of any Hawai'i-born golfer since Kaua'i's David Ishii won the then-Hawaiian Open in 1990 — 11 months before Fujikawa was born.

"He fed off the aura of the crowd," Lori said. "It was tremendous to see the support he had."

A tournament official said attendance figures at Waialae Country Club were not immediately available.

Fujikawa, the lone amateur in what started out as a 144-player field, said, "Everything was just kind of flowing, you know, having this many people out here watching and supporting you. It really hypes you up and gets you going. So, I think that they played a big part in all of my (six) birdies today."

When he sprayed a drive through the palm trees and beyond the ropes on the 18th hole, a fan who was out of range nevertheless kiddingly asked if he wanted her to "kick it back in."

When an official's ruling on that shot allowed him to drop the ball on the other side of the fairway because of an immovable (tent) obstruction in his line of sight, Fujikawa surmised, "I guess Hawai'i was kind of behind me on that one, kind of lucky."

Mostly, though, he made his own luck on a day when his birdies included putts of 13, 21 and 47 feet.

Fans came from Kaimuki to La'ie — and beyond — to see for themselves the wonder of the youngest player to make a PGA Tournament cut in 50 years and revel in his expanding success.

Frank and Joann Trutwin, who are visiting from Minnesota, said they saw his history-making second round on television and decided to take a closer look. "You have to like this guy, he's himself out there," Frank said.

Alex Sakaguchi, who works at Turtle Bay and has seen Fujikawa play there on occasion, said, "He's so small that people think he can't compete with the big guys, but he can."

Notable among the galleries were an influx of younger fans, many in the height range of their new 5-foot-1 hero.

"I guess you'd have to give (Fujikawa) credit for that," said Judge Jim Burns, Waialae Country Club president.

C.J. Uehara, 10, of Makiki, said, "When he makes birdies and when he hits good drives it makes me happy since he's young."

Emma Takamura, 11, said, "He's always nice and happy."

Kai Sunahara, 6, of Kane'ohe, isn't sure if he wants to be a golfer yet. But on the chance he might take a fancy to the sport, his father wanted him to be sure and see two players of note yesterday, David Love III, a 19-time winner on the PGA Tour, and Fujikawa.

"He (Fujikawa) is an intriguing story and we came to see him for ourselves," Wayne Sunahara said.

In that they had a lot of company yesterday and figure to have even more today.

Reach Ferd Lewis at flewis@honoluluadvertiser.com.