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The Honolulu Advertiser
Posted on: Saturday, January 17, 2009

Besides Tadd, Hawaii's four other golfers struggled

 •  Fujikawa qualifies to play the weekend
Photo gallery: Sony Open 2nd round

By Bill Kwon
Special to The Advertiser

Hawaii news photo - The Honolulu Advertiser

'Iolani freshman Lorens Chan missed the cut by six.

GREGORY YAMAMOTO | The Honolulu Advertiser

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Hawaii news photo - The Honolulu Advertiser

Punahou alum Parker McLachlin was unable to get any momentum in yesterday's second round, carding 77—150 to miss the cut.

MARCO GARCIA | Associated Press

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Hawaii news photo - The Honolulu Advertiser

Castle High alum Dean Wilson struggled on the back nine of his second round and finished with a 69—142, missing the cut by one.

GREGORY YAMAMOTO | The Honolulu Advertiser

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One of the first to congratulate Tadd Fujikawa in making the cut at the Sony Open in Hawai'i was Lorens Chan, Hawai'i's other talented teenager in the PGA Tour event.

Playing in the threesome ahead of Fujikawa, Chan birdied the par-5 ninth, his final hole of the day, to close a frustrating round of 75 by shooting 2 under par on the back nine.

Fujikawa also birdied the hole, two-putting for a birdie, that led to a far more satisfying conclusion — his first cut in seven PGA events as a professional.

"That's great," Chan said when he found out that Fujikawa did it. "This is just the beginning of it for him. I think he's going to make more cuts this year and finish pretty high."

The only amateur in the PGA Tour's first full-field event of the season, Chan wound up with a 36-hole total of 147 — three strokes better than Hawai'i pros Parker McLachlin and John Lynch.

Dean Wilson, who's also on the PGA Tour with McLachlin, missed playing the weekend by one stroke at 69-142. It was the fourth year in a row he missed the Sony cut, the sixth time in the last seven years.

Unlike co-leader Nathan Green, who sat comfortably in the clubhouse at 132 after finishing early on a blustery and rainy day, Wilson had to sweat out six hours to find out if he would play on.

"I played a little better today but unfortunately bogeyed the last hole. I don't know if it's going to cost me the cut or not. At least I played well and gave myself a chance," said Wilson after his morning round.

A bogey at the par-5 18th for the second day in a row proved costly. He pulled his tee shot into the fairway bunker on the dog-leg left corner and could only advance the next shot 100 yards. With his third shot coming up short of the green, Wilson putted from the front fringe — "I thought that would be the best bet," he said, but he didn't hit it hard enough. His 18-foot putt for par lipped out.

Wilson was 3-under and in good shape, starting the day with birdies at 5, 6 and 9 to make the turn in 32. But he bogeyed the par-4 13th for the second straight round and it proved to be a harbinger of things to come.

McLachlin, meanwhile, was never in contention after three straight bogeys at 4, 5 and 6.

"It was a tough day with rain squalls here and there, wind blowing," said McLachlin, who played in last week's Mercedes-Benz Championship after winning his first PGA Tour event last year. "Once I saw my chances of making the cut go away, my focus wasn't as good as I would have liked."

It showed. He missed the greens in regulation at 11 and 12, also 15 and 16, leading to bogeys and three-putting three times, including the par-5 18th.

"You're going to have weeks like I had this week," he said. "You just move on and try to do your best the next time around. It's a long year and I'll be ready for the next event."

For McLachlin, it'll be the rest of the West Coast swing. He's skipping this week's Bob Hope Classic.

As for Chan, an 'Iolani School freshman, his next event will be his first high school tournament.

"Yep, I'm looking forward to that," Chan said. "I think we got a good team. Hopefully, we can bring the trophy home."

For now, he's savoring the experience of having played inside the ropes with the PGA pros at Waialae. "It was a very good experience, I learned a lot from them. Now I know what I have to work on."