Martin Laird misses cut by seven shots in US Opener

Green, Pernice share Sony Open

lead at Honolulu, Hawaii

FROM THE A O L GOLF NEWS SERVICE
Nathan Green of Australia and American Tom Pernice Jr share the lead after the second round of the Sony Open at Honolulu, Hawaii.
Englishmen Luke Donald, Brian Davis and Greg Owen are in or around the top 20 but Glasgow's Martin Laird missed the cut (those with one-over-par 141 or better) by seven strokes.
Taking advantage of an early start and pristine conditions at the Waialae Country Club, Green fired his second straight four-under-par 66 and is at eight-under-par 132 after 36 holes.
Green, whose best finish in 90 previous PGA events was second at the Buick Invitational in 2006, had five birdies and one bogey during his round.
"I don't think the conditions were as bad as we thought they were going to be," Green said. "Last night, you could hear the wind whipping. Sort of a stronger version of yesterday. It didn't seem anywhere near as strong as they predicted."
Pernice played later in the day and blistered the course for a 63, firing five birdies and an eagle on the par-five 18.
"Obviously, conditions like this on a challenging golf course and to get around in seven-under, yeah, it's a very good round," Pernice said. "You're not going out thinking you're going to shoot seven-under. You just kind of plod your way around and try to hang in there.
"The mentality was to hang in there and keep plugging along, and I made some nice saves when I needed to on the back nine. Obviously, the eagle at the last was quite exciting."
The pair hold a one-stroke edge over first-round leader Shigeki Maruyama, who fired a 68 to go with his opening 65, and Brian Gay. Maruyama is at seven-under 133 overall, while Gay fired a 67 to go with his first-round 66.
Zach Johnson is another shot back, tied for fifth after a hot-and-cold round of 65. The 2007 Masters champion had two bogeys, five birdies and an eagle on number nine for a five-under. Johnson is even with Webb Simpson at six-under.
Geoff Ogilvy, who cruised to a six-stroke victory at the Mercedes-Benz Championship last week, is part of a group at five-under overall. Ogilvy fired a 69 and is tied with Steve Marino, Boo Weekley and Charles Howell III at 135.
Luke Donald and Brian Davis are join 16th on 137, Donald shooting a second-round70 and Davis a 68.
Compatriot Greg Owen is a shot behind them in joint 25th place with a second-rund 67.
Martin Laird, pictured above, who retained his playing rights with nothing to spare at the end of the 2008 season, did not get the flying start to his 2009 campaign he was hoping for. On a par-70 course, his opening round of 75 left him with little or no chance of beating the cut and a second-day 73 for eight-over 148 confirmed it.
Other notables who missed the cut included new US Ryder Cup captain Corey Pavin and past US Ryder Cup player Jeff Maggert.

SECOND-ROUND TOTALS
Par 140 (2 x 70)
Players from US unless stated
132 Nathan Green (Aus) 66 66, Tom Pernice Jnr. 69 63
133 Brian Gay 66 67, Shigeki Maruyama (Jpn) 65 68
134 Zach Johnson 69 65, Webb Simpson 66 68
135 Steve Marino 68 67, Boo Weekley 66 69, Geoff Ogilvy (Aus) 66 69, Charles Howell III 67 68
136 Wil Collins 69 67, David Mathis 68 68, David Toms 70 66, Stewart Cink 71 65, Briny Baird 69 67
137 Brian Davis (Eng) 69 68, Chris Stroud 67 70, Adam Scott (Aus) 71 66, Hideto Tanihara (Jpn) 72 65, Kevin Na 72 65, George McNeill 69 68, K J Choi (Kor) 68 69, Troy Kelly 71 66, Luke Donald (Eng) 67 70
138 Steve Stricker 70 68, Rory Sabbatini (Rsa) 68 70, Ted Purdy 69 69, Greg Owen (Eng) 71 67, Cliff Kresge 69 69, Tim Wilkinson (Nzl) 68 70, Jeff Klauk 69 69, Kenny Perry 69 69, Cameron Beckman 72 66, Marc Leishman (Aus) 72 66, Glen Day 70 68, Troy Matteson 71 67, D.J. Trahan 71 67
139 Jerry Kelly 67 72, Michael Letzig 69 70, Tim Herron 68 71, Steve Lowery 71 68, Harrison Frazar 69 70, Scott Piercy 67 72, Kevin Streelman 70 69, Bob Estes 72 67, Jarrod Lyle (Aus) 70 69, Bill Haas 68 71, Sean O'Hair 71 68, Jimmy Walker 73 66
140 Spencer Levin 71 69, John Merrick 70 70, Bart Bryant 71 69, Jeff Overton 71 69, Tag Ridings 71 69, Junpei Takayama (Jpn) 71 69, Matthew Borchert 73 67, Chez Reavie 70 70, Tadd Fujikawa 71 69, Michael Allen 72 68, Arjun Atwal (Ind) 69 71, Brendon Todd 69 71, Scott Sterling 71 69
141 Arron Oberholser 68 73, Paul Azinger 68 73, Jeff Quinney 71 70, Azuma Yano (Jpn) 71 70, Casey Wittenberg 71 70, Matt Bettencourt 73 68, Alex Cejka (Ger) 72 69, D.A. Points 68 73, Richard S Johnson (Swe) 70 71, Joe Durant 73 68, Andres Romero (Arg) 73 68, Ernie Els (Rsa) 72 69, Tim Petrovic 69 72, Ryuji Imada (Jpn) 71 70, Tim Clark (Rsa) 71 70, Tommy Gainey 71 70
MISSED THE CUT
142 Aron Price (Aus) 71 71, Vaughn Taylor 71 71, Billy Mayfair 73 69, David Berganio Jnr. 69 73, Will MacKenzie 74 68, Dean Wilson 73 69, Daniel Chopra (Swe) 71 71, Derek Fathauer 73 69, Brendon De Jonge 67 75, Pat Perez 71 71, Davis Love III 72 70, Jeff Sluman 73 69, John Senden (Aus) 72 70, Chris DiMarco 72 70, Joe Ogilvie 70 72, Bubba Watson 72 70, Peter Lonard (Aus) 70 72
143 Peter Tomasulo 73 70, Paul Goydos 73 70, Jason Dufner 72 71, Gary Woodland 68 75, Marc Turnesa 71 72, Chris Couch 72 71, Shintaro Kai (Jpn) 72 71, Hiroshi Iwata (Jpn) 72 71
144 Brad Faxon 71 73, Kirk Triplett 74 70, Robert Garrigus 70 74, Loren Roberts 74 70, Johnson Wagner 76 68, Mark Wilson 71 73
145 Bill Lunde 72 73, Colt Knost 75 70, Tomohiro Kondo (Jpn) 73 72, Greg Chalmers (Aus) 73 72, Matt Kuchar 73 72, Greg Kraft 73 72, James Nitties (Aus) 74 71, Heath Slocum 76 69, Alex Aragon 73 72, Sang-moon Bae (Kor) 74 71, Corey Pavin 75 70, Carl Pettersson (Swe) 73 72
146 Kris Blanks 74 72, Bo Van Pelt 72 74, Rich Beem 73 73
147 Ricky Barnes 74 73, Lorens Chan 72 75, Leif Olson 74 73, Scott Gutschewski 76 71, Nicholas Thompson 73 74
148 J.B. Holmes 73 75, Notah Begay III 74 74, Martin Laird (Sco) 75 73, Rick Price 77 71, John Lepak 76 72
149 Eric Axley 73 76
150 John Lynch 78 72, Parker Mclachin 73 77, James Oh (Kor) 73 77
151 Jeff Maggert 77 74, John Mallinger 76 75
152 Brian Vranesh 81 71
153 Tyler Aldridge 76 77