Jason Kokrak grinds his way to 70, making the cut


MAKING THE CUT

Jason Kokrak grinds his way to 70 and gets to the weekend

Staff/wire report

HONOLULU

It was a good day and a better day for Warren JFK graduate Jason Kokrak in his second round as a PGA Tour profressional.

Kokrak shot an even-par 70 at the Waialae Country Club and made the cut at the Sony Open.

He opened his round on Friday with eight consecutive pars, then birdied the par-5 No. 9 hole. He hit his tee shot 365 yards, then got his second shot to 18 feet, 10 inches from the hole. He missed his eagle putt but sank an 8-inch birdie putt

He followed with two more pars, then picked up another birdie on the par-4 12th hole.

On that hole Kokrak drove 327 yards, then got to with 2 feet, 8 inches from the hole with his second shot and sank the birdie putt.

After scoring par on the 13th, Kokrak’s only bad hole of the day came on the par-4 14th, where he scored double bogey-6 to fall back to even par for the round.

Kokrak hit his tee shot 295 yards into the rough, then find a bunker short of the green. He flew out of the bunker with his third shot into the rough off the green, then chipped onto the green where he two-putted.

Kokrak then finished with four pars, including the tough closing hole, a par-5 in which he made a nice putt to stay above the cut line.

On the 18th, he found a greenside bunker with his third shot and made a nice up-and-down. He sank a putt from just inside 4 feet to save par.

Eighty golfers advanced to the weekend.

Matt Every closed with three straight birdies for a 6-under 64, giving him a two-shot lead over Carl Pettersson (67) and David Hearn, who kept the Canadian presence on the leaderboard with his second straight 66.

Brendon de Jonge shot 62 and Pat Perez was solid again with a 67 to finish three shots behind, along with Doug LaBelle, a Monday qualifier at the Sony Open for the third time. Steve Stricker made double bogey from a bad lie in a bunker that stalled his momentum. He had to settle for a 69 and was five shots back in his bid to become the first player since Ernie Els in 2003 to sweep the Hawaii events.

Every said he is behind where he should be, attributing that to a troublesome rookie season in 2010. He broke his finger in April, keeping him out for six weeks, then ran into trouble with a marijuana charge at the John Deere Classic. He returned to play seven more tournaments before he was suspended, and wound up 160th on the money list.

“I kind of feel like a rookie out here,” Every said. “My rookie year ... I almost kept my status and played half the tournaments that everybody else played. I feel like it was a pretty good year for me. I just didn’t get to play much.”

Graham DeLaet, the first-round leader at 63, had consecutive double bogeys at the start of his round and rallied for a 72, putting him five shots out of the lead.

The Kona wind that picked up slightly in the afternoon provided an unusual scene on the par-5 ninth. Firm fairways and a tail wind made the 504-yard play to an average score of 3.957 — and it’s a par 5.

Erik Compton took advantage, hitting to 4 feet for eagle on his last hole to make the cut on the number at 1-under 139. Pettersson hit a big drive that left him only a sand wedge for his second shot.

Stricker was tied for the lead when he birdied the 18th hole at the turn. On the opening hole, among the toughest on the course, he plugged into a bunker, and he knocked that over the green for a double bogey.

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