Oda, Grant miss PGA TOUR Sony Open Cut
UNLV's John Oda
(UNLV Athletics Photo)
HONOLULU, HI (January 13, 2017) -- John Oda and Brent Grant showed well this week at the PGA Tour's Sony Open but unfortunately neither will be around for the weekend at Waialae Country Club. With Justin Thomas setting all kinds of records during the first two days, Oda and Grant hovered around the cut line before ultimately coming up just short.
Oda, a junior at UNLV, put together rounds of 70-69 to complete his second appearance in the Sony Open 1-under and two shots below the 3-under cut line. The four-time collegiate winner converted four birdies and three bogeys throughout his round. Oda capped his week with a birdie on the closing par-5 18th.
BYU-Hawaii's Brent Grant ended his week even-par after rounds of 69-71. Starting the day 1-under, Grant started his round with five straight pars before rolling in birdies on Nos. 6, 9 and 10 to reach 4-under and the better half of the cut line. However, down the stretch Grant was unable to sustain his momentum as he double-bogeyed 11, bogeyed 12 and while pressing for an eagle on the 18th he finished with a one more bogey.
ROUND ONE RECAP
This week marks the 10 year anniversary of 16-year old Tadd Fujikawa making the cut at the 2007 PGA Tour's Sony Open. At the time Fujukawa became the youngest player in 50 years to make the cut in a PGA Tour event.
Neither of the amateurs in the field this week at Waialae Country Club are as young as Fujikawa was but the goal is the same, make the cut at a PGA Tour event. UNLV junior John Oda and BYU-Hawaii's Brent Grant both will have some work to do however in the second round if they want to make the cut.
Grant began his tournament with a 1-under 71 that saw him rally on his second nine. Beginning on the backside Grant bogeyed No. 11 and remained 1-over until he birdied Nos. 1 and 2 back-to-back. Attempting to maintain his under-par round, Grant bogeyed the 6th hole only to rebound with a closing birdie to return to 1-under for the day. Grant will begin the second round tied for 74th.
The BYU-Hawaii golfer qualified by winning the Governors Cup, a yearlong competition named after former Gov. John Burns, who wanted to help develop junior golf on the island. The 12 amateurs who qualify then compete in an 18-hole tournament at Waialae in late November which Grant won in a playoff.
Oda began his round on No. 10 and started his day with a birdie before bogeying the 15th hole. After turning Oda came on strong with 1st and 7th hole birdies that moved him to 2-under. However, when Oda bogeyed each of the last two holes he had to settle for an even-par 72 that left him in a tie of 94th.
Playing in his second Sony Open, Oda beat incredible odds to make into the field this week. His week began last Sunday at Hoakalei Country where he shot a 1-under 71 at the Sony Open Pre-qualifer to finish in a tie for 12th and advance to the Monday Qualifier.
Playing the same course the next day, Oda fired a bogey-free 66 to win the Monday Qualifier over a field of Web.com players and former PGA Tour players. His round started off with birdies on holes 2 and 5 before an incredible hole-in-one on the par-3 7th boosted him to 4-under on the day. He added another birdie on nine and tacked on one more at the 15th.