Play is underway as McQuillan makes cut.. Appleby /Maruyama lead in Hawaii

Thanks to three birdies at the close of his second round, Stuart Appleby( 64 66 130) is atop the leader board again at the Sony Open. Fan favorite Shigeki Maruyama is also at 10 under (65 65 130)

The cut was to be the nearest number of players to 60th place to keep the field small for the 36-hole final. Anyone finishing in the top 70 will still receive credit for a cut, along with money and FedEx Cup points, and that's what happened to David Hearn With a fine -2 68 he made it into the top 70, but at -1 so he will not play.. MDF 82 David Hearn 71 68 139 ...

To keep the field small so they can get 36 holes in today they only let the players close to 60th play and that number fell at -3, and that's right where Matt McQuillan ended up..T42 1 61 Matt McQuillan -3 8:30am 68 69 137

Chris Baryla had 5 bogey's and a double on his way to +4 74 so he MC, still a nice honeymoon for Chris and his new bride in Hawaii and now he will fly off to the desert for next week's scorefest, the Bob Hope Classic, where Mike Weir and Stephen Ames will join the fray..

Play is underway and by my count there are 20 players within 4 shots of the leaders right now so we have an old fashioned shootout with 36 to play today.. Who's putter will be hottest ??

Here is how Appleby described his round last night
Yeah, today got off to a quick start with a birdie on our first hole, being the 10th. Lots of pars coming in. Hit a poor tee shot on 17 that tugged into the stands and didn't get it up-and-down. Managed to birdie 18, which was very, very approachable today, so turned at 1-under. Pretty Plain Jane sort of nine, nothing special. I tugged it in the water on 2 so ended up making I guess a good bogey there. And lots of pars coming in, nothing super-special.

And then hit a very poor tee shot, another tugged shot again, 6-iron again actually, on 7, a really bad shot and managed to get really lucky and chip it in. And knocked it to probably two feet on 8 for birdie and then a two-putt on nine holing a three-footer for the birdie. So yeah, three birdie finish was good, nice finish to the day.
And then obviously tomorrow we've got a bit of a sprint, I guess, even though it's going to take all day, from daylight to what's left of the daylight. I think it'll take us all day.
A bit of a crap shoot. There's lots of guys in this tournament absolutely. So it'll be a very interesting finish.

Now Maruyama who is playing on a sponsors exemption and who hasn't won since 2003..

I'm very grateful to the sponsor Sony for giving me a sponsor's exemption. I feel very honored to receive that exemption, and I'm glad I'm playing well to show them that I am grateful. It's been a while since I had those two good rounds together, and I'm looking forward to tomorrow.

This course, Waialae Country Club, really fits my game. I'm not a real long hitter, but the fairways are always firm here, so you always get a run-out on your drives. On the mainland a lot of the courses you just hit and you have to carry it a long ways, which I don't do very well. But here, the length suits my game. In fact, the whole course suits my game.

Leaderboard at the start of round 3

T1 3 Shigeki Maruyama -10 8:20am*  65 65 130
T1 1 Stuart Appleby -10 8:20am*  64 66 130
T3 8 Steve Marino -8 8:10am*  65 67 132
T3 8 Mark Wilson -8 8:10am*  65 67 132
T3 8 Roland Thatcher -8 8:20am*  67 65 132
T6 12 Matt Bettencourt -7 7:50am* 68 65 133
T6 21 Nate Smith -7 7:50am*  65 68 133
T6 21 Jarrod Lyle -7 8:00am*  68 65 133
T6 21 Jimmy Walker -7 8:00am*  68 65 133
T6 11 Justin Rose -7 8:00am*  65 68 133
T6 6 Matt Kuchar -7 8:10am*  65 68 133


T42 1 61 Matt McQuillan -3 8:30am  68 69 137

MDF 82 David Hearn color 71 68 139
CUT 96 Chris Baryla color 73 74 147

Bryan Angus