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Golfer cards lowest 36-hole score in Tour history

Justin Thomas followed up his remarkable 59 in the first round of the Sony open with a second-round 64.

Justin Thomas followed up his remarkable 59 in the first round of the Sony open with a second-round 64.

Justin Thomas finished with another eagle and put himself in the PGA Tour record book again on Friday (Saturday AEDT) in the Sony Open in Hawaii.

One day after his 59 made him only the seventh player in PGA Tour history break 60, Thomas made an eight-foot eagle putt on the 18th hole at Waialae for a six-under 64 to set the 36-hole scoring record on the PGA Tour.

Thomas was at 17-under 123 and had a five-shot lead over Gary Woodland.

The previous mark was 124, last matched at the 2015 BMW Championship by Australia’s Jason Day at Conway Farm.

“It’s cool,” Thomas said. “Just like yesterday, anytime you can get your name in the record book, it’s awesome. I had no idea until I finished.”

Thomas started slowly, not picking up his first birdie until the fifth hole. Irritation from a three-putt bogey on the eighth hole got him going, and Thomas ran off four straight birdies around the turn.

From there, no one got closer than four shots on another ideal day for scoring off the shore just up the road from Waikiki Beach. Woodland made a 10-foot birdie putt on the 18th hole for his second straight 64.

A day after shooting an opening-round 64 himself, Cameron Smith carded a 68 to be the highest-placed Australian in a tie for 15th with eight under par. Marc Leishman and Rod Pampling are the next best Australians and have a share of 34th at six under.

Zach Johnson had a 61 and Olympic gold medallist Justin Rose shot 64 on Friday. They were in the group seven shots behind the lead and along with Hudson Swafford, who opened with a 62 but could only manage a 68.

Jordan Spieth felt empty after rounds of 65-67, partially because he was nine shots behind and primarily because he had as many chances as Thomas over the last two days. Only one of them has been converting putt after putt.

“Just has a really cold putter this week,” Spieth said. “I think it added to the frustration on the green, because the game is looking so easy to him. I felt like I was hitting the ball in the same location, I’m just being outdone on the green. That’s something a little abnormal to me.”

That made Thomas, his best friend in golf for the past 10 years, chuckle.

“Now he knows how a lot of people feel,” Thomas said.

The US PGA Tour’s  sub-60 club:

* 58 – Jim Furyk. Final round of the 2016 Travelers Invitational at TPC River Highlands.
* 59 – Al Geiberger. Second round of the 1977 Memphis Classic at Colonial CC.
* 59 – Chip Beck. Third round of the 1991 Las Vegas Invitational at Sunrise GC.
* 59 – David Duval. Final round of the 1999 Bob Hope Invitational at PGA West (Arnold Palmer Course).
* 59 – Paul Goydos. First round of the 2010 John Deere Classic at TPC Deere Run.
* 59 – Stuart Appleby. Final round of the 2010 Greenbrier Classic at The Old White Course.
* 59 – Jim Furyk. Second round of the 2013 BMW Championship at Conway Farms GC.
* 59 – Justin Thomas. First round of the 2017 Sony Open at Waialae CC.

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