Matt Every, finally making news for his golf, made the game look and sound easy Friday at the Sony Open in Honolulu.
Every closed with three consecutive birdies for a 6-under-par 64, giving him a 2-shot lead over David Hearn, who kept the Canadian presence on the leaderboard with his second consecutive 66.
Brendon de Jonge shot 62 and Pat Perez was solid again with a 67 to finish 3 shots behind.
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 5 shots back in his bid to become the first player since Ernie Els in 2003 to sweep the Hawaii events.
Every, however, dominated the day on and off the golf course.
He made news in the summer of 2010 when he was arrested and jailed on a misdemeanor drug possession charge after agents were called to a casino hotel because of a strong odor of marijuana coming from the room he was in.
Every confirmed he was suspended for three months, returning in time for the last event, leaving him little hope of keeping his card.
“I don’t do drugs. It was a crappy deal, man,” Every said. “Wrong place, wrong time, perfect storm. And you know, I got three months out of it. It’s over with. I’m not mad at the tour. They did what they had to do. I totally understand it. But it’s over with.”
Every said he is not a “party animal.”
“I still hang out with the same people,” he said. “I have great friends, man. If one of my friends likes to smoke marijuana every now and then, I’m not going to say, ‘Well, you can’t be my friend anymore.’ Honestly, man, I know more people who smoke marijuana than who don’t smoke marijuana. I know that’s probably not the politically correct thing to say, but it’s the truth.”
Asked about the outcome of the charge, Every said he had to “stay out of trouble” for a year. One of his agents at Goal Marketing, Kevin Canning, declined comment when asked how the case was disposed.
As for golf, Every made it sound as though it was just another day on manicured fairways.
“Just played good,” said Every, who was at 10-under 130. “I just didn’t make many mistakes and made some good putts, hit some good irons, just kind of normal stuff.”
His normal stuff was enough to put him atop the leaderboard through 36 holes for the first time on the PGA Tour, not bad for a guy who took four years to get to the PGA Tour, and is starting his second full season.
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 the 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.”
European Tour
Robert Rock took a 1-shot lead at the Joburg Open before rain interrupted play for a second consecutive day in Johannesburg.
The Englishman shot a 4-under 67 on the West Course to move to 11-under 132 overall after completing his first round on the East Course early Friday. That left him 1 shot ahead of South African pair Jbe Kruger (66) and Branden Grace (66).
More than half the field was still to finish the second rounds when strong wind and heavy rain lashed Royal Johannesburg and Kensington Golf Club and ended play. Overnight co-leader Jamie Elson was one of 12 players still to tee off.
