Smalley rallies after horrible second-round start

Alex Smalley struggled from the start Friday after shooting an outstanding 64 in Thursday’s opening-round of the Sony Open, the first PGA Tour event of 2026.

The Greensboro resident quickly tumbled down the leaderboard with three bogeys and a double bogey on his first seven holes (he started on the back nine), dropping from sixth place to the cut line at windy Waialae Country Club in Honolulu.

But the 29-year-old Sedgefield Country Club member dramatically righted his ship, reeling off a birdie at 18 and four more birdies on Waialae’s front nine to post even-par 70 for a 6-under-par 134 total, good for a tie for 13th with a few players left on the course.

The 120-player field will be cut to about 70 players for the remaining 36 holes. The $9.1 million purse pays $1.64 million to the winner.

Smalley trails leaders Davis Riley, S.H. Kim, Kevin Roy and Adrien Dumont de Chassert by only three strokes. Defending champion Nick Taylor and Chris Gotterup and John Parry were one stroke off the pace with a few holes to play.