SMITH GRABS LEAD AT SONY AFTER WOODLAND’S RETURN

Australian Cam Smith made a late run to the top of the leaderboard at the Sony Open with an 8-under 62 on Thursday, surpassing early leader Taylor Montgomery.

Golfing after a sevenweek break, Montgomery did better than he expected, making birdie on half of his holes for a 6-under 64 and the early lead on a blustery day at Waialae in Honolulu before Smith passed him late in the opening day.

But nobody had more reason to be pleased with being out on the course than Gary Woodland. The former U.S. Open champion had brain surgery on Sept. 18 to remove a tumor that had been causing bizarre and frightening spells of fear and anxiety centered on death.

“Hearing Topeka, Kansas, hearing my name called, there was a time when I didn’t know if that was going to be called again, so it got me a little more than I thought it was going to,” Woodland said.

Woodland’s score was a 71, and irrelevant.

“Probably the happiest I’ve ever been shooting over par, tell you that,” he said.

Smith had a three-shot lead over Aaron Rai, Austin Eckroat, Stephan Jaeger and Webb Simpson. One shot behind was a group that included Chris Kirk, who won The Sentry last week on Maui.

Morikawa, Finau in Farmers

Two-time major winner Collin Morikawa and sixtime PGA Tour winner Tony Finau have committed to this year’s Farmer’s Insurance

Open, to be held Jan. 24-27 at Torrey Pines Golf Course.

Morikawa is currently No. 11 in the world and won the 2020 PGA Championship and 2021 Open Championship.

Finau (No. 21 in the world) has five top-10 finishes in the Farmers Open and eight in the top 25.