Will Claxton Charges at Sony Open in Hawaii - AuburnTigers.com - Auburn University Official Athletic Site

Will Claxton Charges at Sony Open in Hawaii Former Auburn Golfer Five Strokes Off Lead

Will Claxton

Jan. 14, 2012

HONOLULU – Former Auburn golfer Will Claxton is tied for 28th at 5-under par after shooting a 1-under 69 in Friday’s second round of the Sony Open to keep him within five strokes of the leader at the Waialae Country Club in Honolulu.

“So far everything has been good,” said Claxton. “I haven’t played a whole lot since Q School to now. I didn’t have a whole lot of expectations coming into this tournament. Between this being my first event and not expecting a whole lot, it has turned out to nice. Today, I hit it OK. I didn’t hit it as well as I would’ve like to, but all in all, it has been a great start to the year.

Claxton, who earned his PGA Tour card in December, started the second round tied for fifth after a first round that included five birdies, four of which coming on the front nine.

Claxton’s success on the front nine continued in the second round where he shot a 1-under 34. The 2005 Auburn graduate carded a birdie on the third hole after landing his second shot five feet from the hole. After bogeying on the fifth hole, Claxton was able to birdie the par 5 ninth to put him at 1-under for the round. On the back nine, Claxton moved to 6-under after sinking a 3-foot birdie putt on the 15th, but bogeyed on the 17th to move back down to 5-under.

“With the wind, the golf course feels tight,” Claxton continued. “I feel like I need to drive it a little bit better to do well out here. These fairways, at times, feel impossible to hit, because you have the wind direction one way and then a dogleg. It is tough to fit it in the fairways. There a lot of scoring opportunities, if you can put the ball in the fairway.”

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