Appleby shares lead in Hawaii

Aussie qualifiers fall short
Australia's Stuart Appleby birdied his last three holes to join Japan's Shigeki Maruyama on top of the Sony Open's leaderboard heading into a 36-hole marathon finish.

Appleby, who held a one-shot overnight lead, carded a 66 that including chipping in from 90 feet at the par-three seventh.

He added two more birdies to join Maruyama for a two-stroke lead over Americans Roland Thatcher, Steve Marino and Mark Wilson.

Another six players, including Australian Jarrod Lyle (65), England's Justin Rose (68) and American Matt Kuchar (68) were a shot further back on 133 in the tightly bunched field.

Maruyama reached the top of the leaderboard when he fired a second-straight 5-under-par 65 for a 10-under total of 130.

Maruyama, who teed off on the 10th hole, drained his bunker shot at the par-three seventh and closed his round at the par-five ninth with a two-putt birdie.

He also rolled in a 40-foot putt from the fringe for a birdie at the 15th hole.

"A bit of a crap shoot," Appleby said of expectations for Sunday.

"There's a lot of guys in this tournament, absolutely. So it will be an interesting finish."

Sunday's 36-hole finish is the result of rain washing out play on Thursday. Maruyama, 41, admitted it would be a demanding task.

"I'm getting older, and 36 holes is going to be a struggle tomorrow, so I'm just kind of just taking it easy and let it come," he said.

"I'll be drinking a lot of water and walking slowly."

Maruyama has not won on the US PGA tour since 2003, but he enjoys the big galleries he draws at Waialae Country Club as well as the course itself.

"I'm not a real long hitter, but the fairways are always firm here, so you always get a run-out on your drives," he said.

"On the mainland a lot of the courses you just hit and you have to carry it a long ways, which I don't do very well. But here, the length suits my game. In fact, the whole course suits my game."

Kuchar, who won the US PGA Tour money title last year, said the course had dried out well after its soaking earlier in the week.

"I was surprised yesterday how good it played for the amount of rain Wednesday and Thursday," he said.

"The course continues to get better. It doesn't seem easy, but I think there's still some opportunities and the greens are still very receptive, so I think there will be a few more good scores."

Kuchar said the 36-hole finish on Sunday would be "exciting."

"If you get on the right side of things early you can move up and gain some big ground," he said.

"I'm hoping that I get things going tomorrow early."

Because of the need to get two rounds in on Sunday, the halfway cut was made to the number of players closest to 60, with players at 137 or better set to contest the last 36 holes.