Sony Open: Thomas holes 17-foot eagle putt for three-way share of lead in Hawaii

Justin Thomas rolled in a 17-foot eagle putt to cap a dynamic second-round finish at the Sony Open in Hawaii, leaving the PGA Tour rookie in a three-way tie for the lead.

The 21-year-old American vaulted up the leaderboard with a nine-under 61 but it was his final three holes - finishing birdie, birdie, eagle - that had the Waialae Country Club buzzing on Friday.

"I'm excited," he said. "It's a position I haven't been in before and I think that kind of comes with the territory of being a rookie. I'm going to hopefully find myself in a lot of positions this year."

First round co-leader Webb Simpson shot a four-under 66 and his Ryder Cup team-mate Matt Kuchar carded a seven-under 63 to join Thomas at the top of the leaderboard on 12-under 128.

They have a two-stroke lead on Troy Merritt (64) and Tim Clark (65) who are both tied for third at 10 under, while Scotland's Russell Knox (65) and Clark's fellow South African Rory Sabbatini are a shot further back.

England's Paul Casey, who was joint-leader with Simpson after round one, shot an even-par 70 and is tied for eighth with defending champion Jimmy Walker (66), Marc Leishman (62), Ryan Palmer (63), JJ Henry (67) and Robert Streb (69) at eight-under 132.

Big finish

By the time Thomas reached the seventh hole on his back nine, a string of pars had kept him at eight under for the tournament.

He drained a 12-foot birdie putt on that hole, followed it up with another birdie and on the final hole reached the green in two. Then came the long eagle putt which pulled him even with playing partners Simpson and Kuchar.

World No 11 Kuchar sandwiched a birdie on the 16th in between four pars to finish up his round. "I drove it really well and when you drive it well the course becomes much more attackable," said the 36-year-old. "It was a much better ball-striking round for me and I've continued two days of really good putting."

Former US Open champion Simpson, who had three birdies over his final five holes and is using a conventional putter for the first time as a Tour professional after ditching his belly putter, said: "It felt good.

"I've been nervous to get started this season using a short putter, but just thankful. Thankfully I'm 12 under and I've had a good start."

Every disqualified

Meanwhile, Matt Every was disqualified midway through his second round after he admitted using a "non-conforming club" for his second shot at the par-five 18th hole.

Every, who was seven shots outside the projected cut at the time, damaged his four-iron during his opening-round 74 and failed to remove the club from his bag before he teed off on day two.

The American noticed his error after he had holed out for par at the 18th - his ninth - and immediately alerted a rules official. The Rules of Golf state that a player can carry a non-conforming club in his bag, but he is subject to a two-shot penalty per stroke with a maximum four-shot penalty.

But because he had played a shot with the club, he was immediately disqualified from the first full-field PGA Tour event of the year.

PGA Tour rules official John Mutch explained: “He asked for a second opinion on the bend. The bend in this club was about 10 inches up from the neck. It was substantial.”