Denny McCarthy and Patrick Fishburn ride hot putters to the lead at the 2025 Sony Open

There aren't many people in the world that can roll it as well as Denny McCarthy. When he gets the blade going, he lives near the top of the leaderboard. And through 36 holes at the Sony Open in Hawaii at Waialae Country Club, McCarthy is ranked third in Strokes Gained: Putting and first on the scoreboard at 10-under 130.

McCarthy poured in seven birdies and 120 feet worth of putts on Friday — plus two bogeys on Nos. 2 and 3 — a decent sequel to his 6-under 64 effort on Thursday that included a bogey-free scorecard and 144 feet worth of putts.

He's becoming more and more comfortable at Waialae, improving his finish each of the last three seasons — T-48 in 2022, T-32 in 2023 and T-24 in 2024 — and that could be a dangerous thing for the rest of the leaderboard over the weekend.

"I played better than yesterday I think tee to green," he said. "Hit way more fairways today. Missed a lot of short putts, but I guess made up for it. Made a couple longer bonus putts. Made a couple each day. Yeah, the greens in the afternoon were a little choppy. I didn't love how I rolled it in close. Overall I played really well and looking forward to the weekend."

One of the two players putting better than McCarthy through two days in Honolulu is Patrick Fishburn, who sits alongside the University of Virginia product at 10 under.

Fishburn started his day on the back nine, making a couple pars on 10 and 11 before draining three straight birdies on Nos. 12-14 and making the turn with a 3-under 32. On his way to the clubhouse, Fishburn added two more circles to his card on Nos. 5 and 9 to finish up his bogey-free effort. His lone dropped shot this week came on the par-3 11th on Thursday when he missed a three-foot par putt.

"That was kind — was the key, getting some momentum early," he said. "Felt really good with all the clubs in the bag. Felt like I drove the ball pretty well. Irons felt great. The times that I missed the green I got up and down. Chipped one of them in. Also felt good on the greens. So real happy with how it's gone the last two days."

The 32-year-old ended last season with back-to-back top-12 finishes at the World Wide Technology Championship (T-12) and RSM Classic (T-8), and through 36 holes is in position for another title chase.

Kensei Hirata is one of three names sitting at 9 under, and if you haven't heard of him, you're not alone. This week is just his sixth career Tour start, with his best finish being a T-6 effort at the 2023 Zozo Championship.

The Japanese rising star has won six times worldwide since the start of 2023 and has made his way to 112th in the Official World Golf Ranking.

Hirata opened with a respectful 2-under 68 that he cleaned up Friday morning — the first round was suspended Thursday night due to darkness — then busted out the gates during his second round with four straight birdies on Nos. 1-4. Before making the turn, he added another on the par-5 ninth to go out with a 5-under 30. On the back, the 24-year-old dropped a shot on the 14th, but offset it with birdies on 10, 12 and 18. His 7-under 63 boosted him to 9 under for the week, alone in third.

"Started out this morning with my first round and was able to connect that to my first four birdies in the second round," he said, "so definitely got off to a great start and was able to connect that to the round today. So definitely happy with my play so far."

A look at the Sony Open leaderboard

Find the full leaderboard here. The second round was suspended due to darkness Friday night.

T-1, 10 under: Patrick Fishburn, Denny McCarthy

T-3, 9 under: Kensei Hirata, Eric Cole, Paul Peterson

T-6, 8 under: Zach Johnson, Sepp Straka, Lee Hodges, Alex Smalley, J.J. Spaun

This article originally appeared on Golfweek: Sony Open 2025: Denny McCarthy, Patrick Fishburn tied for lead