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Honolulu - Stuart Appleby birdied his last three holes on Saturday to join Japan's Shigeki Maruyama on top of the Sony Open's leaderboard heading into a 36-hole marathon finish.
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Maruyama reached the top of the leaderboard earlier as he fired a seocnd-straight five-under 65 for 10-under 130.
Maruyama, who teed off on 10, holed out from a bunker 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 15.
Australia's Appleby, who held a one-shot overnight lead, carded a 66. He also teed off on the 10th hole, and set up his big finish by chipping in from 90 feet at the par-three seventh.
He added two more birdies to join Maruyama, two shots in front of Americans Roland Thatcher, Steve Marino and Mark Wilson.
Thatcher carded a 65 and Marino and Wilson both shot 67 for totals of eight-under 132.
Another six players, including Aussie 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.
"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 hasn't won on the US 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.
"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.
The top 70 and ties were credited with making the cut, earning prize money and gaining FedEx Cup points. But those who finished on 138 and 139 won't actually get to play Sunday under the US tour's "Made (cut) Didn't Finish (MDF)" rule.
Those in the grey area included Fiji's Vijay Singh, who carded a 68 for 138, and Japan's Ryuji Imada and Michio Matsumura, who both finished on 139.
Leading second-round scores on Saturday in the US PGA Tour 5.5 million-dollar Sony Open (USA unless noted):
130 - Stuart Appleby (AUS) 64-66, Shigeki Maruyama (JPN) 65-65
132 - Steve Marino 65-67, Roland Thatcher 67-65, Mark Wilson 65-67
133 - Matt Bettencourt 68-65, Matt Kuchar 65-68, Jarrod Lyle (AUS) 68-65, Justin Rose (GBR) 65-68, Nate Smith 65-68, Jimmy Walker 68-65
134 - Chad Campbell 67-67, Michael Connell 65-69, Chris DiMarco 67-67, Fredrik Jacobson (SWE) 68-66, Marc Leishman (AUS) 65-69, Davis Love 68-66, Kevin Na 67-67, Boo Weekley 68-66
135 - Arjun Atwal (IND) 67-68, Ernie Els (RSA) 70-65, Rory Sabbatini (RSA) 69-66, Michael Sim (AUS) 68-67, Brendon de Jonge (ZIM) 68-67
136 - Tim Clark (RSA) 68-68, Jason Day (AUS) 69-67, Liang Wenchong (CHN) 66-70, Jesper Parnevik (SWE) 70-66, John Senden (AUS) 71-65, Charlie Wi (KOR) 68-68
137 - Aaron Baddeley (AUS) 73-64, Steven Bowditch (AUS) 67-70, Matt McQuillan (CAN) 68-69
MDF (Made cut, didn't finish)
138 - Alex Cejka (GER) 70-68, Vijay Singh (FIJ) 70-68, Jhonattan Vegas (VEN) 71-67, Alexandre Rocha (BRA) 68-70
139 - Ryuji Imada (JPN) 73-66, Fabian Gomez (ARG) 70-69, Michio Matsumura (JPN) 70-69, David Hearn (CAN) 71-68
Failed to qualify
140 - John Daly 68-72, Brian Davis (GBR) 68-72, Carl Pettersson (SWE) 72-68
141 - Nathan Green (AUS) 70-71, Matt Jones (AUS) 71-70
142 - Robert Allenby (AUS) 72-70, Bio Kim (KOR) 73-69, Adam Scott (AUS) 72-70
143 - Sung-hoon Kang (KOR) 72-71, Shunsuke Sonoda (JPN) 74-69
144 - KJ Choi (KOR) 70-74, a-Hideki Matsuyama (JPN) 74-70, Koumei Oda (JPN) 73-71, Camilo Villegas (COL) 75-69
147 - Chris Baryla (CAN) 73-74
Tadahiro Takayama (JPN) 73-WD
