Of the five players tied for first midway through the Sony Open in Hawaii, defending champion Nick Taylor has the most PGA Tour victories, with five. And Davis Riley has two, which is two more than S.H. Kim, Adrien Dumont de Chassart and Kevin Roy combined. Those three are all in search of their first career win.

But those aren’t the numbers that matter now, the way Taylor sees it.

“I feel like at least here the first two days it’s very bunched,” Taylor said minutes after completing a 1-under-par 69 to put him in the deadlock heading into today’s third round at Waialae Country Club. “I don’t know how many guys are within a couple shots of the lead, but probably almost double-digits.”

It is. The number is 13.

Nobody ran away with what might be the final edition of this tournament on Friday — four players start today one shot off the lead, and four more are tied for 10th, one stroke behind them.

And Taylor knows first-hand that someone from even farther back going into the weekend could end up hoisting the trophy Sunday. He was among 10 golfers tied for 18th, four shots off the lead, after last year’s second round.

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“I got to be honest, I haven’t had too much experience (at the top of the leaderboard),” said Roy, who was also tied for first with Taylor after Thursday’s first round. “I was in contention a few times last year, but it’s … I know the weekend is going to play hard with the wind, so I think we’re going to stick to our game plan, go out there and try to hit a lot of fairways and greens, and see where we end up.”

After a quiet front nine of grinding Friday afternoon,Taylor turned on the jets and carded back-to-back birdies to take the lead at 10 under after 16 holes.

He caught and passed Riley, Kim, Dumont de Chassart and John Parry, who were all at 9 under on a day that they and others spent playing musical chairs with the lead as they dealt with the wind.

But Taylor’s burst of late momentum stalled and he closed with a bogey, and then a par at the hole where he chipped in for eagle to force a playoff last year.

“(No.) 17 was playing tricky with that back left pin,” Taylor said. “Eighteen, I just need to hit a better tee shot to give myself an opportunity for birdie there.”

Roy, though, made it 4-for-4 with birdies on the par-5s for the first two rounds. The first on Friday gave him the lead to himself at 10 under for the event.

A few minutes later, Parry’s third birdie on the front nine put him in a mid-round tie for second with Chris Gotterup, Riley, Kim and Dumont de Chassart, one stroke behind Roy.

Roy dropped back to 8 under with bogey on his 10th and 14th holes of the day before rebounding on his last hole, the par-5 No. 9.

Earlier, Gotterup birdied his first two holes to tie Riley for the lead. Then he made a 5-foot birdie putt on No. 5 to move to 10 under and first place by himself. Gotterup’s birdie at No. 2 was the result of a 55-foot bunker shot.

Gotterup’s bogey at No. 8 dropped him back to a tie at the top. Roy made it a five-way logjam with a 9-foot birdie putt at No. 16 (his seventh hole of the day).

Playing in the morning, Riley birdied his final hole to go to 9 under par and sole possession of first place. Kim and Dumont de Chassart soon joined him there as they also ended their early rounds with birdies.

“Hit a few poor shots, but feel like my short game was there to save me at times where I didn’t hit great shots,” said Dumont de Chassart, who finished with 67 to go with his first-round 64. “Hit a lot of really good tee shots in this wind, which made it a little easier to give myself some birdie opportunities.”

Riley and Ryan Gerard shot the best rounds of the day with 6-under-par 64s.

“I had a penalty stroke off the tee (Thursday), which really cost me and felt like I lost a lot of momentum there,” Riley said when asked to compare his first two rounds. “Overall the ball striking was a little cleaner and continued some of that good putting.”

Kim, who started the morning one stroke behind Taylor and Roy, tied for the top spot at 8 under with a birdie before making the turn.

Dumont de Chassart birdied No. 10 and Patrick Rodgers did so on his 15th hole (No. 6) to make it a five-way tie at around 11 a.m., while Taylor and Roy were still prepping for their afternoon tee times.

About a half-hour later, Riley made it a party of six with his fifth of six birdies for the day, also at No. 15.

Rodgers fell back to 7 under with bogey on his 17th hole of the round. Dumont de Chassart joined him there with a bogey at 15.

Rodgers, who started Friday at 4 under, made a 24-foot putt for eagle at 18 (his ninth hole of the day). He finished with a 67 and at 7 under at the tournament’s midpoint — one of the 13 players within two shots of the lead going into today.