The first round of the Genesis Invitational was able to be completed this Friday after the necessary suspension of more than three hours on Thursday due to the various downpours that have been falling over Riviera Country Club in recent days. Just over an hour of play remained to be completed.
The situation was as follows yesterday: Aaron Rai was the provisional leader of the tournament with -6 with a couple of holes left, including the par 5 of the 17th, Rory McIlroy and Jacob Bridgeman were the first in the clubhouse with -5, Scottie Scheffler was lost in the deepest depths of the leaderboard with +5 and among those who still had holes ahead, the most promising proposal was that of Marco Penge…
Well, finally the lead has settled at -5 and Aaron Rai and Marco Penge have joined Rory McIlroy and Bridgeman. Four players sharing the top position. One stroke behind are Ryan Fox and Wyndham Clark. Meanwhile, Scheffler has had time to catch some air. It’s not something to celebrate wildly, but it’s better than nothing. He returned by sinking the birdie putt he left yesterday on the 13th, when Riviera was already getting dark, and made another on the 14th. Shedding weight. He left another good opportunity on the 17th. In any case, he finishes with +3. Yesterday he went to bed eleven strokes off the lead and today he was eight when he finished his round.
The improvement is remarkable. More than just a touch-up. First for the two-under in those six holes, but especially for the play. In five holes he hit four greens, half the total he hit on Thursday in 13 holes. The average is much better. He had some problems from the tee again, but he solved them better. In Phoenix and Pebble Beach, he started ten strokes behind and ended up fighting for the win, here he is eight behind… There are two possibilities: either he wins the tournament or those incredible comebacks are over. Today we will have quite a few answers.
The star of the morning at Riviera was Marco Penge. The first strike from the Englishman in the PGA Tour. After a poor start to the new era, with the withdrawal from the Sony Open due to illness, the two missed cuts at the Farmers and Phoenix, and a so-so performance at Pebble Beach, the Spanish Open champion has shown his teeth. It’s his first lead in the PGA Tour, bringing out the best of the golf he has inside, that is, brilliant from the tee, the second best of the tournament in the first round, and very sharp with the putter, sixth in this statistic. We will see how his performance in the Genesis unfolds, but for now, he has already left his first calling card.
