Patrick Cantlay (-7) is the first leader of the Genesis Invitational after the first day. Nobody has been able to reach the result he set in the morning. Firstly because the afternoon was more complicated, there was a stretch where the wind blew more and the greens became diabolical: firmer, faster and more unpredictable due to the irregular growth of the poa. And secondly because the only one who really had a chance to catch him, Scottie Scheffler (-3), keeps making gifts to the field.
The world’s Number One again put on a tee to green exhibition. He only missed two fairways. Vertigo-inducing. However, he left the leadership on the greens. The accounts add up even with fingers. He is four strokes behind Cantlay, exactly the number of putts that escaped him from a metre and a half down. Don’t miss the litany: one of 60 centimetres for par on the 4th, another of a metre and a half on the 9th, one more of a metre and a half on the 11th, these last two for birdie, and a final one on the 16th of 90 centimetres for par. Madness.
It’s true that he also sank a good two-metre birdie on the 17th and another just over two metres for par on the 15th. It was only missing. But it’s also true that, in addition to the four milikis (Spanish golfer’s slang), he had other good options of less than three metres that didn’t go in, like on the 8th, 9th and 16th, where he three-putted from 2.75 metres. Apart from the eagle on the 1st, which he achieved by sinking from outside, the longest putt he sank was a birdie on the 6th from just under four metres. Too much advantage to his rivals.
Scheffler is working hard with Phil Kenyon to try to sort out his game on the greens. If he ends up achieving it, everyone else better hold on because his dominance can be overwhelming. Certainly, the week he manages to put everything together no one will be able to catch him. Only Luke List (-6) has sunk almost 70 metres of putt this Thursday. Give Scheffler a day like that and watch out for the 56 stroke round.
Speaking of the afternoon, the name of Jason Day (-6) must be written in gold letters, even though the Australian played almost an hour before Scheffler or McIlroy, for example. In any case, it’s a great round and a new demonstration that this man is back.
As for McIlroy, he was exactly the same as Scheffler after eleven holes, with a score of -3. He was looking the leadership in the eye. A final swipe and he would be up there. However, the shot backfired and the round blew up: bogey on the 12th, double bogey on the 15th and a bleeding triple bogey on the 16th with a three-putt included. In a blink of an eye he went from three under par to three over par. Max Homa (+3) and Matthew Fitzpatrick (+4) also suffered in the afternoon round.
Cantlay has a one-stroke lead over Cam Davis, Luke List and Jason Day and two strokes behind are Tom Hoge, Jordan Spieth and Will Zalatoris, one of the big news of this Thursday. The three under par is top 10, and that’s even though the conditions have been really very good, almost unbeatable, especially in the morning. Yes, gentlemen, long live Riviera.
