LOS ANGELES – Marco Penge and Jacob Bridgman every had spectacular 7-under 64s at Riviera on Friday to tie for first on the Genesis Invitational, adopted intently by Rory McIlroy.
For Scotty Scheffler, the purpose was to get nearer to the weekend. He achieved that by a minimal margin, making a 7-foot par putt simply sufficient to swirl across the lip.
Penge, a number one participant on the European Tour who earned this 12 months’s PGA Tour card, made 5 birdies within the last seven holes to take the lead at 12-under 130. Extra notable than his rating was his give attention to golf. His spouse has moved to a brand new house in Florida and is anticipating their second youngster subsequent week.
“To be sincere, the final 4 weeks have been extraordinarily tough for me and my household,” Penge mentioned. “She is in the USA alone, with out household or associates, is pregnant, and is caring for a one-and-a-half-year-old youngster on the similar time.
“It was sort of a big gamble that I used to be simply going to compete and go away her alone.”
Bridgeman performed in opposition to Riviera for the primary time on Wednesday as a result of rain. He birdied the ultimate three holes and completed with a 5-iron to eight ft within the cool wind to affix Penge.
The previous Clemson star has found that he likes Poa Anua. Poa annua is a grass selection that will get bumpy with spikes, footprints, and late-afternoon development, and when the greens are this quick, they are often downright scary on brief par putts.
Joe Greiner, the group’s caddy, even requested, “Are you positive you are not from the West Coast?”
“It is surprising how delicate and quick it’s,” Bridgman mentioned. “I feel there have been a few occasions right now the place I hit it 6 ft by the outlet and I believed, ‘Wow, I do not know the way it’s so quick,’ as a result of should you hit it with a 5-iron, it’s going to again up. That is most likely the purest poa annua I’ve ever seen.”
McIlroy opened 66-65 and has only one bogey by means of 36 holes, but it surely’s an enormous change from final week, when he had three double bogeys and a triple bogey at Pebble Seaside, ruining his possibilities of qualifying.
At No. 11, he performed three par-5s with two birdies and one eagle, and likewise made a birdie on the par-3 fourth gap for the second consecutive day. The outlet was lengthened to 273 yards, which McIlroy referred to as “a scary change” earlier within the 12 months. The PGA Tour has but to make use of the T-shirt.
The most important change was stopping errors in his rounds.
“There is not any Pacific Ocean round this golf course to hit into, in order that helps,” McIlroy mentioned. “I nonetheless hit some free photographs, however the course setup is a bit more evasive. However I hit it effectively, had good way management for probably the most half, and after I wanted to, I used to be in a position to gap some good putts from inside 8 ft for par.”
Xander Schauffele confirmed much more sharpness with a 65, three photographs behind. Two-time Riviera champion Adam Scott additionally had his lowest spherical of the day with a 63. Scott had improved from 9 underneath to 13 and spent the ultimate hour combating for par, however could not do it on the ultimate gap.
That is one among three signature occasions the place you could be tied for the highest 50 and inside 10 strokes of the lead after 36 holes.
