LOS ANGELES – The Genesis Invitational is one of the few signature events on the PGA Tour that still employs a cut.
However, through 18 holes at a cold, blustery and overly receptive Riviera Country Club, no players in the 72-man field find themselves below the projected cut line.
With the top 50 and ties set to make the weekend, everyone is safe for the moment thanks to a 10-shot rule. Aaron Rai polished off a 5-under 66 on Friday morning to share the first-round lead with Rory McIlroy and Jacob Bridgeman. They were exactly 10 shots better than Keegan Bradley, Russell Henley and Garrick Higgo, who each carded 76.
As for Scottie Scheffler, a trend is emerging.
For the third straight week, Scheffler finds himself in a sizable hole after the first round. Scheffler was 5 over through 10 holes when the horn sounded for darkness on Thursday evening at Riv, his worst 10-hole start on Tour, eclipsing his 4-over-through-10 start at the 2014 Byron Nelson, when Scheffler as still an amateur. He returned Friday morning and looked much better, birdieing Nos. 13 and 14, not carding a bogey in his final seven holes and posting a 74.
In 30 mph gusts and bone-chilling temps that crept in after a lengthy rain delay, Scheffler teed off in one of Thursday’s later groups. His troubles started on the par-5 first hole, where Scheffler three-putted from 30 feet, missing a 5-footer in the process. Then at the par-4 second hole, he flared a fairway wood from the rough into the right chalets and later couldn’t save par from 12 feet. Scheffler went on to miss three more putts around 5 feet before Thursday ended, at Nos. 6, 8 and 10. His makes on the back on Friday came from 7 feet (No. 13) and 20 feet (No. 14).
For the first round, Scheffler ranked No. 62 in strokes gained putting and was negative strokes gained on approach and around the green.
Scheffler was eight shots back of the lead as the second round began, which is slightly better than his 10-shot deficits after 18 holes at both the WM Phoenix Open and AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Ams. On each occasion, Scheffler rallied to finish T-3 and T-4, respectively. He’s riding a streak of 19 straight top-10s, too.
At Riv, Scheffler has posted four top-20s in five appearances as a pro, including a trio of top-12s, but never has he come within six shots of the winner.
“The grass provides a different set of challenges than we see throughout the rest of the year, and I feel like this golf course can be about as frustrating to play as any on Tour just with the little tricks that it has to it,” Scheffler said on Wednesday. “Overall, if you execute out here, you’re going to get rewarded for it.”
Like the last two weeks, will Scheffler be rewarded with another rally?