Heading into the weekend, the leaderboard at the Genesis Invitational is loaded with stars
LA JOLLA, Calif. – The sun was out at the Genesis Invitational on Friday and the stars shined at Torrey Pines Golf Course.
World No. 1 Scottie Scheffler and No. 3 Rory McIlroy both shot 5-under 67 to surge into contention. Those big names in the PGA Tour signature event are chasing 25-year-old Davis Thompson, who holed out twice from off the green and posted 6-under 66. His 36-hole total of 8-under 136 is good for a one-stroke lead over Scheffler.
Thompson made eight birdies on the day, including three in a row starting at No. 11, where he chipped in and followed that up by pitching in at 12. His putter was getting rusty so he rolled in a birdie at 13 for good measure. But his back nine was a bit of a rollercoaster as he followed with back-to-back bogeys at Nos. 14 and 15. Momentum could have been lost but Thompson responded with birdies at 16 and 18.
'You're going to face adversity out here, it's a hard golf course, so you've just got to try to bounce back as best you can,' said Thompson, who won for the first time last season at the John Deere Classic.
Thompson has made 12 birdies through 36 holes, three more than any other player in the field, and also tops the field in Strokes Gained: Tee to Green this week.
Scheffler wasn't his sharpest, but he posted the only bogey-free round of the day. He had a case of the pulls off the tee early, which turned into a two-way miss and resulted in him hitting just five of 14 fairways on the day. It didn't cost him as he was a perfect five-for-five in scrambling and leads the field going 10 of 11 so far this week. The one time he found a greenside bunker, he holed out for eagle at the par-5 sixth.
'It was definitely good to have a day like today where I felt like I didn't play flawless golf but the scorecard was clean,' he said.
When asked about his erratic driving, he cracked, 'probably going to have to go rebuild my swing on the range this afternoon.'
Commentator Frank Nobilo, speaking on Golf Channel, called Scheffler's tee shots 'the only part of his game not up to his standard' following his layoff due to hand surgery. And Scheffler did hit the range to find a solution that might help him dial in a few more fairways over the weekend. It's easy to forget that Scheffler isn't just blessed with being a ballkstriking machine; he also has an uncanny ability to scrape it around with the best of them if need be.
'I'm trying to be pretty patient with myself coming off of surgery,' he said. 'That's part of kind of building back up from the stuff that I lost in the offseason and I feel like I'm getting better each day and hoping to continue to improve as I continue to play.'
First-round leader Denny McCarthy is alone in third at 6 under, one better than McIlroy. He made four birdies on the front nine, including spinning it back to gimme range at the fifth. His wedge game was sharp, knocking it tight on No. 9 and 15 and he stuffed a short iron from the rough inside three feet at 17 to set up another easy birdie.
'It's something I've been working on,' he said of flighting his wedges lower and hitting more ¾ shots to take off the spin.
Also lurking is Sweden's Ludvig Aberg (T-5), who holed a bunker shot at 18 for eagle and shot 66. Asked about his dinner plans for the night, he said, 'If it was up to me, we'd go to In-n-Out but since it's Valentine's Day I'm going to let my girlfriend pick.'
This stacked leaderboard is just the Valentine the Tour needed. With a forecast for sunshine from here on out, Torrey Pines, which Aberg termed a "big-boy course," is setting up to be a true test of golf excellence. Said McIlroy: 'I don't see this course getting much easier as the week goes on.'
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