Genesis Open Second/Third Round This And That

It'll be a 36 or so hole grind on Sunday at Riviera, with Dustin Johnson leading Pat Perez and Cameron Tringale by one.

Riviera drained beautifully after three inches of rain, but given the pristine conditioning and benign weather forecast for Sunday, the 72-hole record could be in jeopardy. Players will be playing the ball down for the final 36 holes, speaking to just how well Riviera has drained.

Still, it seems like the early/late side of the draw got a huge advantage weather-wise, Rex Hoggard writes.

The early wave scoring average for Round 2, those who played through the worst of Friday’s tempest, was 72.86 (including just 29 of 72 rounds in the 60s), while the afternoon draw was more than two strokes better with a 70.47 average.

There were several WD's, including Bubba Watson (two holes to go after morning restart), and Bryson DeChambeau (injury). Hoggard reports.

Sahith Theegala has made the cut and the Pepperdine sophmore is getting to play with Phil Mickelson for the final 36 holes. My Golfweek.com story on Theegala.

For leader Johnson, it's another chance to win at Riviera.

From the ShotLink team:

Cameron Tringale with the shot of the day:

That's how to finish with an exclamation point.

And a dunk. 🏀 #QuickHits pic.twitter.com/6de0tm1eun

— PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) February 18, 2017

Phil Mickelson with the recovery of the week, by far:

Where in the world is Phil Mickelson?

Shaping shots near the driving range.

Golf claps all around. 👏👏👏#QuickHits pic.twitter.com/7Ng84Mv944

— PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) February 18, 2017

Comments

[digsouth]

So according to TGC commercial, JUSTIN Johnson will be playing on Sunday. He looks amazingly like Dustin Johnson.

I guess this is an *alternative* field member !?!

dig

[Ivan Morris]

Great TV pictures coming to us from Riviera but far more excitement, blood and guts in the SuperSixes in Lake Karrinyup, which in my opinion is an unqualified success.

[Convert]

Agree with Ivan, 6 hole matches have a future.

[GinGHIN]

Echo the Super 6 comments. So dang fun to watch. Get to see golf shots, match play and no sappy commentary. Love it. The LA Open is a slog compared tot his.

[Ivan Morris]

The TV pix of Riviera are amazing. Something new is going on with the way the production is being edited. Can you shed any light, Geoff?

[Munihack]

The ncaa was recharged by embracing match play. I wish more events used it. The only drawback is the big names getting beat. Glad to see Rumford regain his mojo.

[Hawkeye]

Off topic, but I'd just like to spread the news that I survived the terrorist attack on Sweden, that the American president mentioned in his speech last night. Seriously, how can anyone in the world, let alone in the US, be concerned with golf when an imbecile/compulsive liar/narcissistic psychopath/raving lunatic is having his hands on the nuclear codes? There's no way to avoid nuclear winter by 2018 if you don't get rid of him soon.

[GinGHIN]

Can you feel the energy on the Riv broadcast? Yawn.

[Allen Robertson]

Way to see Bubba and several others put in Max effort and WD.

[D. maculata]

Give 'em time, Hawkeye. The lunatic Left and establishment Right are trying as hard as they can.

Drama took a hike with DJ's 7-stroke lead, GinGHIN. At least Spieth gave a few of them hope last Sunday when his putter went on hiatus. This one has the look of a man against boys.

[Random Fan]

Twenty under at Hogan's Alley, SMH #nothingtoseehere

[GinGHIN]

DMac - agreed, but it's also just boring target, stroke play golf. And for the love of all things holy, No. 10 is built up as the best hole on the planet. Why won't CBS show everyone going through?

[PG]

CBS to carry Honda Classic or a WGC next year due to Super Bowl and Winter Olympics on NBC

[D. maculata]

@GinGHIN

Because Frank Chirkinian is dead.

After watching the action from Royal Adelaide, Jane Crafter should be hired to replace more than a few familiar names.

[pacific pal]

"LOS ANGELES – Tiger Woods, the unofficial host of this week’s Genesis Open, will not be at Riviera Country Club for Sunday’s trophy presentation, his manager Mark Steinberg with Excel Sports Management told Golf Channel’s Todd Lewis."

it's all about the children

[Munihack]

@ D Maculata
I agree. Both she and Judy Rankin say more in fewer words than almost all the men. They can be critical without being mean and offer great insight into the issues the player may be dealing with. One more reason I like watching the women.

[Abu Dhabi]

Another vote for Jane Crafter.

It was also good to see Royal Adelaide on television. Looks like they did some work on the closing holes.

Not a bad triumvirate of courses on TV this week between Royal Adelaide, Riviera, and Lake Karrinyup.

[Kawasaki]

@Random Fan, don't worry, Dustin's final score of -17 didn't even sniff Lanny's tournament record of -20 shot in 1985. Arnold shot -15 in 1967, Chip "Layup" Beck shot -17 in 1988, Freddie shot -18 in 1990 and -15 in 1992 for -33 total over 144 holes, Popgun Pavin shot -16 in 1995, Popgun Weir shot -17 in 2004, -15 or better won the event 5 times between 2007 and 2016....there's really nothing at all remarkable about Dustin's scoring this week.

That said, congrats to Dustin, nice win big fella.

When will the Super 6 viewer data be available?

@Hawkeye, you might want to stop watching TV and reading the newspapers, going to be a long 8 years for you and yours!

[D. maculata]

We can't argue about the scores, Kawasaki. I believe this is remarkable:

His 64 in round-3 coupled with today's nice start thru #8, was a stake in the chest for the field. Leaking oil for the last 10-holes and the best a 63 by Pieters accomplished was to get within five. With his old short game of just over a year ago, this would never have ended with a win. To me he lost focus. 36 is a long day at the pace these snails play. Looked like he had enough coming up #18.

[Kawasaki]

@D. maculata, concur 100% that Dustin's play was exemplary, he has a 12-cylinder power plant and all cylinders are firing in order.

Kind of felt like @Random Fan was whining about scoring being out of control with a nod to equipment etc, possibly I read more into it then intended.

As for Dustin's 5-shot margin of victory, very impressive, no doubt. That said, 7 previous winners have won by more than 5-shots and 3 other champions also won by 5. When Lanny shot -20 he won by 7, and the very next Doug Tewell shot -14 to also win by 7.

Again, well played by Dustin Johnson, a quality win that only frees him up to flip the nitrous switch and blow away his peers during the rest of the year.

[Deep 6ixed]

Nick Cullen
Jason Scrivener
David Bransdon
Steven Jeffress
Phachara Khongwatmai
Lucas Herbert
Matthew Millar
Austin Connelly
Adam Bland
Adam Blyth
Johannes Veerman
Louis Oosthuizen
Wade Ormsby
Jake Higginbottom
Hideto Tanihara
Brett Rumford

That list just is not going to carry any format, tournament, or broadcast. More wheel spinning by the European Tour.

[OWGR Fan]

@Kawasaki - Nice research. Arnie didn't shoot 15 under @ Riviera though. His win in the 1967 LA Open was at Rancho Park where he won all 3 of his LA Opens.

[Don]

Ollie not marking his ball sitting an inch left of the cup on #10 today before his playing partners bunker shot seemed inappropriate. If I know the rule correctly. Which I don't.

[Patches O'Houlihan]

I took a big nap during most of DJ's back nine. But I did watch a lot of his morning round online.

When he's driving it like that...forget it. Anywhere. Anytime. Especially since he seems to be putting really solid as well.

He'd be a guy I'd like to play with. He's getting ready with his shots while the other players are playing theirs and hoisting it up within 30 seconds of it being his turn. This should be pointed out more than it is. Slow play being the norm these days.

[davidy48]

Very mixed feelings about the Australian matchplay. On the one hand, we all love matchplay...but where were the spectators ? On the thrid day I couldn't spot more than 100, last day maybe 2000 if we're being really generous. And that in a sport-mad country like Australia !

[surfmeister]

I enjoyed the Aussie event because I caddied at Lake Karrinyup, for Jerry Pate, almost 40 years ago. Was fun trying to remember the holes and to hear the calls of the smart-ass sounding magpies (crows) in the trees. As for Riviera, did anyone else notice that Saturday's wet weather coverage featured outerwear that was almost exclusively black, with some gray sprinkled into a few rain suits. Combined with predominantly black pants and shoes, the field as a whole looked like a bunch of monochromatic golf zombies. Is that the best you can do, FootJoy, Nike, etc.? They can't ALL want to look like badasses, can they?