In a town packed with big attractions and star-power names, the venerable L.A. Open will counter this week with two of the hottest young guys in golf.
Riviera will have Jordan Spieth vs. Rory McIlroy, Part II, as the feature attraction in a town where box office draw matters.
Spieth comes in as golf’s top brand, he’s No. 1 and McIlroy is breathing down his neck at No. 3, displaced from the No. 2 spot last week by Jason Day when he finished in a tie for 11th at Pebble Beach. This is only the second act in what should become a season-long drama between Spieth and McIlroy. The first act played out a month ago in Abu Dhabi where McIlroy was three shots better than Spieth and Rickie Fowler was better than both, shooting 18-under par to win.
The fact of it all this week is that Augusta is getting really close now and when they tee off on Thursday, it will be about 46 days until everyone’s driving down Magnolia Lane to compete in the Masters.
That’s where McIlroy is setting his sights and where Spieth blew the doors off of everyone last year. “I feel my game is in good shape going into this run of golf that I’ve got coming up,” says McIlroy.
Spieth can’t say the same.
At Pebble Beach, Spieth was mediocre at Monterey, sputtering at Spyglass and totally out of sorts at Pebble on Saturday. He rebounded with a bogey-free 66 on Sunday that jumped him to a tie for 21st, not something to talk about when you’re the top dog in golf.
Which brings us to Thursday.
Spieth and McIlroy will get most of the early attention but the field has two other top 10 guys — Justin Rose (No. 7) and Dustin Johnson (No. 8). It was here last year where D.J. and Paul Casey lost in a playoff to James Hahn. Go figure.
If the Hollywood script writers could get involved, it would be Spieth and McIlroy in a playoff on Sunday afternoon.
What will it take to get there?
Spieth shot rounds of 69-70-70-70 to miss the playoff by a shot. He was five-under. So was Hideki Matsuyama, who’s back this week.
McIlroy didn’t play in L.A. last year.
Riviera is beyond tough. Ben Hogan thrived there and had an 18-month run that saw him win two L.A. Opens and the 1948 U.S. Open on this course. Many still call it “Hogan’s Alley.”
Whose Alley will it be come Sunday?
Spieth? McIlroy? Someone else?
The only certainty is that it’s hard to go low at Riviera.
Very hard.
