Joaquin Niemann played like a red-hot pepper from Chile on a sunny Thursday at the Genesis Invitational and his eight-under par 63 put him on the list of players who share the low opening round in this long-running PGA Tour event.
Niemann was hitting laser iron shots all day as he put nine birdies on his card and none of those birdie putts came from outside nine feet.
“Pretty happy with the round,” Niemann said in a major understatement. “I want to come back tomorrow (Friday) and try to do the same thing I did today.”
Niemann, winner of one Tour event, was three shots better than the next lowest rounds. In the morning wave, Jordan Spieth and last week’s winner at Phoenix — Scottie Scheffler — came in with five-under par 66s. In the afternoon, defending champion Max Homa joined them along with Tour rookie Cameron Young.
World No. 2 Collin Morikawa and No. 8 Justin Thomas headed a group of six players at four-under par 67.
The course was already beginning to firm up and host Tiger Woods predicted on Wednesday that each day, the course would get firmer and faster, perhaps making for major championship conditions by Sunday’s final round.
How The Top 10 Fared:
All of the world’s top 10 are in the field, here’s how they lined up:
Jon Rahm (1) 69; Collin Morikawa (2) 67; Patrick Cantlay (3) 70; Viktor Hovland (4) 71; Rory McIlroy (5) 69; Dustin Johnson (6) 73; Xander Schauffele (7) 69; Justin Thomas (8) 67; Scottie Scheffler (9) 66; Hideki Matsuyama (10) 72.
D.J. Roughed Up At The 10th:
The short par four 10th at Riviera measures anywhere from 300 to 330 yards and on Thursday it played 305. It ruined Dustin Johnson’s round. His tee shot came up well short of the green, in a front fairway bunker. His second sailed long into the back right bunker. His ball wound up semi-buried on a downhill slope and he couldn’t even get a stance, he had to basically chip the ball out of the lie into the bottom of the bunker. His fourth shot from the bunker didn’t make it out of the sand. His fifth shot left him about four feet for double-bogey six and he made it. His two-over 73 was highest among the world’s top 10.
Great Start For Aaron Beverly, Then Disaster:
Aaron Beverly sat next to Tiger Woods on Wednesday in the media room. The bright-eyed 27th year-old was in the Genesis on the Charlie Sifford exemption and he was excited to start his round. He had the honor of hitting the first tee shot at 6:40 a.m. He started great with a birdie at the par five first hole, easiest on the course. A bogey at the par three fourth took him back to even par but he was back in red numbers when he chipped in from short of the green at the par four seventh. Things were going great. Then disaster struck at the par four eighth where he drove into the barranca that splits the fairway. His second shot missed the green right and things got worse from there. By the time he finished the hole, he made a quintuple-bogey nine. A double at the ninth followed that and he made the turn in 41. He made four straight bogeys to start the back nine and the round had gotten away from him. Another at the 15th and he’d end up with 82 and most likely a Friday exit from the tournament.
PGA Tour Considering Funky Fall Team Series For Top Players:
File this under “this sounds pretty crazy” by the PGA Tour.
Seeing as the “gang’s all here” at The Genesis, word has leaked that the Tour is throwing out the idea of a new fall series of events. No cuts, big fat purses, 10 five-man teams led by “captains” who would basically be the top 10 guys on the controversial Player Impact Program.
Then they would play in a type of tournament based on the way college teams compete.
Players from the top 50 would be “drafted” by said captains.
Which begs the question — what happens to Sanderson Farms and the other fall series events?
Sounds like they’d be condemned to lousy fields with players ranked 51 and below.
Stay tuned for more on this craziness.
 Ties Record At Genesis){kind=link}