Spieth battles elements to a draw
Jordan Spieth, coming off the ninth victory of his career with a win at rainplagued Pebble Beach, has shown that he can deal with weather conditions on the golf course.
Spieth resumed his first round Friday morning in light rain at Riviera Country Club in the Genesis Open and promptly made a run up the leaderboard.
He was two under after 16 holes when play was suspended in the first round Thursday, Spieth picked up three more strokes to par Friday in the 16 secondround holes he played before competition was suspended for heavy rain and high winds.
He’s at five-under par, two strokes behind Jhonattan Vegas and Sam Saunders.
As is often the case on the West Coast in February, the weather wasn’t perfect for golf, particularly the wind early Friday.
“It’s just so tough to get the ball close to the hole when that wind’s flipping and it’s gusting,” Spieth said. “We’re down in a valley here at Riviera, so it may do something to the first half of the f light that’s totally different from what it will do when it gets up in the air.
“So it’s very difficult to figure it out, but I think I did a pretty good job of it…. I’m very happy with where we stand, given what we’ve had out there.” Easiest, toughest
It should come as no surprise that after the first round the par-five first hole is the easiest on the course. There were 12 eagles and 75 birdies, 54 pars and only three bogeys. It was playing at an average of 4.33 strokes.
The most difficult is the par-four 12th. There were only nine birdies, 82 pars and 48 bogeys. Five players double bogeyed the hole. Its average strokes is 4.34, higher than the par-five first hole. Time for a rest
Cameron Percy, who was one of the few golfers to complete his second round Friday, is tied with Spieth in fourth place at five under.
Asked whether he was going to head to the range after completing an even-par 71 to go with his 66 in the first round, Percy said no.
“K.J. Choi hit 14 buckets of balls,” Percy said.
“He said, ‘You need to get out and work on it.’ I’m like, ‘No, I want to go lie in bed somewhere.’ ” Two fewer players
Bryson DeChambeau withdrew from the tournament on Friday because of a hand injury.
Vaughn Taylor withdrew after play was suspended on Friday. He was three over for the tournament after playing 17 holes in round two. He shot an opening-round 70. DeChambeau shot an opening-round 73. Tickets
Both grounds and clubhouse tickets to Friday’s partial round will be honored on either Saturday or Sunday.