Burns has eagle eye from start

LOS ANGELES — It seemed like Sam Burns shot himself out of a cannon off the famous elevated first tee at Riviera in Thursday’s Genesis Invitational first round, carding eagle on the majestic par-5, and he never looked back.

“I got off to a hot start there at No. 1 with eagle on the first hole,’’ Burns said.The 24-year-old Burns finished the day with a 7-under-par 64 to take a two-shot lead over Matthew Fitzpatrick and Max Homa into Friday’s second round.

➤ Through one round, Willie Mack III is representing at the Genesis Invitational.

The 32-year-old Mack, a mini-tour journeyman who was the recipient of the tournament’s annual Charlie Sifford Memorial Exemption, posted a 1-under-par 70 on Thursday in his second career PGA Tour event.Since the inception of the Sifford exemption

➤ Perhaps no one has a more bizarre story this week than Tyler McCumber, who shot 4-under par with his left index finger bandaged from an accident in his hotel room earlier in the week.

“Tuesday morning, I was coming out to the course and I went to open the windows to cool off the hotel room before I left and I smashed it in a sliding window door right in the crevice,’’ McCumber said. “It went underneath the back of the nail bed and lifted half of the back of the nail up. It was pretty torn up, but fortunately the surgeon on site, the emergency surgeon, is a hand specialist. He numbed the finger and ripped off the nail.’’

➤ Two top players bad nightmarish rounds Thursday. Bryson DeChambeau, the reigning U.S. Open champion and resident big hitter on Tour, shot a 4-over-par 75. And Justin Thomas went two worse than that, carding a 6-over-par 77. … Dustin Johnson, the reigning Masters champion and No. 1 ranked player in the world, shot 3-under. … Defending champion Adam Scott shot a 2-under-par 69.