Saunders opens strong again at Riviera

LOS ANGELES — Tiger Woods lost a ball in a tree early in his round, played from the wrong hole late and ended his return to Riviera with a reasonable start in the Genesis Open.

It was more of the same for Sam Saunders, and hope that it will get better as the week goes on.

Saunders played bogey-free over his final 16 holes on a firm, difficult course at Riviera for a 4-under 67 to share the lead with Tom Hoge and Dominic Bozzelli among the early starters Thursday.

A year ago, Saunders opened with a 64 to lead after the opening round, only to follow with a 77 that took him out of the mix for the rest of the week.

“Last year was kind of a hot day. I just kind of had everything going for me,” Saunders said. “Today, I just played good golf. I actually left a lot of shots out there. I’m very pleased with my round, but I missed a lot of very makeable birdie putts, and it could have been a lot better round today. But it was fun because I was very in control of what I was doing out there.”

Hoge birdied the 15th and 18th holes, two of the stronger holes at Riviera.

Defending champion Dustin Johnson was among those playing in the afternoon, and he already was in a hole. Johnson chopped up the fifth hole, going over the green from deep grass for his third shot, and then taking two to get on the putting surface on his way to a triple bogey.

Woods opened with a birdie by playing the short par-4 10th to perfection. His fourth shot was sailing toward the eucalyptus trees, and before long, Woods was riding in a cart back to the tee. The ball was never found, presumably lost in the tree. He made double bogey. Woods finished by playing his second shot to the ninth green from a bunker on the 10th hole. He still managed par.

In between was mostly a decent day with Woods converting seven putts inside 10 feet, a mixture of pars and birdies, in a 72.

“I’m not that far off to really putting some good numbers out there,” Woods said. “I’ve got to clean up my card — too many bogeys out there. If I can just clean that up, I can start making my way up the board.”