Rahm limits mistakes to take Riviera lead
LOS ANGELES — Jon Rahm kept mistakes off his card Saturday at Riviera, the difference in allowing him to post a 6under 65 and start to pull away from the field at the Genesis Invitational.
Tiger Woods lost ground, too, even if he looked good doing it. Woods had a tap-in eagle on his way to a 67, his lowest Saturday round in an official event since he won the Zozo Championship in Japan in the fall of 2019. Even so, he was 12 shots back.
Rahm capped his bogey-free day with a 25-foot birdie putt that gave him a three-shot lead over Max Homa, who had a share of the lead until consecutive bogeys from the bunker along the back nine. He had a 69.
Keith Mitchell made his only bogey on the final hole and had a 69 to fall four behind. The only other player within five shots was Patrick Cantlay (68).
Rahm has been the best player in golf over the past six months. Dating to the BMW PGA Championship on the European tour, he has finished among the top 10 in nine consecutive tournaments, winning four of them.
All that’s left is a return to No. 1 in the world, and he can do that with a victory Sunday.
For Woods, it felt like a win just being back on the PGA Tour for four straight rounds, something he hasn’t done since the Masters. Then again, he only played three times last year because of his right leg severely damaged in a February 2021 car crash.
He made the cut on the number when the second round was completed Saturday morning, 11 shots off the lead and starting on the back nine in one of the last few groups. That didn’t keep thousands of fans lining the fairway over the next five hours.
Woods made a few birdies on the back nine, and then hit 5-iron onto the front of the green at the par-5 first hole, the ball rolling across the firm turf and a few inches next to the cup before settling 3 feet away for an eagle.
His only bogey came at the seventh. It was encouraging nonetheless because Woods says he’s still sore walking after his rounds. He only made it to the weekend twice in the three tournaments he played last year, posting rounds of 78 at Augusta National and 79 in the PGA Championship at Southern Hills.
“I wanted to get in touch with the leaders today, I was hoping to shoot something a little bit lower than I did just so I could reach out to them hopefully with a low round tomorrow,” Woods said. “I might be a little far away.”
That leader is Rahm, and it’s daunting regardless of the margin.
Champions: Bernhard Langer remained in position to tie Hale Irwin’s PGA Tour Champions victory record of 45, shooting a 2-under 70 to take a one-stroke lead into the final round of the Chubb Classic. The 65-year-old Langer, the winner last year, had a 10-under 134 total on Tiburon Golf Club’s Black Course after bettering his age Friday with a 64. Charles Schwab Cup winner Steven Alker (65) was a stroke back with Jerry Kelly (66), Dicky Pride (70) and Paul Goydos (71).
DP World: Thorbjorn Olesen of Denmark moved a step closer to his seventh European tour title after he shot an 8-under 64 to take a two-stroke lead at the Thailand Classic. Olesen made eight birdies in a bogey-free third round at Amata Spring Country Club to reach 18-under 198 overall, two shots in front of countryman Nicolai Hojgaard and Germany’s Yannik Paul. Joost Luiten of the Netherlands was a further shot back. Olesen will play in the final group alongside the 21-year-old Hojggard on Sunday in search of his next tour win after capturing the British Masters title last May.