Homa leads at Riviera; Tiger makes the cut
Woods apologizes for prank with tampon
LOS ANGELES — Max Homa in the lead at his hometown PGA Tour event used to give him chills. Now he’s playing so well it almost feels normal.
Homa, a winner last month down the coast at Torrey Pines, ran off three birdies around the turn at Riviera and tossed in a few big par saves Friday for a 3-under 68, giving him a one-shot lead over Jon Rahm, Keith Mitchell and Lee Hodges at the Genesis Invitational.
Tiger Woods will be part of the weekend, even with a sloppy finish and more attention over a juvenile prank than a putter that went cold. Woods finished with three bogeys over his last four holes for a 74.
He was at 1-over 143, leaving him 11 shots behind Homa, but certain to make the cut when the second round is completed Saturday morning. For the second straight day, darkness kept the round from finishing.
Woods, playing elite competition for the first time since the British Open last summer, apologized if anyone was offended by him jokingly slipping a tampon into the hand of Justin Thomas on Thursday after Woods outdrove him by about 10 yards.
“It was supposed to be all fun and games and obviously it hasn’t turned out that way,” Woods said.
Homa and Rahm had their own brand of fun on a crisp afternoon off Sunset Boulevard.
Homa hit wedge to 4 feet to a pin tucked behind the bunker for a birdie on No. 9, holed a 15-foot birdie on the 10th and then chipped beautifully to a back right pin for a third straight birdie on the par-5 11th.
He also saved par from a plugged lie in the bunker and made an 18-foot par putt on the 16th. His round ended with trouble off the tee that led to bogey, but he had no complaints at 11-under 131 and his name atop the leaderboard.
He already has won twice this season, including last month down the coast at Torrey Pines. When he won this tournament two years ago — the one he used to attend as a kid who grew up 30 miles away — he said, “I don’t know if I could ever do anything cooler in golf than this.”
Playing good every week is pretty cool.
“I kind of feel like I should be doing this when I’m playing well, and I am playing well,” Homa said.
Rahm is playing even better. He has nine consecutive top 10s dating to September, four of those victories, and he is close to returning to No. 1 in the world.
Even the best need a break every now and then, and Rahm got a big one Friday evening. He went with a 5-wood from 270 yards on the par-5 17th and cooked it, sailing the green toward the back grandstands. The ball smacked off the base of the bleachers, tumbled along the edge of a bunker and settled just over 3 feet away for an eagle.
That capped off a stretch of playing five holes in 5-under par that put the Spaniard right into the mix going into the weekend.
Collin Morikawa (68) was two shots behind, with Patrick Cantlay (67) another shot back
The stars are out in Los Angeles, part of that due to Riviera, part of that due to the strongest field of the year competing for a $20 million purse.