Burns takes lead at Los Angeles
LOS ANGELES — Sam Burns had the ideal start at Riviera. His finish was even better.
Burns opened with an 18-foot eagle putt and closed with three straight birdies Thursday in the Genesis Invitational, giving him a 7-under 64, the third time this season he has shot 64 in the opening round.
The 24-year-old Burns is still looking for his first PGA Tour victory. On one of the best courses of the year, against another stacked field, it was a good first step.
“This golf course at times doesn’t offer you a lot of opportunities,” Burns said. “So I think just with that mindset going in we were just going to take what we could get.”
He had a two-shot lead over Matt Fitzpatrick and Max Homa, who grew up 30 miles away in Valencia and used to attend the PGA Tour event at Riviera as a kid.
Patrick Cantlay, coming off chances to win in Palm Springs and Pebble Beach, extended his run of good play with four birdies on his back nine and was in a large group at 67.
Dustin Johnson, the No. 1 player in the world who has played Riviera as consistently well as anyone over the last 10 years, couldn’t take advantage of the par 5s and still scrapped his way around to a 68, mainly by taking five putts over the last six holes.
Also at 68 were Brooks Koepka, coming off a victory two weeks ago in Phoenix, and Jordan Spieth, who had at least a share of the 54-hole lead the last two weeks as he tries to end a slump that dates to the 2017 British Open.