Jacob Bridgeman joins Marco Penge atop leaderboard as McIlroy chases at Genesis Invitational
jacob bridgeman carded a second-round 64 to join Marco Penge at the top of the Genesis Invitational leaderboard at -12, leaving Rory McIlroy one shot behind after a six-under 65 at Riviera Country Club in Los Angeles.
Jacob Bridgeman joins Marco Penge at the top
Bridgeman, of the United States, later joined England's Marco Penge atop the leaderboard by carding a 64. Penge also shot a 64, posting seven-under in his round and moving to 12 under overall after two rounds in Los Angeles. Penge, 27, hit five birdies in his final seven holes to reach that mark.
Penge's 27-hole Friday required him to complete nine holes from a weather-delayed first round before starting his second round. After the round he said his wife is expecting the couple's second child next week and that the recent weeks had been difficult for his family: "She's been in the US on her own, heavily pregnant, looking after a one-and-a-half-year old at the same time with no family or friends around. It's been like a bit of a gamble of me just kind of going to compete and leaving her on her own. " Penge also recently moved to Florida.
McIlroy closes to one shot after six-under 65
Northern Ireland's Rory McIlroy carded a six-under-par 65 to move to 11 under and sit one shot behind the leaders at the halfway stage. McIlroy, the world number two, said the Riviera Country Club was more forgiving after he had struggled to finish joint 14th at Pebble Beach last week: "There's no Pacific Ocean to hit it into around this golf course, so that helps, " he said, adding that he had controlled distance well and "holed some nice putts from inside eight feet for pars when I've needed to. "
Round one was suspended and later resumed after heavy rain
Play at The Riviera was hit by heavy rain that forced a suspension Thursday morning. The first round was suspended at 10: 13 a. m. local time after players had initially played through the band of rain for more than an hour; play resumed at 1: 09 p. m. local time after almost three hours off the course. Orlando Pope, senior director of TV Rules and Video Analyst with the PGA TOUR, said: "It was just too much water on the greens. We're losing greens left and right. " Maintenance crews were seen squeegeeing several greens in the moments before the suspension.
The official TOUR forecast called for the heaviest rain between 10 a. m. and noon (local), with winds increasing after noon and gusts up to 34 mph possible. Temperatures were expected to rise from the 40s in the morning to the middle 50s in the afternoon, with total rainfall around a half inch. When play was suspended, Akshay Bhatia led the course at 3-under through six holes.
Full round-two leaderboard and selected names
The Genesis Invitational - round two leaderboard:
- -12 M Penge (Eng), J Bridgeman (US); -11 R McIlroy (NI); -9 A Scott (Aus), X Schauffele (US); -8 MW Lee (Aus), P Greyserman (US); -7 T Fleetwood (Eng), W Clark (US). K Kitayama (US). M Fitzpatrick (Eng)
- Selected others: -6 A Rai (Eng); -5 J Speith (US); -2 R Fowler (US); level R MacIntyre (Sco), S Scheffler (US); +1 S Lowry (Ire); (missed cut) +3 J Rose (Eng)
World number one Scottie Scheffler made a seven-foot par putt at the 18th to make the cut at level par and said: "It was nice to get out this morning on some fresh greens and hole some putts and do what I needed to do in order to get to the weekend. "
What comes next
With the tournament at the halfway stage and leaders at 12 under, the field heads into weekend play with Penge and Bridgeman tied at the top and McIlroy one shot back. Scheffler and others who made the cut will tee up for the weekend, while players who were caught by the weather disruption resume their rounds following the earlier suspension.
