LOS ANGELES (AFP) – Australia’s Adam Scott and American Justin Thomas topped the leaderboard at 10-under par on Friday when darkness halted play in the second round of the weather-disrupted Genesis Open.
Scott and Thomas both posted five-under par 66s on Friday, and each was five-under for the second round when darkness fell on another rainy day at Riviera Country Club, where organizers were scrambling to get the tournament back on track for a Sunday finish after a seven-hour weather delay on Thursday.
Tournament host Tiger Woods made little headway on the marathon day, struggling with the putter in a one-under first round and still one-under, tied for 55th, through 12 holes of the second.
”It was a tough day,” Woods said. ”I’m stiff right now. It got pretty chilly towards the end, the ball wasn’t going very far.”
Woods strung together four birdies in a row in the middle of his first round, but his troubles on the greens kept him from building any momentum.
”I putted awful today,” said Woods, whose 44-foot eagle putt at his 10th hole in the second round was an anomaly on a day when he hit 17 of 18 greens in regulation in the first round but had four three-putt bogeys.
No sooner had the eagle enlivened his round than he had two straight bogeys before play ended.
”I didn’t hit it that bad, felt like I controlled it well enough and just a terrible day on the greens,” he said.
Despite the long day in tough conditions, Woods noted that plenty of players — more than 70 — were under par.
”You have to go get it, and JT did it and I just wasn’t able to do it,” Woods said, lauding playing partner Thomas.
”He made tough conditions look easy,” Woods said.
Thomas totalled 14 birdies in his day’s 30 holes — seven in the first round and seven through 12 holes in the second.
”I’m just proud of myself the way I fought out there today,” he said.