Pacific Palisades, CA — Round two of the Genesis Invitational did not disappoint as the field saw lots of low scoring today with excellent conditions at the beautiful Riviera Golf Course. Jordan Spieth clawed his way up to the leaderboard, putting himself in an ideal position going into the third round, Cameron Young had a fantastic outing as he looks for his first win on Tour and Joaquin Niemann had another productive outing to stay atop the leaderboard heading into the weekend.
Niemann continues dominating
Joaquin Niemann has been absolutely dominating Riviera Golf Course. During the second round of the Genesis Invitational, the Chilean native broke a Genesis Invitational record, scoring 126 through 36-holes. To put that into perspective, the 23-year-old recorded back-to-back rounds of 63 en route to his astonishing two-day performance.
During the second round of play, Niemann recorded one eagle, seven birdies, and one bogey. His front-nine performance was very impressive, shooting 5-under through the nine holes.
On the par-5 1st, he hit a good drive into the left fairway, setting himself for a lengthy second shot that he made look easy. He hit a 207-yard shot to three feet with ease to tap in for an eagle.
it didn’t stop there asa Niemann sank a 42-foot putt to record a birdie on the par-4 12th. It was one of those holes that puts golf into perspective and proves that the next shot will always be different. Niemann hit two bad shots to start, but was still able to clutch a birdie.
Niemann holds a two-stroke lead at 16-under through two rounds.
Rookie looking for first Tour win
Cameron Young is hunting for his first career PGA Tour win at Riviera this week. During the first round, he shot a 5-under 66 and improved in the second round, finishing with an impressive 9-under 65 and his lowest single round score since joining the Tour. He recorded a bogey-free round on Friday, carding nine birdies, six of which came on the front-nine.
The rookie had a driving accuracy of 50 percent and was able to hit 83.33 percent of greens in regulation. Young sits two back from the leader at 14-under par through the first two rounds.
Justin Thomas bogey-free
Justin Thomas recorded one eagle and five birdies for a bogey-free 7-under 64, good enough to bring him up to third place and five strokes back from the leader.
Thomas had an average driving distance of 333.1-yards with a 64.29 percent driving accuracy. He hit 77.78 percent of greens in regulation and gained 2.717 strokes with putting. JT showed off his putting skills, especially on the par-5 11th which was reachable in two for a majority of the field. JT hit a bomb 336-yrd drive and followed that with a massive 230-yard shot to the green. He left himself with a 31-foot putt which he easily rolled in for eagle.
Thomas has some work left to do going into the third round but is still in a winnable position at 11-under for the tournament.
Spieth is back
Jordan Spieth, short game master and former three-time major champion, has been struggling this season. However, as of recently, he seems to have found his groove and is ready to add another Tour win to his belt.
During the second round of the Genesis Invitational, Spieth recorded one eagle, three birdies, and one bogey for a 4-under 67. Spieth averaged 330.7-yards off the tee with a driving accuracy of 61.54 percent. He only hit 58.82 percent of greens in regulation but did a pristine job getting up-and-down to save par or clutch birdie. The former PGA Tour Player of the Year did what he does best, and that’s throwing darts into the greens.
One particularly impressive shot came on the par-5 11th, where he eventually chipped in for eagle. Although it was a greenside chip, Spieth still hit a perfectly read chip.
Spieth is tied for fourth place following the second round.
