PACIFIC PALISADES, Calif. — Jordan Spieth stood in ankle-high rough off Riviera’s 10th fairway when a weather suspension horn sounded at 7:30 a.m. Facing an almost certain bogey on his opening hole in the Genesis Open, officials nullified early scores after determining conditions were too dark.
Spieth earned a rare reprieve at 2:22 p.m. and made the most of the false start on a stormy Thursday at Riviera Country Club, hitting an odd mix of perfect and awful tee shots, chipping in twice and only recording 12 putts in 12 holes when first-round play was suspended at 5:34 p.m.
“I felt given I went cart path to cart path to junk on the first start today, and then we got to restart the round and went from kind of being unfortunate to just fortunate,” the 25-year-old said. “A couple chip-ins later and played the par 5s well. Yeah, really solid start, but certainly got some good breaks.”
Birdies at the par-5 11th and 17th holes were uneventful after sound tee shots and strong 3-woods close to the greens. A hole-out for birdie from off the 12th green came after having 227 yards into the green. Another hole-out from 31 feet off the 2nd green — his 11th hole — took Spieth to -5 when play was suspended again.
The most majestic bit of scrambling work of all may have been at the par-4 13th, where Spieth unleashed an old-school snap-hook just 204 yards off the tee, prompting a provisional tee shot also pulled left. He played down the fairway, then wedged to a foot from 34 yards away.
The final tally for his opening 12 holes: 5 of 12 greens, 5 of 10 fairways, 12 putts and a tie with Sung Kang atop the leaderboard at -5.
