Unfazed by a nearly three-hour weather delay, Jacob Bridgeman fired a five-under 66 and shared the clubhouse lead with the No. 2-ranked player in the world, Rory McIlroy.<\/p>\n
\u201cAwesome course,\u201d Bridgeman said as he left the press tent. \u201cPlayed it yesterday for the first time and I love it!\u201d<\/p>\n
Making his tournament debut, Bridgeman carded four birdies on the back nine, the last at No. 17, to pull even with McIlroy at five under and parred the 18th. Bridgeman is ranked 52nd \u2014 the highest the 26-year-old South Carolinian has been since turning pro four years ago \u2014 but never has won on the PGA Tour.<\/p>\n
\u201cToday was about learning the course and finding the right spots,\u201d added Bridgeman, who played at Clemson. \u201cFlorida is my comfort zone. I\u2019ve never had any success on the West Coast, I never played out here in college, but I\u2019m starting to figure out these Poa annua greens.\u201d<\/p>\n
While McIlroy is one of the most recognizable players on the planet, the casual golf fan might not have heard of Bridgeman before last week\u2019s AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am, where he held the lead on the back nine and finished in a tie for eighth. He\u2019ll become more well known \u2014 and $4 million richer \u2014 if he can keep his spot atop the leaderboard a few more days.<\/p>\n
![\"Tom](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/golf\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/1780644624_999_.jpeg\")
<\/p>\n
Tom Hoge carries an umbrella in the rain on the eighth hole during the first round of the Genesis Invitational.<\/p>\n
(Caroline Brehman \/ Associated Press)<\/p>\n
Bridgeman never could have dreamed of a better \u201cinitiation\u201d to Riviera than his 48-foot eagle putt on the par-five first hole.<\/p>\n
\u201cI got married Dec. 19 \u2014 maybe that\u2019s my good luck charm,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
McIlroy reached the green in two at No. 17 \u2014 the longest hole on the course at 590 yards \u2014 and two-putted to pull even. As the rain lessened, the wind increased, making holes 12 to 16 particularly challenging.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve gotten much more comfortable playing in conditions like this the last couple of years,\u201d said McIlroy, who has 29 victories on the PGA Tour, most recently the Masters last April to complete a career Grand Slam. \u201cI\u2019m more prepared than I used to be. I have the skill set now to deal with it.\u201d<\/p>\n
In his pre-tournament news conference, the 36-year-old from Northern Ireland called the lengthening of the famed fourth hole by more than 40 yards \u2014 at 273 it is the longest par three on the PGA Tour \u2014 \u201ca horrible change\u201d but birdied it to get to three under.<\/p>\n
After the Palisades fire forced the event to be relocated to Torrey Pines last February, it returned to its usual venue and, at least in round one, the iconic Riviera course held its own, as only 28 of the 72 players were in red numbers when play was suspended.<\/p>\n
\u201cLast year was just a horrific and terrible time for this entire community, people lost their lives, lost homes, lost valuables that they\u2019ll never, ever be able to replace,\u201d said tournament host and 15-time major champion Tiger Woods, who made his PGA Tour debut at Riviera as a 16-year-old amateur in 1992 but is not competing while recovering from lumbar disk replacement surgery in October. \u201cFor us to be able to come back here is great. Hopefully we can make a positive impact this week.\u201d<\/p>\n
The field features 41 of the top 50 players in the world rankings and 28 of the top 30 golfers from last year\u2019s FedExCup standings. Viktor Hovland of Norway is tied for 12th at two under after back-to-back birdies to close out his round.<\/p>\n
![\"Rory](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/golf\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/1780644625_37_.jpeg\")
<\/p>\n
Rory McIlroy hits from a fairway rough on the eighth hole during the first round of the Genesis Invitational.<\/p>\n
(Caroline Brehman \/ Associated Press)<\/p>\n
\u201cI liked my ball striking off the tee,\u201d Hovland said. \u201cRiviera really suits my game. Not the best putting, but I gave myself a lot of looks and my short game made up for some misses.\u201d<\/p>\n
Drawing the most attention in the morning was the threesome of McIlory, third-ranked Tommy Fleetwood and fifth-ranked La Ca\u00f1ada native Collin Morikawa, who was coming off Sunday\u2019s one-shot win at Pebble Beach.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m trying to keep the same mindset,\u201d Morikawa said after six birdies, nine pars and three bogeys left him in a six-way tie for fifth at three under. \u201cBack and forth, it was a long day. Rain, no rain, wind, no wind. For a stretch there it was hit and hope. It\u2019s nice to be off to a good start and near the lead. We\u2019ll see low scores over the next 54 holes.\u201d<\/p>\n
Fleetwood had two bogeys and a birdie on the front nine but settled down from there. He birdied the 11th and eagled the 17th to finish at two under.<\/p>\n
A drizzle and chill could not discourage hundreds of fans with umbrellas from lining the fairways to cheer for their favorite players on the 100-year anniversary of the tournament originally called the Los Angeles Open. It debuted at Los Angeles Country Club in 1926 and this is the 61st time Riviera has hosted, including all but three since 1973.<\/p>\n
The sun was shining and the clouds were gone by the time world No. 1 Scottie Scheffler, playing in the third-to-last group with Si Woo Kim and Xander Schauffele, teed off at 2:19. Scheffler struggled from the outset, carding three bogeys and a double bogey with no birdies and is tied for last with Keegan Bradley at five over through 10 holes.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is a golf course that\u2019s stood the test of time,\u201d Scheffler said after Wednesday\u2019s pro-am. \u201cOverall, if you execute out here, you\u2019re going to get rewarded for it.\u201d<\/p>\n
Scheffler has won three majors, giving him four total, since he tied for 10th at Riviera two years ago. He won his season debut, the American Express, on Jan. 25 in La Quinta, and his nine consecutive top-four finishes are tied for the most on tour since 1983.<\/p>\n
Rai, who turns 31 on March 3, has eight wins since turning pro in 2012, including the Wyndham Championship in 2024.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The roars were back at the Riv on Thursday \u2026 and so was the rain. After a four-birdie…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":15894,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12],"tags":[6640,6777,6776,1411,2264,1378,6778,2022,2263,144,1410,2514,2268,208,1341,282],"class_list":["post-15893","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-the-genesis-invitational","tag-birdie","tag-bogey","tag-clubhouse-lead","tag-first-round","tag-hole","tag-jacob-bridgeman","tag-last-week","tag-mcilroy","tag-no","tag-pga-tour","tag-player","tag-rain","tag-riviera","tag-scottie-scheffler","tag-the-genesis-invitational","tag-year"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/golf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15893","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/golf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/golf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/golf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/golf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=15893"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/golf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15893\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/golf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/15894"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/golf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=15893"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/golf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=15893"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/golf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=15893"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}