![\"Marco](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/1771650978_33_.jpeg\")
<\/p>\nIt was a long day at the office for Marco Penge, but the overtime hours were well worth it for the 27-year-old from Lancashire, England, who shot a bogey-free 64 Friday and is tied for the lead with Jacob Bridgeman after two rounds of the Genesis Invitational at Riviera Country Club.<\/p>\n
Penge surged to the lead with birdies on five of the last seven holes, then watched as Bridgeman closed with three birdies to catch him at 12 under par.<\/p>\n
\u201cI was biding my time on the front nine \u2014 the targets are so small here \u2014 but I found my swing coming down the stretch and that allowed me to be more aggressive,\u201d said Penge, who won three times on the DP World Tour last year to earn his first PGA Tour card. \u201cIt\u2019s tough for a European to come over here and do the things Rory [McIlroy] and Tommy [Fleetwood] are doing but I managed the course well today.\u201d<\/p>\n
Penge was in the last group Thursday and was on the 10th hole when play was suspended because of darkness. He carded four birdies and two bogeys on the back nine early Friday morning to join McIlroy, Bridgeman and countryman Aaron Rai at five under par. He had only 38 minutes between finishing his first round and starting the second, but showed no signs of fatigue.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Marco Penge reacts after putting on the 18th green during the second round of the Genesis Invitational at Riviera Country Club on Friday.<\/p>\n
(Caroline Brehman \/ Associated Press)<\/p>\n
\u201cNot really, I wasn\u2019t any more tired than usual,\u201d he said. \u201cWhen you see you\u2019re near the top your adrenaline gets you through it.\u201d<\/p>\n
Although he did not get paid time and a half for playing 27 holes instead of the normal 18, a healthy check will come his way Sunday afternoon if Penge can hold his position.<\/p>\n
Likewise for Bridgeman, who rode his momentum from the day before to also card a 64, opening his round with an eagle and posting eight birdies to more than offset bogeys at No. 7 and No. 12.<\/p>\n
\u201cI putted really well, hit my driver great and I\u2019m excited to be in the hunt for the second straight week,\u201d Bridgeman said after coolly sinking an eight-foot birdie putt on the last hole. \u201cYesterday was a learning experience. The 18th was playing a lot longer than I thought today. It\u2019s shocking how soft and how fast these greens are. This is the most pure layout I\u2019ve ever seen.\u201d<\/p>\n
![\"Jacob](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/1771650979_20_.jpeg\")
<\/p>\n
Jacob Bridgeman hits from the 18th fairway during the second round of the Genesis Invitational at Riviera Country Club on Friday.<\/p>\n
(Caroline Brehman \/ Associated Press)<\/p>\n
McIlroy, the world\u2019s No. 2-ranked player, looms one shot back after a six-under 65 and two-time winner Adam Scott rocketed into contention with two eagles and five birdies \u2014 an eight-under-par 63 marred only by his bogey at 18. Scott has won twice at Riviera, in 2005 (a rain-shortened 36 holes) and 2020, and is tied for fourth with Xander Schauffele at nine under.<\/p>\n
Schauffele, ranked 13th in the world, also had a prolonged day. He was tied for 29th at even par through 11 holes when play was suspended Thursday and played the last seven holes of the first round in three-under par. The 2016-17 rookie of the year notched the last of his 10 Tour victories at the Baycurrent Classic last October.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m tired, man\u2026 I\u2019m looking forward to laying down sometime soon,\u201d said the 32-year-old who lives in Jupiter, Fla., but was born in San Diego and played his college golf at Long Beach State and San Diego State.<\/p>\n
Asked about tournament host Tiger Woods\u2019 suggestion to reschedule the event to the summertime, Schauffele said: \u201cWherever it is and whatever the conditions are \u2014 dry, damp, moist \u2014 I just enjoying playing here.\u201d<\/p>\n
Rai led by one stroke when play was suspended Thursday but bogeyed 18 early Friday to drop into a tie and shot a second-round 70, leaving him tied for 12th with South African Aldrich Potgeiter, Ryan Fox and 2021 Genesis champion Max Homa at the halfway point.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy ball striking was better than yesterday and I got more looks at birdie,\u201d Potgeiter said after shooting 68 for a second straight day. \u201cThe course is looking great\u2026 with the amount of rain we\u2019ve had they did a good job.\u201d<\/p>\n
World No. 1 Scottie Scheffler was tied with Keegan Bradley for last place at five-over when he walked off the course Thursday evening and shot two under over his last eight holes early Friday morning to begin the second round tied for 65th at three over. He had three birdies and six pars on the back nine for a 68 in the second round to get to even par and was among 51 in the 72-player field to make the cut.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s nice to be able to get another two cracks at the course,\u201d a relieved Scheffler said after having to drain a four-foot birdie putt at the 17th to extend his consecutive cuts streak to 68 \u2014 the longest active streak on Tour. \u201cThis place and I have a weird relationship. I feel like I can play well here, I just haven\u2019t yet. I was very aware I had to get to at least even par to keep going. I had to battle because the closing stretch is tough here.\u201d<\/p>\n
Scheffler has not missed a cut since the FedEx St. Jude Championship in August 2022.<\/p>\n
The conditions were ideal and scores reflected that on the second day of the 100th edition of a tournament that is still up for grabs, with 22 players within nine shots of the lead. One of them is Max Greyserman, who is tied for sixth with Australian Min Woo Lee at eight under.<\/p>\n
\u201cStarting off with an eagle is always nice,\u201d said Greyserman, a 30-year-old who lives in Palm Beach and is seeking his first pro win. \u201cI hit a lot of nice drives. If you miss the fairways around here things get tricky. The kikuyu grass is interesting. I didn\u2019t grow up on it. I played Genesis last year at Torrey [Pines] and I\u2019ve played here four times before this week. It\u2019s a good test, a fair test, a fun test.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"It was a long day at the office for Marco Penge, but the overtime hours were well worth…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":605087,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[5123],"tags":[260295,1582,276,156205,232366,44473,260296,2961,5615,224,5337,471,260297,260298,5039,260299,16221,6620,103,10133],"class_list":["post-605086","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-los-angeles","tag-birdie","tag-ca","tag-california","tag-early-friday-morning","tag-genesis-invitational","tag-hole","tag-jacob-bridgeman","tag-la","tag-lead","tag-los-angeles","tag-losangeles","tag-no","tag-par","tag-penge","tag-play","tag-resilient-marco-penge","tag-round","tag-time","tag-world","tag-xander-schauffele"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/116106925664001680","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/605086","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=605086"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/605086\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/605087"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=605086"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=605086"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=605086"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}