Familiar faces atop the round 1 leaderboard
CLICK HERE TO SEE ROUND 1 PHOTO GALLERY
You couldn’t ask for a better day for golf and Riviera shined under the LA sun. Sam Burns set the pace and leads by two-shots after he posted a seven-under, 64.
Chasing Burns are Matthew Fitzpatrick and Max Homa who both posted rounds of five-under. For Homa, getting to play at Riviera is a home game of sorts, having grown up in Valencia, CA.
“I didn’t get to play (at Riviera) until I was 21 I think in the National Championship, but I had been here probably 20 times before that,” Homa said after his round. “I think my dad brought me here when I was 2. I just have a lot of great memories here, I remember watching Tiger, I remember watching Mike Weir putting on that putting green and it was raining. I was standing under somebody’s umbrella and they moved and I got drenched with water. It’s just a lot of good, fun memories here.”
Trailing behind Burns, Fitzpatrick and Homa are eight players who posted founds of four-under. Among them are Long Beach native and former UCLA Bruin Patrick Cantlay. Following his round, Cantlay said, “I thought the golf course is incredible, I think it’s the best on TOUR.”
In the hunt at four-under is also Scottie Scheffler. In 2018, Scheffler won the Collegiate Showcase and earned an exemption into the tournament. This year, Scheffler returns to Riviera as the reigning PGA TOUR Rookie of the Year.
Round 2 gets underway at 6:40 a.m. on Friday.