Max Homa and Keith Mitchell fired 7-under-par 64s to share the first-round lead at the Genesis Invitational on Thursday in Los Angeles, while Tiger Woods returned to competition and made three straight birdies to post a 2-under 69.
Nine players did not complete their rounds before play was suspended due to darkness. They will finish up Friday morning while the second round begins as scheduled.
Spanish star Jon Rahm is right behind the co-leaders following a round of 6-under 65. Collin Morikawa made two late birdies to join Matt Kuchar and Harris English in a tie for fourth at 5-under 66.
Homa, a native of nearby Burbank who won the tournament in 2021, started his round on the back nine at Riviera Country Club and went 5-under 30 on the front, including three short birdie putts at the par-4 seventh, eighth and ninth.
“It just felt like every aspect of my game felt good, good enough to shoot under par,” Homa said. “You never know when you’re going to shoot 7 under or something, but I felt like I took advantage of how I felt, which is something I think that’s important out here.”
Homa already has two victories this season, both coming in his native California at the Fortinet Championship and last month’s Farmers Insurance Open.
Mitchell, meanwhile, has just one PGA Tour win to his name, the 2019 Honda Classic. Like Homa, Mitchell put eight birdies and one bogey on his card, finishing birdie-birdie at Nos. 17-18.
“My short game’s definitely improved a lot over the past year,” Mitchell said. “To match it up with my driving and ball-striking is something I’ve been working on for my whole life really and I feel like recently it started to click a little bit more.”
Rahm has played as well as anybody in 2023, winning back-to-back starts in January and placing third at last week’s WM Phoenix Open. He rolled in eight birdies on Thursday to counteract two bogeys.
Morikawa, a two-time major champ and Los Angeles native, played in the group just behind Woods, Rory McIlroy of Northern Ireland and Jordan Spieth. He made birdie putts of 19 and 8 1/2 feet at Nos. 17 and 18 to jump into the top five.
Most fans’ focus was trained on Woods, playing in his first competitive event since the Open Championship last July and his first official, non-major event since winning the 2019 Zozo Championship. He badly injured his right leg and foot in a single-car accident two years ago, two days after hosting the 2021 Genesis.
The 15-time major winner was 1 over through 15 holes but finished with three birdies. His dialed-in tee shot at the par-3 16th left him just 5 feet for the first birdie. He made his longest putt of the day at the par-5 17th, a birdie try from 23 1/2 feet that was uphill and bent dramatically right to left.
At No. 18, Thomas, Woods and McIlroy all sank birdie putts, with Thomas’ coming from the fringe 28 feet out, Woods’ from about 7 1/2 feet and McIlroy’s from 6 feet.
“JT hoops one in there and Rory’s been beating us all day,” said Woods, the tournament host, who played with two of his closest friends on tour. “He’s nervous as can be because he didn’t want to be the one to miss on 18. I didn’t want to be the idiot host to miss it right in front of everybody after I just went birdie-birdie.
“It was a great round. The ebb and flow of needling each other, encouraging each other and telling stories.”
McIlroy shot a bogey-free, 4-under 67 to join a tie for seventh with Tom Hoge, Lee Hodges, Doug Ghim, Jhonattan Vegas of Venezuela and Canadians Adam Svensson and Adam Hadwin. Thomas is in a massive tie at 3-under 68.
Woods, meanwhile, is in position to make it to the weekend but will have to battle soreness in his surgically repaired ankle as well as adjusting to the feeling of a PGA Tour event.
“I was trying to calm myself down all day, trying to figure out what the hell I’m doing out here because I haven’t played,” Woods said. “I had to try and figure out what the chess match is going to be. Misses, angles, wind, these are all things that have come second nature to a lot of these guys. I haven’t really done this in a while.”
–Field Level Media