Normally beautiful San Diego showed a different side of itself on Thursday during the first round of the Genesis Invitational at Torrey Pines’ South Course.
With wet, windy and chilly conditions pummelling the PGA Tour’s best, a U.S. Open broke out in La Jolla, Calif., with the Round 1 scoring average (74.278) ranking as the highest single-day mark of the season.
There was Cam Young topping a tee shot. The winds were so harsh that Jordan Spieth had to hit a wood from 152 yards out. Collin Morikawa hit a 5-wood into the par-5 ninth and came up short of the green.
Later, Spieth hit a wicked hook from the middle of the fairway on the par-5 13th.
Young shot a six-over-par 78. Rickie Fowler shot 77. Spieth carded a 76.
On the other end was World No. 1 Scottie Scheffler, who made four birdies on his front nine before hanging on to post a two-under 70. Scheffler is one of just 13 players under par after a gritty opening round against the South Course and the weather.
“Today’s a challenging day and this is a golf course that challenges you in a variety of ways,” Scheffler said after the round. “I felt like I did a lot of good stuff out there, I got off to a really good start and hung in from there. Weather conditions were changing a bunch and we dealt with a lot of different elements today, so overall it was a pretty solid day.”
Meanwhile, Morikawa battled to scratch out an opening-round 73 thanks to a closing birdie at the par-5 18th.
The two-time major champion relished a task that differed from the normal week-to-week conditions on the PGA Tour.
“Very tough. I love it,” Morikawa said. “It’s just a demanding golf course and you’ve got to hit fairways. Rough is up, you’ve got to hit the greens. You just love to come out to courses like this. You’ve got a few courses out there that are that difficult, knowing that just no matter what, you’re going to go out fighting and when you’ve got weather, wind like this, it makes it that much more challenging.”
Scheffler, who said he felt like he swung the club better Thursday than the previous two weeks, said the change of pace is a welcome sight.
“I think it’s really fun,” Scheffler said. “I think on Tour sometimes you always see golf courses in their best conditions typically with the best weather. Besides on the West Coast we typically travel around with the best weather, which it’s odd to come to California and typically receive some of the worst weather. I think it’s interesting. The only other time we really see weather like this would be The Open Championship. It’s fun, it’s a different test and I like the variety.”
Scheffler, Morikawa and the rest of the field are chasing first-round leader Denny McCarthy. McCarthy gained 3.14 strokes putting on Thursday and went birdie-eagle to finish his round and grab the lead.
McCarthy said playing Wednesday’s practice round in similar conditions helped prepare him for Thursday’s grind.
“It was chillier yesterday, a little rainier, a little windier, and it was out of a similar direction,” McCarthy said. “So it wasn’t that much fun to be out there from 1 to 5:30 yesterday. I think it was good preparation for today.
“I’m a grindy competitor. So I knew it was going to be a challenge today and I came out with the attitude that I was just going to have fun and try to embrace it as much as I could.”
Torrey Pines tested and battered the game’s best on Thursday at the Genesis Invitational. It was a bar that few rose to meet while others quickly were blown out of the tournament, unable to answer the hard questions the weather and course asked.
