After the first round of the Genesis Invitational at Riviera Country Club, a lot of the biggest names in golf are near the top of the leaderboard. Jordan Spieth started out hot, but eventually cooled off and finished with a 66 and sits three strokes back of leader Joaquin Niemann. Scottie Scheffler, fresh off a win at the Phoenix Open, is tied with Spieth as well. Justin Thomas lurks behind at four under. But the players I am targeting heading into Friday are two of the top golfers in the world, and another young player that I mentioned in a previous article who had a great first round in Los Angeles.
Collin Morikawa
Morikawa, who is playing in his first tournament in the United States in the past month, had a great first round to set him up for Friday. With only one bogey in the opening round, the 2021 Open Championship winner sits at four under and well within striking distance with three rounds left to play. Simply put, the master of the irons is just too talented to ignore, and it would be wise to expect him to be competing on Sunday to remind everyone just how good he is.
Cameron Young
Young is the player that I wrote about being poised to break out in 2022. After a five under first round that has Young tied for second, the Genesis Invitational looks like the tournament in which he could make his name on Sunday. There is a long three days to go, but I predict that the former Wake Forest standout will be in contention this weekend.
Cameron Smith
Do not let this man get hot with his putter. After a very solid round of 67 on Thursday, the Australian is tied for sixth. While that might not seem like anything special, if he finds his putting stroke, he can run away with a tournament, even in a stacked field.
While it is unlikely that all three of these guys will maintain their opening round pace, they all have the talent to take on a challenging course in Riviera.
