LOS ANGELES – Jon Rahm kept errors off his card on Saturday at the Riviera, the difference by allowing him to post a 6-under 65 and pull away from the field at the Genesis Invitational.
Tiger Woods also lost ground, although he looked good doing it. Woods had a tap-in eagle en route to 67, his lowest Saturday round in an official event since winning the Zozo Championship in Japan in fall 2019. Still, he was 12 shots behind.
Rahm capped his bogey-free day with a 25-foot birdie putt that gave him a three-stroke lead over Max Homa, who had part of the lead until consecutive bogeys from the bunker down the back nine. He had a 69.
Keith Mitchell made his only bogey on the last hole and fell back with a 69 four. The only other player within five strokes was Patrick Cantlay (68).
Rahm has been the top player in golf for the past six months. Coming from the BMW PGA Championship on the European Tour, he has finished in the top 10 in nine consecutive tournaments and won four of them.
All he has left is to return to world no. 1 and he can do that with a win on Sunday.
For Woods, being on the PGA Tour just four rounds in a row felt like a win, something he hasn’t done since the Masters. On the other hand, he only played three times last year because his right leg was badly damaged in a car accident in February 2021.
He managed to cut the number as the second round wrapped up on Saturday morning, 11 shots from the front and starting in the back nine in one of the final groups. That didn’t stop thousands of fans from lining the fairway for the next five hours.
Woods made a couple of birdies on the back nine and then hit a 5 iron on the front of the green on the first par 5 hole, rolling the ball down the firm turf and a few inches off the cup before going 3 feet away settled down for an eagle.
His only bogey came on the seventh. It was still encouraging because Woods says he still has pain walking after his laps. In the three tournaments he competed in last year, he only made it through the weekend twice, scoring rounds of 78 at Augusta National and 79 at the PGA Championship at Southern Hills.
“I wanted to get in touch with the leaders today, I was hoping to shoot a little lower than I did just so hopefully I can catch them on a low lap tomorrow,” said Woods. “I might be a little far away.”
That leader is Rahm, and it’s intimidating, no matter the margin.
Rahm put up a great fight with Homa, the Southern California native who won on the Riviera two years ago. Rahm took the lead, ending the first nine with consecutive bogeys, only from Homa, who was caught with a pitch into the tap-in range on the 10th, and caught him again on the 13th with a brave play off the left pin caught up.
But it was Homa who blinked first.
He found the fairway bunker on the 15th hole, the toughest hole on the Riviera, missed just short of the green and missed a hard 10-foot run to par. He hit his tee shot on the par-3 16th into a bunker and again missed a 10-foot putt for par.
Rahm drove on, made a 12-foot par putt on the 13th, and chipped nicely as he missed the greens to take the stress out. He ended with a birdie to make 15-under-198, an extra shot to work with on Sunday.
Also within reach is the oldest 72-hole scoring record on the PGA Tour — 20 under 264 set by Lanny Wadkins in 1985. All that matters for Rahm is another win that would rank him as his game ranks embodied in the moment.
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