Golf

Rory McIlroy ‘feeling good’ as he keeps Matt Kuchar in his sights at Genesis Open

World number one cards 67 to sit two shots off the lead in Los Angeles

Rory McIlroy plays a shot on the fifth hole during the second round of the Genesis Invitational at Riviera Country Club in Pacific Palisades, California. Photograph: Chris Trotman/Getty Images

Sat Feb 15 2020 - 02:14

World number one Rory McIlroy is feeling good about his game having moved to within two shots of leader Matt Kuchar at the Genesis Invitational in Los Angeles.

The Northern Irishman went one shot better than his opening 68 with six birdies and just two bogeys to edge into third at Riviera.

“I’m managing my game well,” McIlroy, who finished third at last month’s Farmers Insurance Open on his only other appearance this year, said after his round.

“I’ve hit a couple loose shots here and there, but I’m thinking my way around the golf course and that’s what this place is all about.

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“You can hit a few squirrelly shots and get away with it as long as you miss it in the right places, and for the first couple days I’ve done that.

“I’m feeling pretty good about my game.”

The same could not be said of Tiger Woods, who began the day five shots off the lead but finished it nine back after a two-over 73 – his first over-par round of the year – which contained a double-bogey six, three bogeys and three birdies.

“I made some pretty bad mistakes out there with balls in the fairway: one ball in the fairway with wedge in my hand and another one with a sand wedge in my hand and played those two holes in three over. Not very good,” said Woods, who will not play in next week’s WGC-Mexico Championship after the entry deadline passed without him confirming his attendance.

“You take those away and I’m near the top of the board. So it’s not that complicated, I just need to clean it up, but I’m now pretty far back and I have to make a lot of birdies this weekend.

“I just could not get the ball close enough to the hole to give myself good putts, and then when I did, I was in the wrong spots, I was above the hole and had to putt pretty defensively.”

Kuchar maintained his spot at the top of the leaderboard after a 69 got him to nine under, two ahead of McIlroy and Harold Varner III.

LEADERBOARD
(USA unless stated, par 71):

133 Matt Kuchar 64 69

135 Wyndham Clark 67 68, Rory McIlroy (N Irl) 68 67, Harold Varner III 67 68

136 Vaughn Taylor 69 67, Adam Scott (Aus) 72 64, Russell Henley 67 69, Sung Kang (Kor) 69 67

137 Rafael Cabrera-Bello (Esp) 68 69, Chez Reavie 69 68

138 Carlos Ortiz (Mex) 68 70, Si Woo Kim (Kor) 69 69, Dustin Johnson 72 66, JB Holmes 69 69, Justin Rose (Eng) 69 69, Jon Rahm (Esp) 70 68, Bryson DeChambeau 68 70, James Hahn 68 70, Paul Casey (Eng) 69 69, Sebastian Munoz (Col) 69 69

139 Luke List 71 68, Joel Dahmen 68 71, Scott Brown 71 68, Brian Harman 70 69, Scott Piercy 70 69

140 Brian Stuard 72 68, Adam Schenk 67 73, Rory Sabbatini (Svk) 72 68, Sergio Garcia (Esp) 70 70, Andrew Landry 68 72, Collin Morikawa 73 67, Patrick Cantlay 68 72, Kyoung-hoon Lee (Kor) 67 73

141 JT Poston 69 72, Alex Noren (Swe) 71 70, Kyle Stanley 71 70, Ryan Palmer 71 70, Lanto Griffin 71 70, Scottie Scheffler 69 72, Denny McCarthy 69 72, Max Homa 72 69, Sam Burns 73 68, Patrick Reed 68 73, Matthew Fitzpatrick (Eng) 71 70

142 Brooks Koepka 69 73, Tiger Woods 69 73, Talor Gooch 70 72, Xander Schauffele 72 70, Marc Leishman (Aus) 70 72, Martin Laird (Sco) 71 71, Adam Hadwin (Can) 71 71, Patrick Rodgers 71 71, J.J. Spaun 73 69, Tyler Duncan 73 69, Jordan Spieth 72 70, Ryan Moore 71 71

143 Steve Stricker 72 71, Bud Cauley 74 69, Hideki Matsuyama (Jpn) 71 72, Pat Perez 73 70, Jason Dufner 75 68, Charles Howell III 77 66, Tony Finau 72 71, Abraham Ancer (Mex) 76 67, Brendon Todd 73 70, Martin Trainer 72 71, Joseph Bramlett 74 69, Cameron Tringale 74 69

MISSED CUT

144 Charley Hoffman 73 71, Scott Stallings 69 75, Sepp Straka (Aut) 71 73, Danny Willett (Eng) 73 71, Nick Taylor (Can) 71 73, Jason Day (Aus) 68 76, Bubba Watson 72 72, Aaron Baddeley (Aus) 71 73, Jim Furyk 70 74, Joaquin Niemann (Chi) 72 72, Adam Long 71 73, Ryan Armour 70 74, Dylan Frittelli (Rsa) 74 70, Troy Merritt 73 71, Jhonattan Vegas (Ven) 75 69, Sungjae Im (Kor) 69 75, Russell Knox (Sco) 74 70

145 Nick Watney 71 74, Jason Kokrak 72 73, Chris Stroud 71 74, Kevin Chappell 71 74, Emiliano Grillo (Arg) 71 74, Danny Lee (Nzl) 72 73, Michael Thompson 69 76, Justin Thomas 74 71, Kevin Tway 72 73, Erik Van Rooyen (Rsa) 71 74, Corey Conners (Can) 70 75

146 Peter Malnati 74 72, Brian Gay 72 74, Branden Grace (Rsa) 73 73, Bronson Burgoon 71 75, Phil Mickelson 72 74, Kiradech Aphibarnrat (Tha) 71 75, Cameron Smith (Aus) 74 72, Jimmy Walker 75 71, Jim Herman 73 73

147 Matthew Wolff 74 73, Kevin Na 74 73, Cheng-Tsung Pan (Tai) 72 75, Nate Lashley 76 71

148 Keegan Bradley 75 73, Sam Ryder 76 72, Aaron Wise 73 75, Cameron Champ 75 73

149 Andrew Putnam 72 77, Matt Jones (Aus) 79 70, Matt Every 73 76

150 Francesco Molinari (Ita) 75 75, Roger Sloan (Can) 74 76

151 Sean Yu (Tpe) 78 73

152 Kyong-jun Moon (Kor) 80 72