Max Homa will head into the weekend of the 2023 Genesis Invitational with the solo lead at 10 under. The 2021 champion was the last man to complete his second round on Friday after play was suspended due to darkness with 14 players still on the golf course.
After sharing the first-round lead with Keith Mitchell, Homa was relatively mundane out the gates on Friday. Carding two birdies against two bogeys on his opening nine, the California native caught fire on his inward half. Four birdies on his second nine propelled Homa back to the top of the leaderboard, and just as he was creating some space between himself and the field, a bogey on the last dropped his lead back to one.
Homa's one-stroke margin falls over Mitchell, Lee Hodges at Jon Rahm at 9 under. While Homa is arguably the hottest player in the state of California, Rahm is arguably the hottest player in the world. Bagging two victories already in 2023, the Spaniard looks primed to enter the winner's circle for the first time at Riviera Country Club.
Collin Morikawa, Rory McIlroy, Patrick Cantlay and Will Zalatoris all find themselves with striking distance of Homa, too, and should be factors over the final 36 holes. On the other end of the spectrum, Justin Thomas and Tiger Woods struggled in Round 2 and will aim to play themselves back into the tournament with a strong Saturday performance.
The leader
1. Max Homa (-10)
There isn't much more that needs to be said of Homa. His climb back to relevance has been told time and time again, and it is simply a pleasure to watch him thrive on golf's biggest stages. A winner just two starts ago at Torrey Pines, Homa is at it again on a difficult, classical golf course. Many have projected Rahm to be the first player to win three times on the PGA Tour this season, but it is actually Homa who is in the driver seat claim three titles first.
Other contenders
T2. Keith Mitchell, Jon Rahm, Lee Hodges (-9)
5. Collin Morikawa (-8)
6. Patrick Cantlay (-7)
T7. Rory McIlroy, Matt Kuchar (-6)
T9. Danny Willet, Gary Woodland, Will Zalatoris (-5)
After failing to finish inside the top 10 at the WM Phoenix Open for the first time since August, McIlroy has looked like his normal self this week. He played alongside Tiger Woods and Justin Thomas the first two days and hindered by a rather poor performance on the greens. McIlroy ranks second in strokes-gained tee to green, and if he can find some form with the putter he should threaten for his second win of this PGA Tour season.
"I played really well, tee to green I feel like I -- I'm right there. I feel like I've left a lot of shots out there the last couple of days, I just haven't got any putts to drop," said McIlroy. "So, it was nice to see that one drop at the last today eventually ... it's just misreads a little bit, just sort of having a tough time trusting my reads. Like, technically I'm good. I think from like inside five or six feet I've been really good, it's just outside of that range I haven't really got a lot to drop. For me, I think that means more just reading the greens properly rather than anything technical, which is a good thing."
Is Hodges this week's Nick Taylor?
This leaderboard features a number of heavy hitters ... and then the world No. 198 Hodges at 9 under. The Alabama product experienced a so-so rookie campaign in 2022 highlighted by a T3 at The American Express and T9 at the Honda Classic but has been without quality form for quite some time. In 11 starts in the 2022-23 season, Hodges has missed seven cuts including all four in 2023.
This scenario certainly draws parallels to last week at the WM Phoenix Open. Canadian Nick Taylor came into the week outside the top 200 in the Official World Golf Rankings and went toe to toe with world No. 1 Scottie Scheffler. While he ultimately came up short, Taylor collected valuable OWGR points and the biggest payday of his career.
Tiger's putting woes nearly cost him
The 47-year-old electrified the golf world with an opening 2-under 69 on Thursday. On Friday, he left them on the edge of their seats on the other end of the spectrum by tumbling down the leaderboard with a 3-over 74. Despite a poor effort on the greens to offset a nice day with the irons, Woods made the cut on the number.
"I did not putt well today; I blocked a lot of putts early and this is probably the highest score I could have shot today," said Woods. "Probably should have shot probably five or six better than this easily. Just didn't make the putts early and the middle part of the round when I had those opportunities. And they weren't very hard putts, I just hit bad putts and obviously had a very bad finish, too."
2023 Genesis Invitational updated odds and picks
Odds via Caesars Sportsbook
- Jon Rahm: 23/10
- Max Homa: 13/5
- Collin Morikawa: 6-1
- Rory McIlroy: 17/2
- Patrick Cantlay: 10-1
- Keith Mitchell: 11-1
- Lee Hodges: 22-1
- Scottie Scheffler: 30-1
- Will Zalatoris: 45-1
At this stage in the tournament, the play is either McIlroy at 17/2 or Zalatoris at 45-1. Having already highlighted McIlroy's tee-to-green expertise above, we will touch on Zalatoris. The 26-year-old currently leads the field in strokes-gained off the tee and is only five strokes behind Homa with one hole to play in his second round. If able to make par on the 18th, Zalatoris is in a prime chaser's position heading into Round 3 at 5 under. The putter has been cold, but his ball striking should give him enough scoring opportunities where it may not matter.