LA JOLLA, Calif. — Thursday’s first spherical of the Genesis Invitational led to brutal circumstances: temperatures within the 50s, a nagging drizzle, and a cold, vicious wind out of the south. Gamers had no selection however to bundle up, carrying outfits you may put on to the ski mountain, to not Torrey Pines South.
Patrick Rodgers went by means of just a few hand heaters, carrying large cart mittens in between pictures. Eire’s Seamus Energy wore further layers, and Tom Kim even used a hand pouch whereas warming up on the driving vary — one thing Josh Allen would put on throughout a Buffalo Payments sport in January.
Denny McCarthy, who leads at 4-under, additionally carried a hand hotter in his again pocket and wore a full suite of layers.
However that didn’t cease him from producing one of many pictures of the day. On the par-5 18th, he had 267 yards left for his second shot. McCarthy had 5-wood in hand however determined to membership up and hit a 3-wood. The choice paid off as he caught it to seven ft and transformed the eagle attempt, which leapfrogged him to the highest of the leaderboard.
“I’m a grindy competitor so I knew it was going to be a problem right now,” McCarthy mentioned.
“I got here out with the angle that I used to be simply going to have enjoyable and attempt to embrace it as a lot as I may.”
Everybody within the subject had their umbrellas out too, donning rain gear in an try to remain dry. Every participant additionally went by means of a number of gloves, doing their finest to maintain their arms and their grips dry. All of this makes life extraordinarily tough for the caddies.
“I’d a lot fairly be the participant than the caddie,” Rodgers joked after posting a 3-under 69, one among simply three sub-70 rounds on Thursday. Energy additionally shot 69.
“The night time earlier than, you see the forecast, and also you simply comprehend it’s going to be actually tough. It virtually looks like when you’re on the market, you may need to get by means of it one shot at a time, nevertheless it’s the daunting nature of understanding you’ve acquired to spend 18 holes with the tough the way in which that it’s, the size of the golf course and the climate that was forecasted, it’s no straightforward activity.”
The South Course at Torrey Pines options overseeded ryegrass that’s U.S. Open thick. Rory McIlroy, Scottie Scheffler, and Wyndham Clark — and each participant, for that matter — have taken huge hacks out of the tough, struggling to advance the ball greater than 150 yards on a number of events. With the wind whipping, discovering the fairways — a necessity on this course — grew to become fairly difficult. No surprise solely 13 of the 72 gamers on this week’s subject posted under-par scores.
“Actually, on a golf course like this, it’s going to be robust,” Energy mentioned.
“You simply know what’s coming, and there’s no actual letup; you’ve acquired to hit some good pictures. That’s the fantastic thing about this golf course. It’s proper there in entrance of you, however you do need to hit lots of good pictures in a row, and it’s going to check each a part of your sport.”
Jack Milko is a golf employees author for SB Nation’s Enjoying By means of. Observe him on X @jack_milko.
