LOS ANGELES – Sam Burns saw his five-shot lead shrink to two in a matter of two holes at the end of Saturday afternoon in Riviera, reason to feel discouraged until he realized no one had an easier time on the Genesis Invitational.
Riviera is a test in itself. Throw in raging winds that caused a four-hole delay, and it was tough for everyone.
Burns went 31 consecutive holes with a bogey, a streak ending at No. 8. When the third round was stopped by darkness, he made back-to-back bogeys that brought him down to 10 under par, two shots ahead of Matt Fitzpatrick.
Dustin Johnson, Max Homa and Wyndham Clark were another shot behind.
The third round would resume early on Sunday.
“Even the holes in front of the wind weren’t that much easier because it was hard to put it there on the green,” Burns said. “Just not many options out there today.”
It marked the first time a PGA Tour event had been suspended due to high winds since Torrey Pines in 2016, when just 23 players completed the final round before a 40 mph gust toppled trees and blew windows out of tents.
This wind was strong enough to blow Keegan Bradley’s putt off the 10th green, and it nearly blew Homa’s beautiful 5-iron in the par-5 first into the hole, leaving a weft eagle behind.
When the game resumed it wasn’t much easier.
Only eight of the 67 players managed to hit the green on the 242-meter fourth hole. The 14th par-3 played 189 yards upwind, leaving players with 8 irons and 9 irons. Only 10 hit that green.
“It’s very difficult, no matter upwind, downwind,” Johnson said. “It’s just really hard to judge the distance. But I feel like I’m playing pretty solid. I didn’t really make putts, but I’m happy with where I stand.”
Burns, the 24-year-old from Louisiana going for his first PGA Tour victory, starts on the 14th hole on Sunday.
“It’s a tough race with no wind,” Burns said.
Fitzpatrick had a most bizarre round going through 10 consecutive holes with no par six birdies, four bogeys.
“This golf course does it to you,” Fitzpatrick said. “You really have to hold on, you have to plan your way and miss the right areas, even miss fairways in the right areas with this wind to give you a little better angle. I just have to be really smart here.”
Tiger Woods showed up just as the game was interrupted. Woods is the tournament host who is not playing as he is recovering from fifth back surgery.
The wind blew golf balls onto the green and then the PGA Tour said a communications device had toppled over at the 14th tee and they were bringing everyone in.
Not much changed with the wind when they resumed. Everyone dropped shots and held on for life.
Johnson had three bogeys to three birdies and was only three shots behind. The greens were so firm, the wind so strong that even from 99 yards on the 13th hole, he landed the ball about 15 yards too short and hoped he would roll out enough to give him a chance.
Spieth opened with two birdies, including a 40-footer on the third hole. But he hit two fairway bunkers on the seventh and eighth holes that led to bogey, missed a 3-footer on the 12th and his chip on the 15th was a bit solid, and with the wind and slope he rolled out some 12 yards . He left six shots.
Burns seemed insensitive to it most of the day. He opened with a steady dose of pars, including a great breakaway on the par-3 sixth, where his tee shot was close to a boundary fence. He played it in the rough and on the back of the green, and the ball rolled down to 3 feet.
But he missed a 5.5-meter par-putt on number 8, ending his string of bogey-free holes. Burns missed a short birdie on the ninth, hit a beautiful bunker shot for a tap-in birdie on the 10th and extended his lead to five shots.
It all changed so quickly.
He three-putted from 50 feet on the 12th. And then his wedge on the 13th was far enough over to catch a ledge and roll off a bank in the rough. He grabbed six feet and missed the par putt.
Then the game was stopped.
Fitzpatrick made a 20-foot birdie putt on the 16th hole to reach 8 under, and was suddenly two shots behind. Fitzpatrick was 3 under for the day through 17 holes, the low score of the round so far.
Only 12 other players were below par for their rounds, none better than 2 less. The mean score when the game was interrupted was 73.3.