Joaquin Niemann backed up his opening round 63 with another 63 for a stunning 16-under-par total of 126 to navigate his way to the half-way lead in the Genesis Invitational at famed Riviera Country Club, and while the 23-year-old Chilean proved box office material close to Sunset Boulevard, others with star appeal struggled to survive the cut.
Numbered among the casualties were an out-of-sorts Dustin Johnson, Brooks Koepka and Patrick Cantlay.
At least Rory McIlroy survived to fight another day, but the Northern Irishman’s second round 70 for 139 – all of 13 strokes adrift of Niemann – made for a frustrating time on the course as a number of birdie opportunities went abegging.
McIlroy, who started on the 10th, had only managed a total of 57 feet in putts in his first round but had comfortably moved beyond that through his opening nine holes with birdies on the 11th and 17th, both Par 5s, enabling him to turn in two-under 34 and with the prospect of leapfrogging his way up the leaderboard. It was not to be. The putter went cold.
In fact, McIlroy failed to find a single birdie on his back nine and, as if to rub salt into his wounds, bogeyed the fifth after missing the green with his approach.
Séamus Power on the other hand missed the cut after his 74 left him two over for the tournament.
In contrast, Niemann – whose only PGA Tour win came in the Greenbrier tournament in 2019 – brought the momentum of his opening round into his second day’s play with an eagle-birdie start and he kept his foot on the pedal to turn in 30 strokes and then recovered from a bogey on the 10th with birdies on the 11th, 12th, 14th and 17th to claim the 36-holes lead by two strokes from tour rookie Cameron Young.
Young, a graduate of the Korn Ferry Tour, has moved seamlessly onto the main circuit and has already posted a runner-up finish in the Sanderson Farms in his first season. Young finished with four straight birdies in a 62 to move to 128, as Niemann’s chief pursuer.
Seven birdies
On the Challenge Tour, teenager Tom McKibbin – like McIlroy a product of Holywood Golf Club in Co Down – produced an extraordinary run of seven straight birdies en route to a second round 62 to take the midway lead in the Bain’s Whisky Cape Town Open.
McKibbin’s 62 at Royal Cape moved him to 14-under-par 130 – three shots clear of South African Zander Lombard and Spain’s Ivan Cantero Gutierrez at the midpoint – as the 19-year-old chases a breakthrough win on the circuit which serves as a stepping stone to the DP World Tour in a tournament that is co-sanctioned with the Sunshine Tour.
In an astonishing start, with placing permitted due to conditions, McKibbin birdied his first seven holes for a front nine of 29 and added three more birdies on his back nine.
“It was really good. I was going out there just to try and shoot a good round and I started off with seven birdies in a row, which was very surprising, especially how tight this golf course is.
“It was a very special day. . . . I think not dropping a shot in two rounds is pretty special for me. I just took it one shot at a time, and I think I handled it pretty well.”
Niall Kearney (71 for 138) and Paul Dunne (73 for 139) also made the cut into the weekend, but John Murphy and Cormac Sharvin just missed out.
