England’s Aaron Rai made an eagle at the par-5 1st holes as well as six birdies and two bogeys and currently holds the Genesis Invitational lead at 6-under through sixteen holes.
Rai has won once in 115 PGA Tour starts (2024 Wyndham Championship). He has made two starts this season (T50/Sony Open in Hawaii, T73/AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am).
He finished No. 58 in the 2025 FedExCup Fall standings after qualifying for the FedExCup Playoffs for the fourth consecutive
year.
Jacob Bridgeman also eagled the first hole and added five birdies and a double bogey at the par-3 4th to close with a 5-under 66 for a share of second place.
The American has had two top-10s in four starts this season (T4/Sony Open in Hawaii, T8/AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am). His career-best result was T2 at the 2025 Cognizant Classic in the Palm Beaches.
Northern Ireland’s Rory McIlroy made six birdies and one bogey for his own 66, his lowest opening-round at Riviera Country Club, and a share of second place.
“I’ve definitely got more comfortable playing in conditions like this over the past few years as I’ve gotten more comfortable in controlling my ball flight, and controlling my ball flight taking a lot more club, hitting the ball low,” said McIlroy.
“And I’ve started to just really enjoy this style of golf. If you had asked me 10 years ago, I didn’t enjoy these conditions, but it’s been a shift in a mindset and maybe just a continuation of trying to build upon the skill set that I have. Then when it does get to conditions like this, I’m a lot more prepared. I wouldn’t say I enjoy them, but I can certainly handle them better.”
The World No. 2 is making his second start of the season after finishing T14 at last week’s AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am.
New Zealand’s Ryan Fox made two bogeys for a 67 and lies in solo fourth place at 4-under.
Defending champion Ludvig Åberg of Sweden is T44 at 1-over having made five birdies, three bogeys and a double bogey at the par-3 4th for a 72.
World No. 1 Scottie Scheffler of the United States has made three bogeys and one double bogey at the par-4 8th so far and is currently T71 at 5-over through ten holes.
Not all heroes wear capes 👏 pic.twitter.com/EZI53mMHpU
— PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) February 19, 2026
The first round was suspended due to inclement weather at 10:13 a.m. PT and resumed at 1:05 p.m. (a delay of 2 hours, 52 minutes).
Play was suspended due to darkness at 5:41 p.m. and is scheduled to resume Friday morning at 7 a.m. with 30 players yet to complete their round. The second round will begin at 7:40 a.m.
The Genesis Invitational marks the 100-year anniversary since the first playing of the event in 1926. Riviera is one of nine
venues on the PGA Tour’s 2026 schedule that has hosted a PGA Tour event for 50 or more years.
The three player-hosted Signature Events (The Genesis Invitational, Arnold Palmer Invitational, the Memorial Tournament) are the only Signature Events that feature a 36-hole cut (the low 50 and ties and any additional players within 10 strokes of the 36-hole lead.
Related: Record Golf Participation in Great Britain as 2025 Sets New Benchmark
| Pos. | Player | To Par | Thru | R1 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Aaron Rai | -6 | 16 | - |
| T2 | Jacob Bridgeman | -5 | F | 66 |
| T2 | Rory McIlroy | -5 | F | 66 |
| 4 | Ryan Fox | -4 | F | 67 |
| T5 | Pierceson Coody | -3 | F | 68 |
| T5 | Akshay Bhatia | -3 | F | 68 |
| T5 | Collin Morikawa | -3 | F | 68 |
| T5 | Aldrich Potgieter | -3 | F | 68 |
| T5 | Max Greyserman | -3 | F | 68 |
| T5 | Si Woo Kim | -3 | 11 | - |
| T5 | Marco Penge | -3 | 9 | - |
| T12 | Jhonattan Vegas | -2 | F | 69 |
| T12 | Taylor Pendrith | -2 | F | 69 |
| T12 | Maverick McNealy | -2 | F | 69 |
| T12 | Viktor Hovland | -2 | F | 69 |
| T12 | Hideki Matsuyama | -2 | F | 69 |
| T12 | Tommy Fleetwood | -2 | F | 69 |
| T12 | Ryo Hisatsune | -2 | 15 | - |
| T12 | Harry Hall | -2 | 12 | - |
| T20 | Matt McCarty | -1 | F | 70 |
| T20 | Sam Burns | -1 | F | 70 |
| T20 | Adam Scott | -1 | F | 70 |
| T20 | Max Homa | -1 | F | 70 |
| T20 | Matt Fitzpatrick | -1 | 15 | - |
| T20 | Jason Day | -1 | 14 | - |
| T20 | Brian Harman | -1 | 13 | - |
| T20 | Min Woo Lee | -1 | 10 | - |
| T20 | Wyndham Clark | -1 | 9 | - |
| T29 | Sami Valimaki | Par | F | 71 |
| T29 | Kurt Kitayama | Par | F | 71 |
| T29 | Matti Schmid | Par | F | 71 |
| T29 | Sahith Theegala | Par | F | 71 |
| T29 | Patrick Rodgers | Par | F | 71 |
| T29 | Tom Kim | Par | F | 71 |
| T29 | Lucas Glover | Par | 16 | - |
| T29 | Tony Finau | Par | 16 | - |
| T29 | Max McGreevy | Par | 16 | - |
| T29 | Corey Conners | Par | 13 | - |
| T29 | Sepp Straka | Par | 12 | - |
| T29 | Chris Gotterup | Par | 11 | - |
| T29 | Robert MacIntyre | Par | 11 | - |
| T29 | Xander Schauffele | Par | 11 | - |
| T29 | Jordan Spieth | Par | 10 | - |
| T44 | Bud Cauley | +1 | F | 72 |
| T44 | Michael Kim | +1 | F | 72 |
| T44 | Cameron Young | +1 | F | 72 |
| T44 | Ludvig Åberg | +1 | F | 72 |
| T44 | Ryan Gerard | +1 | F | 72 |
| T44 | Denny McCarthy | +1 | F | 72 |
| T44 | Rickie Fowler | +1 | F | 72 |
| T44 | Andrew Novak | +1 | 13 | - |
| T44 | Nick Taylor | +1 | 14 | - |
| T44 | Patrick Cantlay | +1 | 12 | - |
| T54 | Rico Hoey | +2 | F | 73 |
| T54 | Jake Knapp | +2 | F | 73 |
| T54 | Tom Hoge | +2 | F | 73 |
| T54 | Ben Griffin | +2 | F | 73 |
| T54 | Shane Lowry | +2 | F | 73 |
| T54 | Kevin Yu | +2 | F | 73 |
| T54 | Alex Noren | +2 | 14 | - |
| T54 | Russell Henley | +2 | 13 | - |
| T54 | Harris English | +2 | 13 | - |
| T54 | Daniel Berger | +2 | 10 | - |
| T54 | Brian Campbell | +2 | 9 | - |
| T65 | Nico Echavarria | +3 | F | 74 |
| T65 | J.J. Spaun | +3 | F | 74 |
| T65 | Sam Stevens | +3 | F | 74 |
| T65 | Justin Rose | +3 | 11 | - |
| T69 | J.T. Poston | +4 | F | 75 |
| T69 | Garrick Higgo | +4 | 16 | - |
| T71 | Keegan Bradley | +5 | F | 76 |
| T71 | Scottie Scheffler | +5 | 10 | - |
