Max Homa closed with a 68 on Friday to take a one-shot lead in the Genesis Invitational.

“Yeah, it’s exciting — 36-hole leads are awesome. Like I said, there’s a long way to go, but regardless, I can rest on the fact I’m playing great golf and I’m just going to try and do that for two more days.

“I’m not really sure why I play so well in California. Obviously there’s some comfortability with the grass and how far the ball goes. I don’t know. This golf course in particular does suit me really well. It suits a lot of the shots I like to hit. That’s my best estimation. I enjoy that it seems to work well in these tournaments because they’ve been big events. San Diego, here, it’s been cool to feel comfortable on two major golf courses with major fields, so I’ve been very lucky with that.”

HOW?!

@MaxHoma23 with the par save of the day @TheGenesisInv. pic.twitter.com/sfR3TIgMuE

— PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) February 18, 2023

The American, who has already won twice this season, had a round consisting of five birdies, including three in a row around the turn, as well as two bogeys.

Tied behind Homa at 9-under are compatriots Keith Mitchell (69) and Lee Hodges (66) as well as Spain’s Jon Rahm (68) who shot eagles at the par-5s 1st and 17th.

“A bit of fortune, a bit of good timing. It’s a difficult golf course out there,” said Rahm. “Yesterday morning it was still a little bit softer so you could be a bit more
aggressive. Those greens were getting a little crunchy and a little firmer, so the margins are already small on this golf course and you’re playing with even smaller margins with running fairways and firm greens, not to add the poa annua factor in the afternoon. So to just shoot even par I’m really happy about because it did not look good for a while and luckily I got it together for the last seven holes.”

American Collin Morikawa rounds out the top five at 8-under after closing with a 68.

Tiger Woods closed with with three bogeys over his final four holes for a 74. He is currently T60 at 1-over and is projected to make the cut.

“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. 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.”

Play was suspended due to darkness and will resume Saturday morning.

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