PACIFIC PALISADES, Calif. – Notes and observations from Saturday’s play at the Genesis Open, with Dustin Johnson leading by one stroke after two rain-delayed rounds. Tournament officials hope to finish the final two rounds on Sunday. For more Saturday coverage, click here for the Daily Wrap-up. A NEW NO. 1? Dustin Johnson is 36 holes — and 24 hours – away from becoming the world’s top-ranked golfer. Pretty cool, right? The only thing is, he hasn’t exactly obsessed over it. “Obviously I would like to be the best in the world,” said Johnson, currently No. 3 behind Jason Day and Rory McIlroy. “But how you get there is winning golf tournaments. If I win this week and I happen to get to No. 1, great. I’ll definitely be excited, be proud. “But I’ve got to take care of this week first.” If Johnson wins the Genesis Open and Day finishes in a three-way tie for third or worse, then Johnson moves to No. 1 for the first time in his career. Day started the third round tied for 40th at 2 under, eight shots behind Johnson, who has shot a pair of 66s this week at Riviera. Another potential milestone: It would be the 10th consecutive season since Johnson turned pro that he’s won at least one TOUR event, extending the longest active streak on TOUR. To do so, he’ll need to play 36 holes on Sunday, since the leaders were unable to start their third rounds before dusk on Saturday. “Tomorrow’s going to be a long day,” Johnson said, “but as long as we’ve got nice weather, we’ll get it done.” CHASING DUSTIN Most TOUR pros are used to being outdistanced by Dustin Johnson off the tee. His primary chasers Sunday are no exception. Pat Perez averages 294 yards off the tee, ranking him T-80 in driving distance this season. Cameron Tringale averages 277.9 yards, ranking 193rd. Johnson, meanwhile, averages 314.4 yards, second-highest behind Luke List. Yet Perez and Tringale are tied for second, one shot behind Johnson through 36 holes. “Tomorrow with Dustin, he’ll hit 50 yards by me like usual,” Perez said. “That’s actually something that’s easy for me because I don’t have to worry about trying to keep up with him. “I know his game real well … I know my game even better. I’m going to have to play amazing tomorrow to catch him.” Tringale won’t get caught up trying to stay close to Johnson in the fairway. “Just keep doing what I’m doing,” he said, “trying to have some fun out there.” CALL OF THE DAY ABOUT THAT LONG SUNDAY Fog and rain (nearly 3 inches) in the first three days conspired to wreak havoc on the playing schedule. In order to get the tournament in on Sunday, players will go off split tees in threesomes for both the third and final rounds. While most players were able to start their third rounds Saturday, only a handful of holes were played. Two weeks ago, Anirban Lahiri had a 33-hole day in Dubai after a sandstorm wiped out the previous day. “You kind of mentally prepare for it the moment you see the weather building,” Lahiri said. “You start changing your rhythm.” Jordan Spieth finished his second round early Saturday and had to wait all day to see if he would play again. He managed to at least start his third round but hit only two shots before the horn sounded. He called it “weird feeling” but looks forward to Sunday. “We’ve also had days where we’ve had to go 36 holes in a day and I enjoy it,” Spieth said. “It’s think it’s fun when you can kind of stay in a rhythm the whole day and might get something going for 36 straight instead of stopping for 18.” DRAW LUCK. OH, WELL. If your first-round tee time was in the morning, consider your lucky. If it was in the afternoon … sorry. The draw definitely came into play in the first two rounds. Those with early/late tee times averaged 3.26 strokes less than those with late/morning times. Of the 71 players who made the cut, just 26 came from the worse side of the draw. Jonathan Vegas was the best of those 26, at 7 under. “If you start looking at bad breaks and good breaks and good lucks and bad lucks – it’s just a lot happening that’s out of your control,” said Vegas, who woke up early to play four holes on Saturday. He’s tied for fourth with Patrick Rodgers and J.T. Poston. Both of those players got the better end of the draw. “I’ll be the first one to say we’re probably the luckiest group of the week,” Rodgers said. “We were standing on the first tee yesterday with it howling and coming down and blowing sideways and we were all freezing and huddled under the umbrella. We got called off right before and told we were done for the day. “I’m not sure I’ve been much happier on the PGA TOUR than I was yesterday hearing that news. But great conditions this morning once the rain moved away.” SHOT OF THE DAY OLLIE’S LOW-FLIGHT PLAN In his first six rounds this season, rookie Ollie Schniederjans shot 74 or worse five times. No surprise he missed three straight cuts. A change was needed. So Schniederjans returned to a low ball flight that served him well during his junior year at Georgia Tech when he became the No. 1 ranked amateur. His first start after the switch was The RSM Classic. He shot 66-68-66-68 to finish T6. On Saturday, he shot a 2-under 69 to move to 5 under and into a nine-way tie for 11th. It was his 22nd consecutive round of par or better, with 18 of those rounds under par. “My style of play was to hit lasers everywhere and I went back to that after struggling for a while,” Schniederjans said. “It pays off everywhere. It doesn’t matter what the conditions are. If I ever have to hit it high, I just hit it hard and cut it. It works everywhere.” Schniederjans’ third-round scoring average is 68.40, which ranks T27 on TOUR this season, which bodes well for a quick start Sunday. Mentally, he’s in much better shape, confident with his low ball flight. “I’m just more competent. My game is better,” he said. “When I wasn’t playing well, I wasn’t even shooting under par on my home course. It wasn’t any good. Certainly I feel like I’m in a groove with my game now. … Every round I’m giving myself a chance at a low score.” ODDS AND ENDS Perhaps the most shocking result of the week goes to FedExCup leader Hideki Matsuyama, who shot a 9-over 80 in the second round. The score was 12 strokes higher than his opening 68 and resulted in his first missed cut of the season. Matsuyama, world No. 5, had won five of his last 10 worldwide starts, including his last start two weeks ago at the Waste Management Phoenix Open … Four players withdrew prior to the resumption of play Saturday, including defending champion Bubba Watson. Watson was 8 over for the tournament and 5 over for his second round was play was halted early Friday afternoon. The last hole he finished was the par-4 seventh, which he double bogeyed. The WD continues his rollercoaster results at Riviera. In 11 starts, he’s finished inside the top 20 six times (with two wins); the other five times, he’s either missed the cut or WD’d (which he also did in 2011). … First-round leader Sam Saunders had a tough second round, shooting a 6-over 77. At one point late in his round, he was on the cut line before a late birdie gave him breathing room. BEST OF SOCIAL
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