Fantasy golf: One & Done, Quicken Loans National

LOS ANGELES — Sam Burns had the ideal start at The Riviera Country Club. His finish was even better. RELATED: Leaderboard | Willie Mack III holds his own at The Genesis Invitational Burns opened with an 18-foot eagle putt and closed with three straight birdies Thursday in The Genesis Invitational, giving him a 7-under 64, the third time this season he has shot 64 in the opening round. The 24-year-old Burns is still looking for his first PGA TOUR victory. On one of the best courses of the year, against another stacked field, it was a good first step. “This golf course at times doesn’t offer you a lot of opportunities,” Burns said. “So I think just with that mindset going in we were just going to take what we could get.” He had a two-shot lead over Matt Fitzpatrick and Max Homa, who grew up 30 miles away in Valencia and used to attend the PGA TOUR event at Riviera as a kid. Patrick Cantlay, coming off chances to win in Palm Springs and Pebble Beach, extended his run of good play with four birdies on his back nine and was in a large group at 67. Dustin Johnson, who has played Riviera as consistently well as anyone over the last 10 years, couldn’t take advantage of the par 5s and still scrapped his way around to a 68, mainly by taking five putts over the last six holes. “You can’t ask for a course in better shape,” said Johnson. “The greens are perfect. It’s firm and fast. This golf course plays really difficult when it’s firm and fast. You have to be in the right position or you’ve got no chance.” Also at 68 were Brooks Koepka, coming off a victory two weeks ago in Phoenix, and Jordan Spieth, who had at least a share of the 54-hole lead the last two weeks as he tries to end a slump that dates to the 2017 Open Championship. Riviera has a reputation of playing tough even as the game evolves. The 72-hole record, 20-under 264 that Lanny Wadkins set in 1985, has stood the longest of any PGA TOUR event. It was tough enough for Justin Thomas, wo opened with a 77 despite birdies on two of his last three holes. Thomas also had three double bogeys, two of them when he three-putted from inside 6 feet (one was a four-putt). Bryson DeChambeau had a 75. Tae Hoon Kim, who won the Genesis Championship on the Korean PGA last fall to earn an exemption, had the wildest day of all. He started by laying up on the short par-4 10th, which proved a smart play with such firm conditions, and made it pay off with a 10-foot birdie. He holed a bunker shot next to the green on the par-5 11th for eagle. Kim made another eagle with a hole-in-one on the 16th hole. He had another eagle attempt from 40 feet on the fringe at the par-5 first, just missing for a tap-in birdie to reach 5 under. And then he dropped four shots on his next three holes and wound up with a 69. Burns kept a steady hand, dropping shots only on the par-3 sixth when he came up short of a front pin, and at the tough 12th hole into a stiffening afternoon breeze when he found a front bunker. He made enough birdies in the middle of his round to atone for a few mistakes. And mistakes were never too hard to find. “It was one of those days where it’s just as easy to shoot 2 or 3 under as it is to shoot 2 or 3 over,” said Rory McIlroy, who had to settle for the latter after a 73. “There’s a couple of good scores out there, but you didn’t have to do too much wrong to be hovering around even par and be on the other side of it.” Fitzpatrick holed a 45-foot birdie putt on the par-3 14th, made birdie on the next par 3 at the 16th and after making the turn, holed a 25-foot eagle putt on No. 1, which has yielded more eagles than any par 5 on TOUR since 2004. “It’s a great start, couldn’t ask for any better,” Fitzpatrick said. “I feel like I struggle a little bit on poa annua, so to see them how they are this week, so firm and fast, they’re as true as I’ve ever seen. It’s a big advantage of me.” The 10th hole, among the best short par 4s in America, created plenty of challenges. In the morning, Cantlay missed his target by 2 yards and was in just a bad spot that he played some 60 feet away from the flag. In the morning, Spieth thought he was in a good spot until he saw a palm tree in his way. Going to the right was dangerous. So was going to the left. He thought about going under a tree. Ultimately, he went left and pulled it off to perfect. “Couldn’t do that again with a bucket of balls,” he told his caddie. “The shot of the day for me,” Spieth said. “That could have easily been a 5 and it turned out to be a 3.”

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PACIFIC PALISADES, Calif. – For a moment it looked like Tiger Woods might post something historic in the third round of the Genesis Open but in the end the tournament host had to settle for his best round at Riviera Country Club in 15 years. Woods returned in the early hours of Sunday morning to finish off his third round after getting off to a flying start late Saturday. The 80-time PGA TOUR winner had opened with a birdie, eagle, birdie, birdie run to send the crowds into frenzy as darkness fell. Come Sunday, Woods capped off a par on the par-5 17th, his eighth hole of the round, and did likewise on the 18th. Then a precision approach inside 10-feet on the par-5 1st set up his second eagle of the round, meaning Woods sat 7 under through 10 holes and eyeing off the course record of 61. Unfortunately he was unable to maintain the rage, playing the final eight holes in 1 over thanks to a bogey on the par-4 8th. Still the 6-under 65 was Woods’ lowest score at Riviera Country Club since a fourth round 64 in 2004. As Woods prepared to be sent back out for his final round, he stood tied 14th for the week at 7 under, 10 shots adrift of Justin Thomas’ lead.

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PLAYA DEL CARMEN, Mexico — Danny Lee felt like he could make everything Friday, and for the longest time he did. Already at 10-under par through 13 holes, Lee started thinking about a sub-60 round when he hit a downhill birdie putt too hard and wound up three-putting for bogey. Four pars later, he had to settle for a 9-under 62 and a one-shot lead in the Mayakoba Golf Classic. “Definitely, it was in my head, 59 or 58,” Lee said. “I never shot that score out on the PGA TOUR before, so I really wanted to make that happen. On 14, I had a 3% downhill, less than 15-footer for birdie. Just one of those days I felt like I can make anything. I just gave a little too much extra and hit it through the break and missed the next one coming back. “I was a little bit bummed out on that one,” he said. “But still, 9 under is a great start.” Lee had a one-shot lead over Adam Long and Brendon Todd, who resurrected his career two weeks ago with a win in the Bermuda Championship. The first round started a day late because of heavy rains — more than 9 inches since Monday — that left El Camaleon flooded and forced a washout Thursday. The second round was scheduled for Saturday, and because of limited daylight in November, the tournament will not end until Monday. Lee shot 29 on the front nine, including a five-hole stretch he played in 6 under. The 62 matched his career-best round on the PGA TOUR, a 62 he shot in the third round of the 2015 John Deere Classic. Long and Todd already have won this year — Long at the Desert Classic in January when he beat Phil Mickelson, and Todd in a big surprise in Bermuda. “I proved in Bermuda that I can kind of get into that mentality where I can go low again, and I basically started the day and said, `Let’s try and birdie every hole.’ I know it’s going to be soft and there’s going to be birdies out there.” He had four birdies on each side against no bogeys on the rain-softened course. Defending champion Matt Kuchar had a pair of double bogeys in his round of 69 that left him seven shots behind. Lee’s only PGA TOUR victory was four years ago at the Greenbrier. He is coming off a strong Asian swing, with a runner-up finish to Justin Thomas at the CJ Cup in South Korea, and a tie for 10th in Japan, where Tiger Woods won his 82nd career PGA TOUR title. He was runner-up to Kuchar a year ago, and he tied for third at Mayakoba in 2015. “Something about this course that just suits my eye very well,” Lee said. “I can read the breaks very well and I putted very well today.” Past champion Graeme McDowell was among those at 66, along with Abraham Ancer of Mexico.

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