Dustin Johnson tied for early lead as Spieth sent packing

Hideki Matsuyama tees off on the 12th hole during the first round of the Northern Trust Open golf tournament at Riviera Country Club on Thursday, Feb. 18, 2016, in Los Angeles. Spieth carded his worst ever opening round with a 79 and he responded with a three-under 68, which included eight birdies, but it was not enough to keep him in the tournament.

McIlroy is in a group of five players that includes Australian Adam Scott and South Korea’s KJ Choi.

Rory McIlroy just proved it once again. He followed with three birdies and an eagle at the par-5 first, only to make triple bogey on No. 2 when his tee shot hit a cart path and was next to the out-of-bounds fence. I think for me, that’s the more hard nine on this golf course. “When you have that many opportunities, you’re going to do well”.

Long-hitting Kokrak surged up the leaderboard with a 64 to finish at 132 after 36 holes in the US$6.8 million (S$9.6 million) US PGA Tour event.

On the weekend of what the local media has dubbed the Corona “Car-mageddon”, it somehow seems fitting there’s a traffic jam near the top of the leaderboard heading into the weekend at the Northern Trust Open.

“A bogey from the middle of the fairway at 13 and then to three-putt 15… two unforced errors there”.

Reavie is a former victor of the Canadian Open but was forced back to the Web.Com Tour Finals a year ago in order to regain his PGA Tour status which he was able to do.

The 31-year-old American lost in a sudden-death playoff to James Hahn last year and finished second in 2014 to this year’s third-round leader, Bubba Watson.

Watson was far more boring. That’s one indication that anything goes on the weekend off Sunset Boulevard.

“I take my clubs out of the travel cover to make sure nothing is broken”, he said. He was hitting the ball well.

And Spieth, who takes a two-week break before playing the World Golf Championships-Cadillac Championship, said: “I guess Rory is considering this as the start to his run at the Masters”.

McIlroy rolled in another excellent putt from just inside 30 feet to close out an accomplished front nine, but a poor drive and a chunked pitch at the next cost him his first blemish of the day.

Watson, however, has two advantages over Johnson as he targets a ninth career victory on the PGA Tour. “It’s a different venue for you when you’re not there a lot”. “I guess being a past champion here they respect that”.

Don’t miss the final round at Riviera. Schwartzel couldn’t relate to that on Friday.

And he still shot 68 and was four behind. He caught a plugged lie in a bunker on the treacherous 10th to start his round and made double bogey.

A three-putt on the 18th proved costly for New Zealand’s Lee, who missed the cut by a solitary shot after an even-par 71 left him one over for the tournament.

“Last year I bogeyed it, which was terrible”, Johnson said.