LOS ANGELES — Dallas native Jordan Spieth signed for the wrong score on Friday at the Genesis Invitational and was disqualified for the first time in the 263 tournaments he has played on the PGA Tour.
Spieth was within three shots of the lead at the turn in the second round at Riviera until he dropped three shots as Patrick Cantlay, playing in his group, began to pull away.
Spieth made bogey on the 18th hole for a 73, leaving him 10 shots behind. But he signed for a 3 on the par-3 fourth hole when he actually made a 4, leading to the disqualification. Spieth had missed the green to the left, chipped to about 4 feet and lipped out.
That left Riviera with a 51-man field for the weekend. This signature event has a 36-hole cut to the top 50 and ties and anyone within 10 shots. The latter wasn't an issue because of Cantlay. The cut came at 1-over 143, eliminating Pebble Beach winner Wyndham Clark and Justin Thomas.
Now it's a matter of trying to catch Cantlay, who at -13 on the tournament can't find much he doesn't like this week.
Even so, the big excitement on the tournament's second day belonged to Spieth's fellow Dallas native, Will Zalatoris, who had a 70 that only looked ordinary on the scorecard.
Zalatoris had five bogeys and four birdies on the day -- and a hole-in-one on the 14th hole.
This particular ace came with a car from the tournament's name sponsor Genesis -- not only for Zalatoris but for his caddie Joel Stock.
“Most of the time when I shoot 1 under it’s like two birdies and a bogey,” Zalatoris said. “Having a hole-in-one thrown in there and a bunch of crazy bogeys is not exactly how we would have drawn it up, but still, we’ll take it around this course.”
The also Dallas-sprung Scottie Scheffler, the world's No. 1 player, had another sublime performance from tee-to-green and more struggles on the greens for a 70.
At -6 through two days, Zalatoris sits in sixth place heading into weekend play. At -4, Scheffler is tied for 11th.
