Racing Post's Genesis Invitational second-round preview & golf betting tips

Golf tips, best bets and player analysis for round two of the Genesis Invitational at Riviera Country Club on the PGA Tour.

Where to watch

Sky Sports Golf, 2.40pm Friday

Best bets

Thomas Pieters to win 7.37pm threeball
1pt 27-20 Hills

Maverick McNealy to win 8.43pm threeball
1pt Evs general

Story so far

Joaquin Niemann, the 55-1 outright recommendation of Racing Post Sport's Steve Palmer, stormed to an early three-shot lead after the first round of a star-studded Genesis Invitational at Riviera Country Club.

The Chilean matched the lowest opening round in the history of the event with nine birdies and a bogey adding up to an eight-under 63.

Last week’s Phoenix Open champion Scottie Scheffler is joined in the chasing pack by Jordan Speith, Cameron Young and reigning Genesis champion Max Homa. They are all three shots behind Niemann.

Collin Morikawa and Justin Thomas, who went eagle-birdie-birdie in a first-round burst from holes one to three (his tenth, 11th and 12th), are part of a glut of players four shots off the lead on four-under. Pre-tournament favourite Jon Rahm is two-under through 18.

Leaderboard
-8 Joaquin Niemann
-5 Scottie Scheffler, Jordan Speith, Cameron Young, Max Homa
-4 CT Pan, Colin Morikawa, Justin Thomas, Jason Kokrak, Cameron Smith, Charley Hoffman
-3 Kevin Tway, Patton Kizzire, Martin Laird, Maverick McNealy, Russell Knox, Adam Long, Carlos Ortiz, Adam Scott, Paul Casey, Dylan Frittelli

Best prices
5 J Niemann, 10 J Thomas, 11 S Scheffler, 12 C Morikawa, 14 J Speith, C Smith, J Rahm, 18 M Homa, 25 R McIlroy, 30 J Kokrak, 33 A Scott, P Cantlay, X Schauffele, 40 bar.

Second-round preview

Two of Steve Palmer’s pre-tournament selections look in good shape, with Joaquin Niemann joined in the first four in the betting by Collin Morikawa, while two threeball punts catch the eye in round two.

Thomas Pieters's tee-to-green game let him down in the first round as he finished two-over but the Belgian's long-game tends to be a strong suit and, if he can right that wrong, he should go well in his threeball matchup with Andrew Putnam and Harry Higgs.

Pieters was runner-up at the Genesis in 2017 and comes into this year’s event as one of the form golfers in the field, having won the Abu Dhabi Championship and finished 12th in the Dubai Desert Classic on the DP World Tour.

Maverick McNealy is another golfer who has been in decent nick this year and the 26-year-old started well in his home state of California, firing a three-under-par opening round.

The former world number one amateur should be able to get the better of James Hahn and Peter Malnati.

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