On a day at Riviera Country Club that featured everything from a deluge of rain to a 3-hour weather delay to wind gusts hovering around 30 miles per hour, a man who has done just about everything in the game of golf rose to the top of the leaderboard. Rory McIlroy was nearly flawless in the first round of the 2026 Genesis Invitational, shooting his lowest-ever score across the first 18 holes at Riviera with a 5-under 66 to sit one stroke behind Aaron Rai.
Round 1 was suspended due to darkness with the likes of world No. 1 Scottie Scheffler, Xander Schauffele and Jordan Spieth all needing to complete the majority of their back nines on Friday when play resumes at 7 a.m. PT.
Scheffler will take the interruption in stride as he was 5 over through 10 holes, 11 strokes off the lead and tied for last place when play was called. It’s the third straight week in which the best player in the game has slipped out of the gate.
McIlroy, meanwhile, was among the first players on the golf course; as such, he was able to finish his first round. He now looks to do what neither tournament host Tiger Woods nor legend Jack Nicklaus accomplished in their careers: win at the historic venue that is Riviera. On the line is not only the trophy and a signature event purse but the five-time major champion reaching the 30-win mark on the PGA Tour.
“I’ve definitely got more comfortable playing in conditions like this over the past few years as I’ve gotten more comfortable in controlling my ball flight, and controlling my ball flight taking a lot more club, hitting the ball low,” McIlroy said. “I’ve started to just really enjoy this style of golf.
“If you had asked me 10 years ago, I didn’t enjoy these conditions, but it’s been a shift in a mindset and maybe just a continuation of trying to build upon the skill set that I have. Then, when it does get to conditions like this, I’m a lot more prepared. I wouldn’t say I enjoy them, but I can certainly handle them better.”
If McIlroy plays the next 54 holes in the same manner as his first 18, he will win this tournament. Battling and overcoming the conditions, he played golf in its truest essence — flighting drives depending on the wind direction, leaving himself with easy leaves and taking care of the scoring holes.
Attacking the early portions of both nines, McIlroy started his round emphatically, making birdie on three of his first four holes to propel himself to the top of the leaderboard. His birdie on the newly lengthened par-3 4th came right out of the rain delay as his first stroke produced a 30-foot birdie.
Once the rain subsided, wind entered the equation, and McIlroy answered masterfully. Showing off every tool in his belt, the 36-year-old headlined his grouping that featured another round in the 60s from Tommy Fleetwood — the Englishman has broken 70 in 20 straight PGA Tour rounds — and a nifty 68 from last week’s winner Collin Morikawa.
“Just trying to keep the same mindset essentially,” Morikawa said. “You don’t want to get too relaxed, but you also want to kind of find that zone to go out and play golf. A long day, a lot of back and forth kind of rain, no rain, a lot of wind, no wind. Just was able to get the ball in the hole, which was kind of the whole goal.”
Leader
1. Aaron Rai (-6): Known as a Point A to Point B type of player, Rai kept everything in front of him on Thursday, and he was rewarded with a stellar performance on the greens. The Englishman opened with an eagle, tacked on six more birdies and made putts from nearly 80 feet on No. 9, 7 feet on No. 11, 21 feet on No. 13, 12 feet on No. 15 and finally 7 feet on No. 16. He will have a chance to extend his lead Friday morning as he starts his day on the par-5 17th.
Contenders
T2. Rory McIlroy, Jacob Bridgeman (-5)
4. Ryan Fox (-4)
T5. Pierceson Coody, Akshay Bhatia, Collin Morikawa, Aldrich Potgieter, Max Greyserman, Si Woo Kim, Marco Penge (-3)
T12. Jhonattan Vegas, Taylor Pendrith, Maverick McNealy, Viktor Hovland, Hideki Matsuyama, Tommy Fleetwood, Ryo Hisatsune, Harry Hall (-2)
Only two weeks into his PGA Tour season, and Hovland is already searching for answers with his driver. He may have found them on Thursday. Missing only two fairways, the Norwegian looked noticeably more comfortable with the big stick in hand and was sensational from tee to green. He will need to clean up his play on and around the green as all three bogeys were courtesy of some sloppy play in that area, but if his full swing is in order, he should love his placement.
“You might have seen the band drill that I was messing around with now. It’s still trying to serve the same purpose, but I feel like that actually made it easier for me to find something tangible that I could take out on the golf course,” Hovland said. “Trying to just get a little bit wider in the downswing, not trying to pull my arms as close to me. That’s what the floaties were for, trying to get some space in the downswing. It was just hard to feel that when I took the floaties away.
“But the band, because it forces your body to push against the tension, and then when you take it away, it’s like, ‘Wow, that’s what it’s supposed to feel like.’ We’re not quite all there yet, even though this is a great round of golf, but that was a huge step in the right direction.”
Scheffler’s Thursday struggles continue
It was an inauspicious start from the world No. 1 on the first hole as Scheffler found the surface on the easy par 5 only to need three putts and walk off the green with a par. That ultimately told the tale of his day as Scheffler never made it easy on himself.
With two bogeys in his first six holes, he started to head even further south on the leaderboard when he made a head-scratching double bogey on No. 8, which featured another three-putt. He turned in 4 over, made an ugly bogey on the devilish, short par-4 10th and made par on another scoring chance on the par-5 11th to put a bow on his day.
Like the last three weeks, Scheffler faces a long climb back, and unlike last week, he will be staring the cutline directly in the face as the top 50 players and ties (as well as those within 10 strokes of the leader) will secure tee times over the weekend.
2026 Genesis Invitational updated odds, picks
Odds via DraftKings Sportsbook
- Rory McIlroy: +350
- Aaron Rai: 10-1
- Si Woo Kim: 13-1
- Jacob Bridgeman: 15-1
- Collin Morikawa: 15-1
- Tommy Fleetwood: 18-1
- Hideki Matsuyama: 19-1
Scheffler is at 26-1, if that tickles your fancy, but instead, we will look at someone else on the golf course with holes remaining in his first round: Matt Fitzpatrick at 36-1. The Englishman is 1 under, through 15 holes and will have a couple of scoring chances coming in Friday morning. He made nothing on the greens Thursday, so if his fortunes change, he will make up some ground.