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PACIFIC PALISADES, Calif. — L.A. is the perfect town for sports. It’s a place where every script gets rewritten, where a horror story can morph into a fairytale, where last year’s villain can be this week’s hero. And that’s the movie Matt Kuchar is hoping to see.
Kuchar shot a 7-under-par 64 in the opening round of the Genesis Invitational at Riviera Country Club to take the lead over a chasing pack that included both leading men (Rory McIlroy, Tiger Woods) and bit-part players (Russell Henley, Wyndham Clark). Kuchar’s score bettered last year’s first round by four strokes, but that wasn’t the only way in which things improved for the nine-time PGA Tour winner.
A year ago Kuchar arrived at Riviera at the center of the kind of public relations nightmare that would make hardened Hollywood spin doctors cringe. For more than a month, his once pristine ‘golly gee’ reputation had been spit-roasted on social media after it emerged he paid a temporary Mexican caddie a fraction of what his regular bagman would have earned for his victory at the Mayakoba Classic several months earlier.
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Even casual sports fans who don’t understand golf do understand cheap, and Kuchar was loudly heckled at several tournaments, including the ’19 Genesis. “Go low, Kuch!,” one wag shouted at him during the first round. “Just not on the gratuity.” By day’s end, Kuchar apologized and said he’d pay the stiffed caddie an extra $50,000. He went on to finish T-28, earning $50,320, which barely covered gas money spent idling in L.A. traffic after the caddie fee was deducted.
But this is a town where stars are quickly forgiven for mistreating the help, and it was polite applause rather than heckles that greeted a more cheerful Kuchar this year. “It’s a place that I absolutely love coming every year,” he said afterward.
His pursuers include McIlroy, who was playing his first round as world No. 1 in almost five years. The Northern Irishman’s opening 68 included as many eagles as bogeys (a brace of each) and he predicted things will only get tougher as the week goes on. “The afternoon tomorrow is going to play a lot different than how it played this morning, it’s going to be dry again and the course is going to firm up,” he said. “It’s going to keep getting trickier and you’re going to have to really think your way around this place. I’m looking forward to that.”
McIlroy is facing challengers who could depose him from the top spot in the rankings with solid performances at Riviera. Brooks Koepka, the man McIlroy ousted on Monday, can return the favor. Koepka shot 69 to keep himself in the mix. Jon Rahm, the fiery Spaniard who can also become No. 1 this week was among the later starters and also playing well.
A victory for tournament host Tiger Woods would give him a record-breaking 83rd win on the PGA Tour, but it would be his first at the venue where he debuted as a 16-year-old amateur in 1992. There is no other event on Tour that Woods has played as often without a win. The Masters champion was among the later starters but announced himself early with an eagle at the opening hole. By the time Kuchar was slipping off his spikes in the locker room, a surging Woods was within three shots of his lead.
Golf is not an ensemble sport. There is room for just one principal player on Sunday night, no matter how many stars are jostling for the part. But for one day at least, last year’s villain could bask in being this week’s hero. “To shoot a number like this, you kind of do most things well,” Kuchar said earnestly. “I didn’t find myself in much trouble today.”
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