Aaron Rai leads after a rainy, blustery Thursday at Riviera

PACIFIC PALISADES, Calif. — Los Angeles knows a good leading man and a box office draw when it sees one. It also knows that sometimes the biggest names don’t get top billing on opening day.

Riviera Country Club gave golf fans a three-act thriller Thursday at the Genesis Invitational. Act I began with morning rain. Act II was a nearly three-hour delay that forced players and spectators to find shelter and stay warm. At 1:05 p.m., play resumed for Act III, a blustery, chilly test on the classic 1926 George Thomas and William Bell design.

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When play was suspended due to darkness at 5:41 p.m. local time (8:41 p.m. ET), 34 players had not completed their first round.

Aaron Rai, who finished 16 holes, is the overnight leader at 6 under. Jacob Bridgeman posted a 5-under 66 that was matched by Rory McIlroy. A pack of co-stars sits at 3 under, including Collin Morikawa, Akshay Bhatia and Pierceson Coody, below McIlroy’s marquee name.

Even before play was suspended at 10:13 a.m., Riviera never really felt settled as everyone knew what was coming. Oddly, the greens were soft yet still quick, a strange combination that encouraged aggression and punished miscalculation.

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Rai wasted no time stepping into the spotlight. He opened with an eagle on the first hole, then added six birdies against two bogeys. His putting was lights out as he holed 32-footer for the eagle on the first, then followed it up with a 79-foot bomb at the ninth. In a field loaded with star power, he was the character actor who was trying to steal the show.

McIlroy finished as the sun faded and said, “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.”

He has embraced trajectory control more over the last year, hitting three-quarter shots, flighted mid-irons and taking spin off the ball. But the soft 18th, where he hit a full 9-iron from 186 yards, still made the ball spin back 30 feet.

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Bridgeman, making his tournament debut, leaned into the weather. He described flighting the ball down as one of his strengths and said the wind actually played into his hands.

“I think today especially in the wind it played into my favor,” he said.

He called the wind perhaps tougher than the rain and relied on lower, controlled iron shots to avoid big numbers. In a town that loves a comeback story, Bridgeman rebounded from a double bogey on the fourth hole to deliver a crisp opening act.

Morikawa, fresh off his win at Pebble Beach, posted 3-under 68 in what he described as a long, stop-start day.

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“A lot of back and forth. Kind of rain, no rain. A lot of wind, no wind,” he said.

He said he has never seen Riviera’s greens play quite like this — soft enough to stop shots from almost anywhere, yet fast enough to make 30-footers feel uneasy. He expects conditions to change over the next 54 holes, particularly if the wind eases.

And then there was the plot twist no one scripted.

Scottie Scheffler, the World No. 1, completed 10 holes Thursday and sits at 5 over, tied for dead last with Keegan Bradley. He was birdie-free on the day and made double bogey on the par-4 eighth after hitting his second shot into the grandstand right of the green. He took relief, pitched onto the green and still walked off with a 6.

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Scheffler will resume Friday morning at 7 a.m. local time (10 a.m. ET) with the other players who did not finish. The second round is scheduled to begin at 7:40 a.m., with the PGA Tour using both sets of tees to get the tournament back on schedule.

In Los Angeles, everyone wants top billing. After one unpredictable Thursday, the cast, and the plot at Riviera remain wide open.

This article originally appeared on Golfweek: Genesis Invitational 2026: Aaron Rai leads after Thursday at Riviera