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Padraig Harrington is one of a number of players making their PGA TOUR season debut this week in L.A. MICKELSON ON THE COURSE (3:34 p.m.): It didn't take Phil Micklelson long to move up the leaderboard. He birdied the par-5 opening hole, two-putting from 15 feet and is now 1 under. You can follow his round live with Shot Tracker by .—Brian Wacker
JOHNSON IN WITH 64 (3:20 p.m.): Dustin Johnson is the early leader, though he'll probably still be leading when the day is over after a 7-under 64. There were two rounds better than that here last year—both by Phil Mickelson, who shot 63 in the first round and 62 in the third round.
Johnson's round was incredibly clean, at least for a guy who hit just half his fairways. Johnson also finished with just 25 putts—15 of 17 from 10 feet and in and 2 of 4 from 10-15 feet. That's what happens when you're approach shot distance is just 25 feet, 10 inches.—Brian Wacker
Below is a look at Johnson's scorecard from today. to replay his round with Shot Tracker.
SIM'S STRUGGLES (3:05 p.m.): This season has been feast or famine for 2009 Nationwide Tour Player of the Year Michael Sim. In his first start of the year, he tied for 63rd. Last week in San Diego, he tied for second. Today? He's near the bottom of the leaderboard with a 6-over 77 that included a 40 on the front nine at Riviera.
Sim, who made four-straight bogeys at one point, hit just five fairways and eight greens in regulation while taking 32 putts. Yikes. Sim's 77, by the way, is three shots off his career-worst PGA TOUR round—he shot 80 in the opening round of the 2007 Stanford St. Jude Championship.—Brian Wacker
DUSTIN THE COURSE (2:50 p.m.): Who says players don't scoreboard watch? Y.E. Yang just tweeted, "Wow - Dustin!"
Yang was referring to Dustin Johnson, who just made his seventh birdie of the day to get to 7 under and what is now a three-stroke lead with one hole left in his round. It's early, but it would be asking a lot for someone in the afternoon wave to catch that number.
Johnson has hit just seven of 13 fairways on what is a fairly tight Riviera course. He's also hit a ho-hum 12 of 17 greens in regulation. In other words, his short game has been very good so far with just 23 putts.—Brian Wacker
JOHNSON IN THE LEAD (2:35 p.m.): Dustin Johnson just made his sixth birdie of the day and is now 6 under and closing in on a bogey-free day. If Johnson, who has two top-16 finishes and a missed cut in three events, can make par or better on his last two holes, it will be his first bogey-free round of the season.
It's easy to see why Johnson hasn't made a bogey. He has 10 one-putts through 16 holes with an average approach shot distance to the pin of 26 feet, 9 inches.—Brian Wacker
YOU TWEET, WE ANSWER (2:05 p.m.): "How did the ones who went for it score on the hole?"—@golferinkilt
The "hole" in question is the 315-yard par-4 10th. So far, the field is 0-for-17 in hitting the green off the tee. That said, the players who have gone for it have fared well with a 3.76 scoring average, compared to a 4.02 average for those players who haven't gone for it. That's a collective average of 3.950, by the way, or 10th most-difficult on the golf course.—Brian Wacker
WEATHER UPDATE (1:50 p.m.): Thursday dawned bright and sunny, but the clouds are starting to roll in—and the outlook for the next two days isn't good. There's an 80-percent chance of rain on Friday and a 70-percent chance on Saturday. The total accumulation could be an inch.—Helen Ross
INSIDE THE NUMBERS (1:40 p.m.): One very big reason to like Padraig Harrington, Rory Sabbatini and Adam Scott for your fantasy golf team this week: They rank second, third and fifth, respectively, in career stroke average at Riviera.
Obviously Scott is the biggest question mark among that group, but he does have a good track record here. See below for more.—Brian Wacker
Career stroke averages at Riviera (min. 8 rounds) Rank Player Stroke average Rounds 1 Jeff Quinney 68.92 12 2 Padraig Harrington 69.50 10 3 Rory Sabbatini 69.61 36 4 Ian Baker-Finch 69.63 8 5 Adam Scott 69.64 14 6 J.B. Holmes 69.67 12 7 Fred Couples 69.75 101 8 Ernie Els 69.77 22 9 Tiger Woods 69.83 36 10 Robert Allenby 69.84 38
CLOSE CALLS (1:30 p.m.): The first four PGA TOUR events this season have been decided by one stroke. The last time that happened was in 2002. What will happen this week? If this season or past tournaments here are any indication, it should be another close finish.
There have been 16 playoffs at Riviera with five coming since 1998. Dating back to 1989, the tournament has ended in a playoff (6) or with a one-stroke win (8) 14 times—including Phil Mickelson's one-stroke win last year.—Brian Wacker
RYO HYPE (1:25 p.m.): The pre-tournament hoopla surrounding Japanese teenager Ryo Ishikawa wasn't quite as intense as it was a year ago when he made his PGA TOUR debut. Who knows if there's a correlation but he's playing much better this year.
Ishikawa has played seven holes and is 3 under, which leaves him two strokes off the lead. The 18-year-old prodigy made a 16-footer for his first birdie, a 23-footer for his second and just holed an 11-foot putt at the 16th hole for his third.
A year ago, Ishikawa shot a 73 in the first round at Riviera and followed with a 71 in the second. He played in six TOUR events last year and made the cut at the Transitions Championship (where he finished 71st) and the PGA (where he tied for 56th).
Ishikawa has already won six times on the Japan Tour.—Helen Ross
LEADERBOARD CHECK (1:12 p.m.): It's still very early in the opening round of the Northern Trust Open, but Dustin Johnson's 5-under total through the first 10 holes should stand up pretty well today.
Johnson, who leads by one for the moment, has been really good with his approaches and putting so far, hitting eight of 10 greens in regulation while taking just 14 putts. And he just hit his approach on No. 2 (he started on the back) to 8 inches.
Are we witnessing a star in the making? Maybe. Johnson, who will turn 26 this year, already has two career wins on the PGA TOUR. He's also extremely long and at least this week flashing some strong iron play. Don't be surprised if he's on the U.S. Ryder Cup team later this year, either.—Brian Wacker
YOU TWEET, WE ANSWER (12:45 p.m.): "Why would you risk it with the new groove rules? Lay back where the full shot allows you to get it closer."—@KFHightower
The above tweet was in reaction to a player each of the last two weeks laying up on a par-5, and the point made by the tweeter is a valid one for sure. A lot of players feel less comfortable hitting out of the rough with the new grooves in play than they do hitting a full wedge shot.
Here at Riviera, it's about going for it on a par-4, the 315-yard 10th hole. So far, only a dozen players out of 47 have attempted to drive the green. None have it hit. The result? The hole is playing over par right now with a stroke average of 4.044.—Brian Wacker
YOU TWEET, WE ANSWER (12:30 p.m.): "Will Geoff Ogilvy still be leading the money list on Sunday evening? He's only played one event."—@CCPJones
That's what happens when you win the event with the most lucrative payout of the year so far—$1.12 million. To answer your question, though, it obviously depends what everyone in the field does. The payout to the winner here is about $30,000 more than what Ogilvy got for winning the SBS Championship.
ANOTHER ROR-ING START (12:20 p.m.): Rory Sabbatini hasn't played Riviera nearly as much as Fred Couples or Corey Pavin, but the South African's record here is just as impressive. Sabbatini has four career top-10s in the event, including three in the last four years. He also won in 2006 and was runner-up in 2002. He's lurking near the top of the leaderboard again today at 2 under through his first six holes, just one shot back of a group of four players that includes Dustin Johnson.—Brian Wacker
RIVIERA SUCCESS STORIES (12:13 p.m.): There have been seven players to win back-to-back titles at Riviera. No one, however, has won three in a row. That's what Phil Mickelson will be trying to do this week, and if it weren't for a playoff loss to Charles Howell III in the 2007 event, he'd be going for four straight. Set your watch: Mickelson will tee off at 3:14 p.m. ET.
Meanwhile, Fred Couples will be making his 28th consecutive start in this event. He's made the cut here 25 of 27 times and has a ridiculous 13 career top-10s, including wins in 1990 and 1992. Couples will go off at 3:25 p.m. ET.—Brian Wacker
GOING FOR THE GREEN (12 p.m.): Earlier this morning, Geoff Ogilvy said that it's hard to understand why there aren't more holes like Riviera's 315-yard 10th hole—i.e. drivable par-4s. It's a very valid point from an extremely astute player in Ogilvy. And players, in general, love holes like this.
Last year, the 10th hole at Riviera ranked seventh on TOUR in terms of players who went for the green in one (58 percent of the field went for it). Today, none of the nine players who have gone for it have hit it—the closest was Angel Cabrera, who found the back bunker and landed 53 feet, 2 inches away.
TWEET OF THE DAY (11:45 a.m.): "I am getting ready for the first round @Ntrustopen. Lori went to the doc this morning and she is still 2 cm dilated. No change from Tues. I am going to play today and see how things go. If she is still doing ok I will continue. I can't wait to meet our little girl!!"—@DAPoints
That tweet came courtesy of D.A. Points, who won't tee off for another few hours. Points and wife Lori are expecting their first child what sounds like any minute. Points is coming off a tie for ninth at last week's Farmers Insurance Open.—Brian Wacker
SEASON DEBUTS (11:30 a.m.): There are several players—Padraig Harrington, Jim Furyk, Anthony Kim, Adam Scott and Ryo Ishikawa—making their PGA TOUR season debut this week.
Only Harrington and Furyk are on the golf course currently—Harrington is 1 under through four holes, Furyk even par through four holes. Ishikawa will tee off in about 15 minutes, while Kim and Scott don't go off until 3:30 p.m. and 3:14 p.m. ET.
What can we expect from these guys? It's hard to say, obviously, but they all come into this season with a lot of question marks.
Harrington: Will he be the Harrington we saw the second half of last year when he closed with six-straight top-10s, or the Harrington that missed two of his first three cuts, including here?
Furyk: He hasn't won since 2007, but he did have 11 top-10s last season. One thing to keep an eye on with Furyk is his greens in regulation, which has fallen off a bit the last couple of years.
Kim: "I would say a step back, but at the same time, I can't judge myself on one year," Kim said of his 2009 season. "I was hitting it so far off line, I've never had to hit so many irons off tees just because I was scared of hitting it in the water or out of bounds, and learning how to manage the golf course better." Riviera is certainly a golf course he'll need to manage well to have a chance.
Scott: At one point, Scott missed a career-worst six-straight cuts in 2009. He showed signs of turning it around—albeit slowly—at Turning Stone and The Presidents Cup. Maybe he'll continue to do so at a place where he won in 2005 and finished runner-up in 2006.
Ishikawa: If Ishikawa can shoot the same number under par that there are Japanese photographers and members of the media at Riviera this week, he'd run away with the title. Ishikawa showed a lot of maturity at The Presidents Cup last year. Now we'll see how he does in regular TOUR competition. —Brian Wacker
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