Players were treated with beautiful conditions Friday at the 2025 Genesis Invitational. Following a mean day of wet and rainy weather that produced only 13-under par rounds, competitors took advantage of ideal scoring at Torrey Pines Golf Club with few doing better than the No. 1 golfer in the world.
Scottie Scheffler was once again brilliant around the par 72. A day after battling to produce a 70, Scheffler surged to the top of the leaderboard with a bogey-free 67 to stand at 7 under. Scheffler’s score was bested late in the evening when Davis Thompson tapped in for birdie to put the finishing touches on a 66, positioning himself at 8 under and atop the leaderboard at the halfway point.
“I’m pretty satisfied with the way I scored today,” Scheffler said. “I did not drive the ball as well as I would have hoped to. I felt like I was out of position a lot today but did a good job of muscling some shots up there on the green and getting up and down when I needed to as well.”
Scheffler and Thompson — as well as Ludvig Åberg and Rory McIlroy, who respectively fired 66 and 67 to sit on the first page of the leaderboard — were key factors in lowering the scoring average by three strokes compared to Thursday’s 74.28 mark.
It is Scheffler and McIlroy circled on the leaderboard as they have dominated the PGA Tour’s signature events over the last 12 months winning six out of eight with the two others going to Hideki Matsuyama. That trend looks likely to continue this weekend, especially if the two continue playing like they did Friday.
After some early season woes, Scheffler’s short game sizzled Friday as he played the par 5s in 4 under highlighted by a hole-out eagle on No. 6. Even without his best stuff off tee, the three-time reigning PGA Tour Player of the Year avoided penciling a square onto his scorecard and scraped his way around Torrey Pines effectively.
As for McIlroy, it was his wedge play which propelled him up the leaderboard as he hit sawed-off pearls into Nos. 5, 8, 15 and 17 — all setting up birdie conversions from inside 10 feet. Like Scheffler, McIlroy had his fair share of misses off the tee, notably on Nos. 12-14 where he missed three straight fairways to the left leading to three straight 5s on the scorecard.
Despite having some areas to clean up in their games, the top two players on the PGA Tour are right there looking to pounce with 36 holes to go. Having only truly battled against each other in the Tour Championship a few seasons ago, Scheffler and McIlroy are set on a collision course like many expected from the start.
“I think, at this point, we all expect [Scheffler and McIlroy] to be there,” Åberg said. “We know they’re both playing very well. And it doesn’t really change the way that I try to go about my business, but yeah, obviously when those guys are at their best, it’s hard to beat. But it’s also very encouraging to sort of try to keep up, I guess. Yeah, we’ll see. We’ve got a nice weekend of golf ahead of us and we’ll see what we can do.”
The leader
1. Davis Thompson (-8): After a fantastic end to a 2024 campaign that included his first career victory at the John Deere Classic, Thompson has gotten off to a slow start in the new year. The reason? His iron play has lacked. That has not been the case through two rounds this week as he ranks eighth in the field in strokes gained approach, which pairs nicely with his typical strengths off the tee and around the green. Those scoring clubs will be key to unlocking his full potential not only this week but for the rest of the season.
Other contenders
2. Scottie Scheffler (-7)
3. Denny McCarthy (-6)
4. Rory McIlroy (-5)
T5. Ludvig Åberg, Patrick Rodgers (-4)
7. Nick Dunlap (-3)
T8. Seamus Power, Akshay Bhatia, Wyndham Clark, Aaron Rai, Andrew Novak, Jake Knapp (-2)
A few weeks removed from playing himself into contention at Torrey Pines, Åberg is at again. Healthy after battling an illness, the Swede has been stellar around the green chipping in numerous shots including an eagle on the par-5 18th. He currently leads the field in strokes gained off the tee while ranking third in strokes gained around the green; however, he is among the bottom half on approach and on the greens.
“I just really like fair golf courses that are tough” Åberg said. “Torrey Pines is right in front of you; you sort of know what to do. Your fairway’s right here, and it’s still hard. The greens are, they’re small, but if you’re in the fairway you can be quite aggressive. Thick rough. It’s just a good golf course. It’s challenging but it’s also very fair.”
Stars sent packing
Unlike the first two signature events of the season, the Genesis Invitational featured a cut to the top 50 players and ties as well as those within 10 strokes of the lead. With Thompson pushing the lead out to 8 under, the field trimmed a number of big names who have either already won this season or were trending in the right direction. Some of the notables not seeing the weekend:
- Sungjae Im
- Justin Rose
- Robert MacIntyre
- Viktor Hovland
- Jordan Spieth
- Cameron Young
- Max Homa
- Sepp Straka
- Rasmus Hojgaard
2025 Genesis Invitational updated odds, picks
Odds via DraftKings Sportsbook
- Scottie Scheffler: +100
- Rory McIlroy: 7/2
- Davis Thompson: 11/2
- Ludvig Åberg: 12-1
- Denny McCarthy: 12-1
- Patrick Rodgers: 45-1
McIlroy was our guy Thursday evening, and he remains our selection heading into the weekend. Despite what the statistics may suggest, the world No. 3 has yet to get his long game in good order as he battles a little quick left miss. He should figure that out, and once he does, he’ll start to score in bunches as he has done a good job of keeping the bogeys off the scorecard through 36 holes.
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