The tee shot was close to perfect, staying on the 10th green at Riviera and just left of the flag for the longest time until it trickled off the back. Joaquin Niemann was in no mood to complain.
He holed the putt from just over 20 feet for eagle, and at that moment Saturday in the Genesis Invitational, the 23-year-old from Chile was in a place no one had ever been on the fabled course off Sunset Boulevard.
Niemann was 21-under par. Lanny Wadkins never got there in 1985 when he set the 72-hole scoring record, the oldest such record on the PGA Tour. Dustin Johnson didn’t get there where he won big in 2017.
Now it’s a matter of Niemann getting the prize that matters. He will try to become the first wire-to-wire winner of the tournament since Charlie Sifford in 1969.
Niemann didn’t hit another fairway the rest of the third round, dropped two shots and still managed a 3-under 68 that gave him a three-shot lead over Cameron Young.
