The 17th hole at Riviera Counry Club offered incredible drama in the closing stages of Friday’s second round of the Genesis Invitational.
First, Jon Rahm benefitted from an outrageous slice of luck to give him an eagle opportunity after his ball struck the grandstand and rolled back towards the green, finishing three feet from the hole. That incident was significant as the eagle putt that followed briefly moved him level with Max Homa at the top of the leaderboard.
That wasn’t the end of the drama, though. A matter of minutes later, Xander Schauffele also clinched an eagle at the same hole, but this time in entirely different circumstances. Rather than an outrageous slice of luck, Schaueffle pulled off a quite brilliant approach shot that led to the same result.
From 173 yards, Schauffele went for the green looking for a birdie chance. However, instead, he sent the crowd into raptures with a considerably better result - an outrageous slam-dunk straight into the hole.
Slam dunk!@XSchauffele holes it for eagle to get inside the projected cutline @TheGenesisInv 😲 pic.twitter.com/JsTAN7YkCFFebruary 18, 2023
The feat was even more impressive considering the precarious grasp Schauffele had on the tournament before he took the shot. The 29-year-old had been in serious danger of missing the cut, which stood at one over as he approached the final two holes. Going into the 17th at three over, Schauffele needed something special to ensure his tournament continued into the final two rounds, but surely even he wasn’t expecting to pull off one of the shots of his career.
That eagle moved him above the cut line to stand on one-over par alongside Tiger Woods. Needing a par or better on the final hole to secure his place in the third round, Schauffele duly delivered, albeit with a nerve-jangling two-putt finish in the fading light to secure a round of 74 and that all-important passage to the weekend.
