Dustin Johnson tied for early lead as Spieth sent packing

The nine-time tour victor is two shots off the lead of fifth-year tour player Jason Kokrak, who recorded eight birdies in notching the second-best score of the week – seven-under 64.

Chez Reavie is alone in second place after he birdied three of the last four holes to cap a 67 and move within one of the lead, while American stars Dustin Johnson and Bubba Watson share third with Troy Merritt on eight under.

McIlroy put himself into more trouble on his back nine, trading two birdies with three bogeys in a 69 that had him four shots back.

Much had been made of McIlroy and world number one Jordan Spieth going head-to-head on the PGA Tour for the first time this season, but the latter will not be competing over the weekend.

Reigning US Open and Masters champion Spieth bounced back from the worst opening round of his career with a three-under 68 – 11 shots better than Thursday – but still missed the cut. If you go out and achieve that, and it’s not quite enough, then someone’s just played better than you that day. He also missed a 3-foot putt.

“It’s a real thinker’s golf course and it’s a real treat to play something like this because we don’t get to play them that often anymore”.

The 54-hole leaderboard is tight, as usual. At 12-under 201, he was a shot ahead of Dustin Johnson, Jason Kokrak and Chez Reavie.

“I felt like my pace on the greens was good… and I lag-putted well”.

Asked what he did on his vacation, Johnson, the father of a 1-year-old son with fiancee Paulina Gretzky, grinned and said, “There’s a lot of things you can do other than golf”.

The longer the shadows grew at Riviera Country Club on Friday afternoon, the less Bubba Watson and Rory McIlroy were willing to challenge the greens.

He took two more weeks off before competing at Torrey Pines, and rested another week before heading to Pebble Beach and now Los Angeles.

World number three McIlroy had another solid round with a two-under 69, leaving him tied for seventh at six-under 136, four adrift of Kokrak. “I am not going to let this one get to me very much”, he said. His typically strong driving game lagged on Saturday, with the Ulsterman hitting just five of 14 fairways. Listen, look what Jordan has done the last few years. And he made a triple bogey on No. 2 when he was trying to chip out from a boundary fence and the ball hit him in the hand, costing him one shot.

Germany’s Caroline Masson (71), China’s Lin Xiyu (67), South Korea’s Jenny Shin (70) and Japan’s Haru Nomura (68) were a stroke back.

“I think from the start of 2011, the direct correlation between leading a healthier lifestyle and my performance on the course was the same”. “It’s a different venue for you when you’re not there a lot”.

“It’s been a struggle to learn how to play this golf course”, said Kokrak, who has no top-30 finishes here in four tries. So this is about as easy as it can play right now, good weather and the greens are really soft. “Would be kind of lost if I missed that putt”.