Riviera’s soaked course in ‘great shape’ thanks to tireless crew

Friday’s storm dropped three inches of rain at Riviera Country Club, filling up bunkers and soaking low-lying areas of the Pacific Palisades layout. And high winds scattered debris from the 100-foot-plus eucalyptus trees throughout the property’s 125 or so acres.

But by the time play started at 9 on Saturday morning, it appeared that the course had been hit by little more than a few mild showers. The bunkers still showed the remnants of of the deep water, but fairways and greens were very playable.

“The whole course is tremendous with all the rain we’ve had,” Jason Day said after the completion of his second round. “It’s in great shape.”

Superintendent Matt Morton had his crew of 40 — plus 40 volunteers from around the world — at work by 3:30 a.m. to help prepare the course for the Genesis Open.

They moved like an army platoon from one area to the next, shoveling and raking the bunkers after they had been pumped out. Water was knee deep in some of them.

Crew members in carts with large leaf blowers cleared the fairways of the leaves, branches and sheets of eucalyptus bark that littered the course.

“The challenge was that it didn’t stop raining until about an hour ago,” Morton said about an hour and a half before players teed off.

“Having the volunteers come in to help us really made a difference. We couldn’t have done it without them; I’m happy with the course.”

The course got wetter an hour or so after players started with more lingering showers almost until noon, though play continued. Riviera lies in an old riverbed, so the soil is gravelly and sandy, Morton said, which is a reason that it’s capable of handling so much moisture.

Wave of success

Chino Hills’ Sahith Theegala, a sophomore at Pepperdine, received the final sponsor’s exemption into the field after he won the Collegiate Showcase on Monday with a two-under par 69. He has a team-best 70.78 scoring average after six events with the Waves this season.

He’s averaging better than that so far this week against the best golfers in the world. Theegala, 19, opened play with a 67 and completed his second round with a 73 to make the cut at two-under 140 (the same total, incidentally, as Phil Mickelson).

Those two were grouped together late Saturday as the third round got under way and remained tied, playing even par over four holes before play was called.

Theegala, the only amateur in the field, reached the quarterfinals of the U.S. Amateur last year and therefore has already qualified for the U.S. Amateur, which is Aug. 14-20 at Riviera.

Off to a fast start

Riviera’s 505-yard first hole is listed on the card as a par five, but with the greens softened by the rain, it played more like a par four. Midway through the second round Saturday morning, 16 of 18 players atop the leaderboard birdied the hole. There was one par and one eagle.

At the end of the round, No. 1 was by far the easiest hole on the course in relation to par, averaging only 4.319 strokes. There were eight eagles, 82 birdies, 46 pars, no bogeys and two double bogeys. And in the suspended third round, 16 of 24 players birdied the hole.

Farewell Riviera

Defending champion Bubba Watson was one of six players who withdrew from the tournament before completing their second rounds. Watson, who acknowledged before the tournament that he didn’t play well in rainy weather, was eight over par after playing 16 holes in his second round Friday. Vaughn Taylor, Steve Marino, Bryson DeChambeau, Shane Lowry and Jinho Choi also pulled out.

john.cherwa@latimes.com

@jcherwa