Niemann breaks 36-hole record at Riviera

After blitzing the course in the opening round of the Genesis Invitational, Joaquin Niemann returned on Friday and matched the score to take a two-stroke lead into the weekend.

His opening-round 63 still fresh in his mind, Niemann started eagle-birdie and kept going until he made another 63 to shatter the 36-hole record in the Genesis Invitational.

All it got him was a two-shot lead, with a quartet of major champions still in the mix and needing Niemann to ease off the gas.

Niemann was at 16-under 126, which broke the previous record set about 20 minutes earlier by Cameron Young, a 24-year-old PGA Tour rookie who birdied his last four holes for a 62.

Young was at 128, at least giving Niemann some company atop the leaderboard.

The previous mark before Friday was 130 by four players, most recently Sam Burns last year.

"I would have thought shooting 11 under, I would probably be leading by five, not five back," said former PGA champion Justin Thomas, who had a 64 and was five shots behind. "But there's still a lot of golf left."

Among those who played early, as Niemann and Young did, was two-time Riviera winner Adam Scott.

He was at 9-under 133 and felt he was doing everything right. The Australian goes into the weekend needing to make up seven shots.

"I've got a ton of ground to make up. It's not like I'm even close at the moment," Scott said.

Blame that on Niemann, the 23-year-old Chilean who feels right at home on Sunset Boulevard.

"We got it going pretty good at the beginning," Niemann said. "I really like the way I handled myself out there."

Scoring like this wasn't expected at the start of the week, even with the warm sunshine and very little wind.

Riviera has held up against the top 10 in the world, all of whom are