2015 Northern Trust Open: Tee times, pairings for Friday’s 2nd round at Riviera

As most of the country, including Florida, where the PGA Tour heads next week, sits frozen, the conditions remained perfect on the West Coast swing at the Northern Trust Open. There were almost no clouds and temperatures were in the mid-70s for the first round at Riviera, the final stop on the Tour’s annual stretch out west. The weather is supposed to be wonderful on Friday as well, so expect to be bitter and jealous if you’re watching from most of the rest of the country.

Even with those benevolent weather conditions on Thursday, the Tour still needs to send a few players out first thing Friday morning to finish up the opening round. The postponed finish wasn’t due to weather, of course, but just the logistical challenge of pushing a full field PGA Tour event through one course during this time of year with limited daylight. Three of the last four events were played on multiple courses before the field was cut down. The one event that was contained to one course, the Phoenix Open, had these same darkness issues.

This is a recurring problem at Riviera but the backup is not severe at all. There’s just one group that did not complete their first round, which is pretty annoying for them. But Drew Scott, Jim Herman, and David Lingmerth will be back at the Riv before dawn to finish up one hole, then wait around a little before heading out in the final group of the morning wave. Even with Thursday’s near-completion of the round, expect the same issue to come up Friday as darkness descends on Los Angeles. We likely won’t have the official cut made until Saturday morning.

In order to try and get the full field through 18 before darkness, many of the morning groups have to warm up and start their day in total darkness.

The tee times come early on Thursday and Friday on the PGA Tour, but this is one of the rare occasions that there are start times before 7 a.m. local.

The marquee group in the morning draw consists of Bubba Watson, Dustin Johnson, and Bill Haas. Bubba and DJ are two of the biggest hitters in the world, and two of the most talented in a generation that’s quickly replacing Tiger and Phil. They finished 1-2 here last year, and both are in the red and inside the top 20 after 18 holes. They’ll start their second round, however, at arguably the best par-4 on the PGA Tour. The 10th hole, which played well under 300 yards on Thursday, repeatedly caused carnage and oil spills in the first round. It’s a classic risk-reward play -- a par-4 that’s an easily drivable distance but with a super slick and puny green surrounded by bunkers and jail.

For players as long as DJ and Bubba, driver is actually too much club. It’s just that there’s no real chute to run anything up onto the green, and it’s too small to try and carry and hold it on the putting surface. Regardless of whether you layup or bomb away, starting on the 10th before 7:30 a.m. is not an ideal situation -- just ask Scott Piercy, who hit it in a sand trap on four straight shots and had his tournament end on his first hole.

Here’s your full tee sheet for Friday’s second round: