
Freddie is making his 30th start at Riviera (that's longer than I've been alive!)
With winds gusting up to 35mph at Riviera Country Club, Thursday’s first round has been a wild ride — well, for just about everyone besides J.B. Holmes, who had brain surgery last September. Doctors at John Hopkins University Hospital removed quarter-sized chunk of Holmes’ skull to repair a Chiari malformation that gave him vertigo-like symptoms.
Holmes is five-under through 11 holes this afternoon and currently leads by one over Phil Mickelson, who is four-under through 11 and coming off his spectacular win last week at the AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am.
(*Update, 4:19pm: Holmes made two consecutive bogeys on Nos. 4 and 5, his 13th and 14th holes of the day, to drop to three-under. Mickelson birdies three of the first four on the back nine and is now alone atop the leaderboard at five-under.)