PACIFIC PALISADES — In the 96-year history of the Genesis Invitational, no player has ever roughed up Riviera Country Club the way Joaquin Niemann has through 36 holes the past two days.

Opening with an eagle on his first hole on Friday, Niemann proceeded to record his second straight round of 8-under-par 63. His two-round total of 16-under 126, is the lowest 36-hole total in tournament history by four shots, leaving him in great position to make a run at the lowest final score in tournament history, a 20-under 264 posted by Lanny Watkins in 1985.

Wadkins’ Genesis record is the longest such record on the PGA Tour. The previous 36-hole record was held by four players, most recently Sam Burns last year.

Following a great round with another equally low score is not easy, but Niemann said he managed to carry the same calm demeanor he had during the first round into Friday’s second round. He admitted that starting his day with an eagle three on the first hole helped settle him down and maintain the momentum he had established on Thursday.

“Obviously it was a great start after yesterday’s round,” Niemann said. “I didn’t hit my best second shot on No. 1, but I still hit it pretty close (and made the putt). No. 2, I hit a good driver, beautiful second shot and made the putt. I think everything is working pretty well.”

Despite his historically great play over the first two days, the 23-year-old Chilean holds just a two-shot lead over PGA Tour rookie Cameron Young with a quartet of major champions still in the mix.

Young, a 24-year-old Wake Forest graduate, followed an opening-round 66 with a 9-under 62 on Friday, leaving him at 14-under 128 heading into the weekend. Justin Thomas sits alone in third place at 11-under 131, followed by Jordan Spieth and two-time Riviera winner Adam Scott, who are at 9-under. La Cañada native Collin Morikawa is a stroke behind Spieth and Scott at 8-under.

Young finished his round of 62 with four consecutive birdies, including one on the par-4 eighth hole, which has a split fairway divided by the barranca. That’s where Young went off the tee, and while he drew a decent lie, he was still hoping for the best. It rolled out to 8 feet next to the pin.

“For it to end up the right distance is honestly a little bit of blind luck, which doesn’t always happen,” Young said. “But today it did.”

A 2019 Wake Forest graduate, Young won twice on the Korn Ferry Tour in 2021, helping earn him a spot on the PGA Tour in 2022.

In just his fifth PGA Tour start at the Sanderson Farms Championship last Fall, Young finished in a tie for second place at 21-under, posting four rounds in the 60s and making 27 birdies, the most in the field.

Asked how he’s been able to play so well at a course he had never seen before this week, Young responded, “patience.”

“I think we played it very conservatively for the most part, which is just going to limit how many mistakes we make, and I think that’s kind of the name of the game out here,” Young said. “Not all the time you’re going to make a bunch of birdies.

“A lot of rounds you’re going to play out here with two, three and four birdies probably, so I think the name of the game out here is whenever you’re in a mediocre spot, you just have to get it on the green, two-putt and move on. Pars are never bad out here. Chasing Joaquin, it felt like it a little bit today, but pars are never bad.”

In his previous two starts, Young finished tied for 20th at the Farmers Insurance Open and tied for 26th last week at the Phoenix Open. Despite those mediocre performances, Young came into this week feeling like his game was on the rise and his play through the first two days indicates he was right.

“Every week it’s just felt like I should be right there but it’s either been I had one bad day where I just didn’t hit it well or just didn’t quite make anything,” Young said. “Today finally I felt kind of like I got a lot out of it, which hasn’t been happening as much. I’m just trying to play a bit smarter, a bit more conservatively and just take advantage when I can and obviously today I did.”

Scoring like this wasn’t expected at the start of the week, even with the warm sunshine and very little wind. While Niemann and Young will start Saturday’s third round with a little cushion, veterans like Thomas and Scott know a lot can happen over the final 36 holes, especially on a challenging course like Riviera.

“I’ll just keep doing what I’m doing, and I have a pretty good feeling I’ll be fine,” Thomas said. “I would have thought shooting 11 under that I would probably be leading, not five back. But there’s still a lot of golf left, and this golf course is going to get tough this weekend.”

While every player in the field would love to be in Niemann’s position heading into the weekend, protecting a big lead isn’t always easy according to Scott.

“There’s a lot of attention on the PGA Tour now and I think it’s hard to get away from the pressure of just what might happen for the person in the lead,” Scott said. “I like that there’s someone up next to him and he’s not seven in front at the moment. They can think about each other and maybe get distracted for a few holes and I can quietly creep up on them. If conditions are the same, I’m going to need some good stuff to happen. Somewhere I need a hot nine over the weekend to narrow the gap, I think.”

With the course being firm and fast, Thomas said the key for him over the final two rounds is to drive the ball in the fairway the way he did Friday.

“If you are hitting the fairway, the ball’s rolling quite a bit to where you have the short clubs in, but if you’re not hitting the fairways and missing the greens, it’s tough to chip it close,” Thomas said. “I just have kind of a nice little flow and I feel like a good rhythm in my swing right now, especially off the tee. If you drive it well on this course, I know that you can get it. So, we’ll see. Hopefully can do more of the same this weekend and make some more birdies.”

Spieth three-putted the final hole for his only bogey in a round of 67, the same score British Open champion Morikawa shot.

“I think it’s still very doable. I’ve just got to go out there and play hole by hole, shot by shot and see what happens for the third and fourth round,” Morikawa said.

The field featured all 10 from the top 10 in the world and 19 of the top 25. Not all of them will be around for the weekend, starting with Dustin Johnson, who had to play bogey-free for a 31 on his final nine holes just to 71.

Johnson was the last player to challenge Wadkins’ scoring record. He had such a big lead in 2017 that he played it conservatively at the end. Plus, he didn’t know what the record was and didn’t particularly care.

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Patrick Cantlay, who had a mathematical chance to reach No. 1 in the world by winning, had to make a pair of birdies late to salvage his round for the second straight day. The former Servite High and UCLA star shot 72 and made the cut with one shot to spare.

The cut was at even-par 142. The 16-shot gap between the top and bottom was the largest since the 2019 PGA Championship at Bethpage Black, where Brooks Koepka had a seven-shot lead going into the weekend.

Viktor Hovland had a 64 while sticking to his strategy from the U.S. Amateur at Riviera in 2017, taking it well right on No. 15 to the adjacent 17th fairway. He hasn’t hit his second shot closer than 60 feet either day, but he made par.

Hovland was at 7-under 135, along with Russell Knox, who had two eagles in the same round for the first time in his career and shot 67.

News services contributed to this story.