Steve Stricker sloshes to a 65 and a share of lead

It was almost dark when golf started at 6:50 a.m. Friday at Riviera Country Club. It wasn’t very light out when Steve Stricker sloshed his way through a considerable downpour for 18 holes. And it was hard to tell it was dusk at 5:02 p.m. when play was halted at the Northern Trust Open because of darkness.

There were two co-leaders at the end of play, but they were not equal.

Stricker shot a six-under-par 65, giving him a two-day total of 10-under 132. First-day leader Dustin Johnson, dressed appropriately in black and helped by a hole in one on the sixth, also was at 10 under, but he will have two more holes of his second round to play Saturday morning. He and 40 others were left on the soggy course, where it didn’t stop raining a moment.

“You’ve got a lot of clothes on, you’re wet, it’s just not as easy swinging on a day like today,” Stricker said. “Your body feels different, the club feels different in your hands, so you’re going to miss shots.”

Neither he nor Johnson, who played in short sleeves even though he termed the conditions “chilly,” missed many shots. Each had only one bogey.

There are a couple of multi-major winners who put themselves into contention in the rain. Two-time defending champion Phil Mickelson posted a five-under 66 and is six shots behind Stricker and Johnson. Ernie Els shot 70 Friday and is also at four under.

“I’m in a position where a good round [Saturday] and I can get in contention for Sunday,” Mickelson said. “That’s where I wanted to get myself. I’ve got to go low Saturday, I know that. But it’s out there if you play well.”

Mickelson birdied three of his last six holes to leave himself in a happier mood than he was in after his first-round 72. “I hit the ball much better,” he said, “and putted much better.”

Stricker, the third-ranked golfer in the world (behind Tiger Woods and Mickelson) has chipped in four times in two days. One of them came on the 18th hole (Stricker’s ninth, after he started on the 10th hole Friday) where he chipped in from about 60 feet out. All together Stricker birdied seven holes, bogeyed only the 12th and left the course as pleased as a wet, cold man who just shot 65 can be.

“It was pretty miserable out there today,” said the 42-year-old, who finished second by a shot to Mickelson last year.

The golf shot highlight of the day, for the tiny clusters of fans huddled under umbrellas, was Johnson’s eight-iron on the par-three sixth hole that was playing at 152 yards. Johnson’s ball landed behind the cup and spun in backward as if slapped by a pool cue.

“Probably my best shot of the day,” Johnson said. “Hit an eight-iron and made it. So that always helps the round a little bit.”

Johnson smiled and maybe he should. The weather forecast is for more rain Saturday and Johnson, 25, seems to like California winter rain.

He won the rain-shortened AT&T Pebble Beach event last year after waiting nearly 40 hours to find out the final round was canceled. Johnson theorizes that because he is a long hitter and rain makes courses play longer, he will continue to thrive in the gloom.

“Hitting it a long way helps,” he said. “The course is by far the longest I’ve seen it play. I enjoy it. It’s all right.”

Johnson’s word of the day was long. Until he had a five on the par-four 15th hole Friday, he had gone 40 holes (starting at the 10th hole of last year’s final round) without making a bogey at Riviera.

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