Pacific Palisades >> For the second time in three years, Valencia High product Max Homa finds himself on the top of the leaderboard at 10-under par after 36 holes of the Genesis Invitational at Riviera Country Club.

In 2021, Homa went on to win the tournament, defeating Tony Finau in a playoff to become champion of the event that he admitted made him fall in love with the game of golf.

While Homa knows there is a lot of golf left to play over the final two days, the Burbank native is feeling good about his game and his chances for success this weekend.

“It’s exciting, 36-hole leads are awesome,” Homa said after finishing his second round in near darkness. “There’s a long way to go, but regardless, I can rest on the fact I’m playing great golf and I’m just going to try and do that for two more days.”

Despite making a bogey to finish his round, Homa fired a 3-under 68 on Friday, giving him a one-shot cushion over Keith Mitchell, Jon Rahm and Lee Hodges, who are tied for second at 9-under 133. La Cañada native Collin Morikawa is alone in third at 8-under 134, with Patrick Cantlay (67) another shot back and Rory McIlroy (69) four strokes off the lead.

Tiger Woods will be part of the weekend, even with a sloppy finish and more attention over a juvenile prank than a putter that went cold. Woods, playing elite competition for the first time since the British Open last summer, finished with three bogeys over his last four holes for a 74.

He was at 1-over 143, leaving him 11 shots behind Homa, but certain to make the cut when the second round is completed Saturday morning. For the second straight day, darkness kept the round from finishing.

While sleeping on a lead can be a bit nerve-wracking, Homa said he’s much more comfortable being the 36-hole leader the lead this time compared to how he felt in 2021. His calm is likely the result of the success he’s had on the PGA Tour since winning the Genesis title two years ago.

Over the last two years, Homa has taken his game to an elite level, winning four tournaments, including last month’s Farmers Insurance Open and being one of the stars on the 2021 United States President’s Cup team.

Homa is particularly comfortable in his home state, where four of his six career wins have occurred. Asked why he has played so well in California, Homa said it starts with being comfortable playing on the poa annua greens.

“Obviously there’s some comfortability with the grass and how far the ball goes,” Homa said. “This golf course in particular does suit me really well. It suits a lot of the shots I like to hit. That’s my best estimation. I enjoy that it seems to work well in these tournaments because they’ve been big events. San Diego, here, it’s been cool to feel comfortable on two major golf courses with major fields.”

Homa played the front nine at even par, but he proceeded to birdie three of his first four holes on the back nine. After making an 18-foot putt to save par on the par-3, 16th hole, Homa birdied 17 to get to 11 under. But an errant tee shot on 18 kept him from reaching the green on his second shot, leading to a bogey.

“That’s the beauty of this place. If you make some bogeys on the back nine, if you can just own them, it’s OK,” Homa said. “They’re hard holes. I think being comfortable knowing that hey, if I drop a shot here it’s not the end of the world, that is a good feeling. I know I’m going to make more birdies and I know I’m going to make more bogeys, so just hope that there’s more of the birdies.”

Like Homa, Rahm also bogeyed 18 and he too did most of his scoring on the back nine. He birdied holes 13, 14 and 16, but the highlight was an improbable eagle on the par-5 17th, which saw Rahm’s 5-wood from 270 yards sail over the green, hit the base of a grandstand next to it, roll along the edge of a bunker and settle within a few feet of the pin.

“That’s arguably the best bounce I’ve seen in person my whole golf career and it would be hard to beat in the future,” Rahm said. “For those wondering, no, I did not call bank. I don’t think anybody calls bank in that situation.”

Rahm, who has nine consecutive top-10 finishes dating to September (four wins) and is close to returning to No. 1 in the world, also eagled the par-5 first hole, marking just the second time in his career that he’s had two eagles in the same round.

“It’s just, you know, again a bit of fortune, a bit of good timing,” Rahm said of his two eagles. “It’s a difficult golf course out there. The greens were getting a little crunchy and a little firmer, and the margins are already small on this golf course and you’re playing with even smaller margins with running fairways and firm greens. Luckily, I got it together for the last seven holes.”

Throughout Friday’s round, Morikawa said he never felt like he was totally in charge of his golf swing. But like great players tend to do, Morikawa found a way to hit enough good shots to put himself in prime position heading into the final two rounds.

Morikawa currently leads the tournament in strokes gained around the green and twice in a three-hole stretch on the front nine Morikawa holed out from off the green. He chipped in for a birdie on the par-4, third hole and sank a 42-foot birdie putt on the fifth hole.

While he’s happy that his short game is working so well, Morikawa is hoping that his shot-making gets a little sharper over the final 36 holes.

“It’s a little frustrating not hitting more greens,” Morikawa said. “You know, coming into the week, the ball-striking still felt fine. I want to make it a little more stress-free and just a little more enjoyable. Fairways are going to be really key, especially how firm these greens are getting.”

Last year Morikawa tied for second, thanks in large part to a final day 64. While his total got him close to winning, he said he hopes this weekend he will be more in the mix throughout.

“Last year I felt like I was really never in it. I had a really good final round and we made a decent run the last few holes, but I had to do a lot of things to be right just to be able to be in contention. This is a course I’ve felt like I’ve always loved, I’ve had some pretty good rounds out here. It’s just putting together four good ones.”