The final stop of the PGA Tour’s “West Coast Swing” begins Thursday with The Genesis Invitational at the iconic Riviera Country Club.
It boasts by far the strongest field of the 2021-22 season to date, with each of the top 10 players in the Official World Golf Ranking entered. Tiger Woods serves as host for one of three “elevated” events on tour, providing a higher purse, more FedEx Cup points and a three-year exemption to the winner.
THE GENESIS INVITATIONAL
Pacific Palisades, Calif., Feb. 17-20
Course: The Riviera Country Club (Par 71, 7,322 yards)
Purse: $12M (Winner: $2.16M)
Defending Champion: Max Homa
FedEx Cup Leader: Hideki Matsuyama
HOW TO FOLLOW
TV: Thursday-Friday, 4-8 p.m. ET (Golf Channel); Saturday, 1-3 p.m. (Golf Channel), 3-7 p.m. (CBS); Sunday, 1-3 p.m. (Golf Channel), 3-6:30 p.m. (CBS)
PGA Tour Live: Four live feeds per day on ESPN+
Social Media: @TheGenesisInv (Twitter)
NOTES
–No. 12 Bryson DeChambeau withdrew due to hip and wrist injuries. Meanwhile, Will Zalatoris returns to action after withdrawing before the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am due to a positive COVID-19 test.
–No. 2 Collin Morikawa and No. 3 Patrick Cantlay enter the week with an opportunity to overtake Jon Rahm, who holds the No. 1 ranking for the 31st consecutive week. Morikawa or Cantlay can become No. 1 with a win and Rahm finishing lower than solo fourth.
–The drivable par-4 10th hole is the second-shortest on tour so far this season at 315 yards. Last year, only five of the 297 (1.68 percent) of the tee shots hit with players attempting to hit the green were successful. Only one landed within 60 feet. The only eagle on the hole was a hole-out by Sergio Garcia from a green-side bunker.
–Each of the past three events has featured a first-time winner on tour.
–Aaron Beverly is the 2022 recipient of the Charlie Sifford Memorial Exemption. The APGA Tour player will be making his PGA Tour debut. Other sponsors exemptions include Christiaan Bezuidenhout, Rickie Fowler, Min Woo Lee, Robert MacIntyre, Thomas Pieters and Jaekyeong Lee.
–Riviera will serve as the venue for the 2026 U.S. Women’s Open and the 2028 Olympic golf competition.
BEST BETS
–Rahm (+900) has two top-10s in three previous event starts, including a T5 last year. He is also the pre-tournament favorite at +900 at BetMGM, where Rahm is second with 9.3 percent of the money backing the Spaniard.
–Cantlay (+1100) has two wins and last week’s runner-up among six consecutive top-10 finishes. He is second with 6.2 percent of the total bets at BetMGM, where Cantlay’s odds have shortened from +1200 to +100.
–Morikawa (+1600) leads the tour in greens in regulation (79.17 percent). He opened at +1800 at DraftKings but his odds have shortened with a field-high 7 percent of the bets and 11 percent of the money backing the California native. He is +1800 at BetMGM, where Morikawa is being supported by 8.2 and 10.8 percent, respectively.
–Dustin Johnson (+1600) is off to a slow start this season but is a previous event winner who is being backed by 4 percent of the bets and 6 percent of the money at DraftKings.
–Rory McIlroy (+2000) won the CJ Cup @ Summit in his lone previous start on tour this season.
–Viktor Hovland (+2500) finished T5 in his event debut last year. He’s coming off a missed cut last week but has three wins in his past six worldwide starts.
–Sam Burns (+4000) is also coming off a missed cut last week. He was the 54-hole leader last year before finishing third behind Homa and Tony Finau.
–Local native Max Homa (+4000) is seeking to become the first player to successfully defend at the Genesis since Phil Mickelson in 2008-09.
–Field Level Media
