SAN DIEGO — The Genesis Invitational has arrived this week at Torrey Pines Golf Course, along with the one thing that might have kept it from being here in the first place: rain.
The PGA Tour Signature Event was moved about 125 miles south from its usual home at Riviera Country Club due to the tragic wildfires last month that burned within a few blocks of the Pacific Palisades course. Conditions for fire were exacerbated by a lack of rain throughout the fall and early winter in Southern California.
That won’t be an issue this week. It began raining Wednesday at Torrey Pines and more is expected — along with high winds — throughout Thursday’s first round and possibly into Friday’s second.
“With the forecast, the weather, the rain, it’s going to play really tough,” said world No. 4 Collin Morikawa, a Southern California native. “It’s going to play long, it’s going to play where fairways matter a lot. I don’t think you can really overpower a golf course this long when the rough is that big. Fairways are going to be important. Torrey Pines is already a very, very difficult golf course. I look forward to that. Just have a challenge in front of us.”
The Farmers Insurance Open was played here just three weeks ago in dry conditions. Thirty-two players from that event have returned for the Genesis, including 1-2-3 finishers Harris English, Sam Stevens and Andrew Novak, plus Sung-Jae Im, who tied for fourth.
At No. 35, English is one of 46 top-50 players in the 72-man field. The only exceptions are No. 2 Xander Schauffele, who is injured, and three members of the LIV Golf tour — Tyrrell Hatton (8), Bryson DeChambeau (10) and Jon Rahm (49).
Rahm won the last non-Farmers tournament played at Torrey Pines, the 2021 U.S. Open. The winner of the other U.S. Open here, played in 2008, might make an appearance — but only as the tournament host. Tiger Woods withdrew Monday, saying he wasn’t ready to play while still “processing” the death last week of his mother, Kultida.
Without Woods and Rahm, five golfers remain who have won on the PGA Tour at Torrey Pines: English, Matthieu Pavon (2024), Max Homa (2023), Justin Rose (2019) and Jason Day (2018, 2015). Homa also won the Genesis in 2021 at Riviera.
Unlike the Farmers, which features one round for each player on Torrey Pines’ easier North Course, the Genesis will be played exclusively on the demanding South Course, which has a scorecard yardage of 7,765 yards, longest on tour.
“Not playing North, I think it opens up a little bit more variety,” Homa said. “I would like to see different pins. … Obviously when the fans are watching, they just watched this event in a way a few weeks ago, it would be great to see something a bit unique.”
The tournament favorite is world No. 1 Scottie Scheffler (+400 according to DraftKings), who last played at Torrey Pines in 2022, followed by Rory McIlroy (+650), who is coming off a victory in his most recent event, the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am two weeks ago. McIlroy last played at Torrey Pines in 2021 when he tied for seventh in the U.S. Open with, among others, Scheffler. McIlroy also had top-5 finishes in the Farmers in 2019 and 2020.
Asked what it will take to win this week, Morikawa said, “I love this question. Everything. You have to do everything well. Like you can ask that to anyone. They might say I have to do this, I need to do that. You have to do everything well.”
Unlike some Signature Events, there is a cut at the Genesis — the field will be reduced after 36 holes to the top 50 and ties plus anyone within 10 shots of the lead. The winner will earn $4 million from the $20 million purse.
–Jay Posner, Field Level Media
