PGA Tour Genesis Invitational: Power ranking the top 10 at Riviera

The PGA Tour departs one iconic venue in Pebble Beach while arriving to another in Riviera Country Club, aka Hogan’s Alley for the Genesis Invitational.

Whether you love or hate the Pebble Beach Pro-Am, it was clear the field wasn’t great last week on the Monterey Peninsula. That’s not the case this week for the Genesis Invitational.

This event began as the Los Angeles Open in 1926. The event transformed into an elevated status event beginning in 2020 (hence the name change from the Genesis Open)

The field is trimmed down from 144 players to 120 with a 36-hole cut in play.

Instead of the normal two-year exemption for the winner, a Genesis win buys you three years to re-earn your card.

Tiger Woods and his foundation play the role of host this week. And he brought some friends.

Nine of the top 10 in the Official World Golf Rankings are here in Pacific Palisades. Webb is still taking a victory lap from Phoenix, apparently.

The competition is as stingy as the course. Riviera ranked 10th toughest on Tour last season per ShotLink. And that’s even with a layup of a starting hole in the 552-yard par-5 that played easiest on Tour.

Riviera measures 7,322 yards for a par 71.

The last four winners are Bubba Watson, Dustin Johnson, Watson (third career win at Riviera) and JB Holmes. What do they all have in common? They can hit the ball really far.

There’s still room for short game/putting specialists to win (i.e. Steve Stricker, Aaron Baddeley, John Merrick, James Hahn), but their long iron game has to be sharp.

Big hitters gain advantages this week on the seven par-4s that are over 450 yards on the card, as well on the three gettable par-5s.

The fairways are tree-lined, narrow and tough for everybody to hit. It’s the long players who will have advantage trying to salvage par or attack these small poa annua greens if they’re playing from the fairway. Strokes gained approach is a key stat this week. Proximity from the rough is another one.

The early weather forecast predicts cooler temperatures in the low 50s into the upper 60s Fahrenheit. No rain is predicted during the week and the wind will be in the low double digits miles per hour. We could see some firm and fast conditions yet again at Riv.

The West Coast swing goes out in style this week. Let’s dive into the top 10 who could win in Tinseltown.