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

It seems counterintuitive to pronounce Rory is playing the best golf of his life when his last of four career major wins was in 2014. But it really is true, at least if you value consistency.

McIlroy was more of a boom or bust player in his younger days. Now, his basement week in and out is around a top 20.

The Northern Irishman recorded a whopping 19 top-10s in 2019, three more than any other year in his career.

He last won in the fall at the WGC-HSBC Champions. McIlroy had three previous wins in 2019 to win a tight battle for PGA Tour Player of the Year over Brooks Koepka.

The 30-year-old hasn’t played much this winter. His only start since November was a few weeks ago at the Farmers Insurance Open. He didn’t look too rusty as he fired rounds of 67-73-67-69 to finish T-3 and three off the lead.

McIlroy has had pretty good success at the Genesis Invitational. His debut was a T-20 in 2016 (67-69-67-75) with the same result coming in 2018 (71-69-73-68). He fired a co-low round of the tournament on Friday last year en route to T-4 (72-63-69-69).

He led the Tour by a solid margin in total strokes gained last season at 2.551 compared to Patrick Cantlay in second at 1.857. One of the best drivers on the planet is a great fit at Riviera, as his No. 1 ranking in SG off the tee would confirm (1.195).