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

Adam Scott awakes from his slumber to come to a site of great success. The 39-year-old Aussie is teeing it up for the first time since winning the Australian PGA late in December.

It was surprisingly his first worldwide win since going back-to-back in 2016. That’s not to say he’s played poorly in the interim.

Scott finished in the top 10 in all three FedEx Cup Playoffs events in the fall. In 2019-20, he posted T-17 at the Safeway Open and T-11 against an elite field at the WGC-HSBC Champions.

More pertinent for this week is what he’s done at the Genesis Invitational. Scott won in his first time in Riviera in 2005 in a rain-shortened, 36-hole event. He nearly repeated in 2006 when a Sunday 64 brought him one shot within champion Rory Sabbatini.

Scott has made the cut in 10 of 11 starts. Eight times he’s finished T-17 or better. In 2016, he was one shot out of a playoff where he fired 68-68-67-67. Bubba Watson was the winner that year and a three-time Genesis Invitational champ. Watson would’ve been No. 11 in this week’s rankings.

Scott finished T-7 (66-65-69-76) last year and hit it as well as anyone. The putter and Riviera’s fast poa greens proved flummoxing. He bogeyed four of his last six holes to fall out of contention and lose by six to eventual champion JB Holmes, another player who just missed out on my top 10.

Scott has scrambled well at this event. That’s in part to the Kikuyu grass near the greens, which is familiar back home.

"“I’ve just always loved it. I don’t know,” Scott said in 2019 of Riviera, as transcribed by Tee Scripts. “The trees are similar, the kind of eucalyptus trees are like Australia, and in some ways the design of the course is similar to many Australian golf courses. Even the grass in certain areas, we have this kind of grass in Australia. It feels very much like playing at home.”"