2022 Genesis Invitational: Top 10 power rankings at Riviera CC

Rory McIlroy got the hang of Riviera Country Club quickly. He debuted here in 2016 and earned T-20th (67-69-67-75). That was followed by another T-20th (71-69-73-68) in 2018, T-4th (72-63-69-69) in 2019, and T-5th (68-67-68-73) in 2020.

Last year’s missed cut was a surprise, but he was among a number of big names who went packing early.

“It’s a golf course where … there’s no hazards to really hit it in. You can’t really lose a ball unless you’re Phil,” McIlroy joked in a 2020 press conference transcribed by Tee Scripts.. “It’s sort of one of these where if you hit it offline, you’re going to get it and you’re going to have a chance to recover and use your short game and get away with a par and move on to the next hole.

“So I think that’s why. That’s the beauty about Riviera, you don’t necessarily have to have your best as long as your manage your game well, you’re always going to be in there with a chance.”

The 32-year-old Northern Irishman comes to southern California off of a week of rest after earning solo third at the DP World Tour’s Slync.io Dubai Desert Classic. He earned T-12th the week prior in Abu Dhabi.

McIlroy’s quietly racked up seven worldwide top-20s in a row, though a few of those are limited field events.

Limited field event or not, McIlroy still beat tons of big names and went crazy low (-25) to win the CJ Cup last fall in Las Vegas.

Rory was fourth on the PGA Tour last season in strokes gained off the tee (.66) and 10th in SG tee to green (1.181). And that was mostly a disappointing season by his standards.

I still think McIlroy isn’t completely clicking right now, but this is about the time of year where he tends to hone in and post high finishes in advance of Augusta National less than two months away.