Genesis Invitational: Weekend tee times, latest betting odds

Joaquin Niemann extended his lead during round two of the Genesis Invitational on Friday and now has within his grasp, not only a trophy from Tiger Woods on Sunday, but historic tournament records as well.

The Chilean can break Lanny Wadkins 72 hole record of 264 this weekend, and at the halfway point he is on pace to do just that. He doubled his first-round score on Friday with a matching 63, good for eight-under-par once again, and now Niemann will head into this weekend with a two-stroke lead over second-place Cameron Young (-14), and third-place Justin Thomas (-11).  The gap between him and those in 10th place right now is an incredible ten strokes following another electric round when he could do no wrong.

Things have been comfortable to this point for the 23-year-old, but things are sure to ramp up on Saturday and Sunday. Last year a delayed third round at Riviera, due to a hail storm and strong winds, saw a scoring average of 73, two shots over the par score of 71 for the majority of the field.

How Niemann handles Saturday’s third round will go a long way in telling how his story at this year’s Genesis Invitational will come to a conclusion. He begins his third-round action at 2:10 pm EST on Saturday alongside Cameron Young and Justin Thomas.

Select Third Round Tee-Times at the Genesis Invitational

Rory McIlroy, K.H. Lee, Carlos Ortiz (1st Hole Start, 12:10 pm EST)

Hideki Matsuyama, Patrick Cantlay, Cam Davis (10th Hole Start, 1:16 pm EST)

Russell Knox, Viktor Hovland, Cameron Smith (1st Hole Start, 1:38 pm EST)

Adam Scott, Jordan Spieth, Collin Morikawa (1st Hole Start, 1:49 pm EST)

Joaquin Niemann, Cameron Young, Justin Thomas (1st Hole Start, 2:00 pm EST)

Joaquin Niemann remains the betting favorite to beat after his spectacular encore round on Friday at the Genesis Invitational

(Odds used in this article are courtesy of WynnBet, and are current at the time of publication)

(Joaquin Niemann +110)

Joaquin Niemann is closing in on a second PGA Tour win after winning at the Greenbrier in 2019. He enters the third round with a two-shot lead over one of the surprise contenders of the week in Cameron Young, and a relatively comfortable five-shot cushion over Justin Thomas.

You could have found odds on Niemann to win at the beginning of the week around +6000, now he enters Saturday as the clear favorite to win come Sunday. It is difficult to find a fault in his performance so far, He leads the field in both strokes gained tee to green (+5.52), and strokes gained approach (+3.70) thus far.

The Chilean is sure to have some bumpy moments over his final two rounds, and it seems unlikely that he would record four straight rounds of 63 in a complete route over the rest of the field this week. The fact is he doesn’t have to be perfect, he just needs to be steady and not let the rest of the field back into this with mistakes, if he manages to accomplish that he should be the winner come Sunday.

(Justin Thomas +350)

Thomas posted a bogey-free second round 64 on Friday to follow up his opening round 67 on Thursday. The seven-under-par round was good enough to pull him to within five shots of the lead at the halfway point of the Genesis Invitational.

JT has a pretty sporadic record at Riviera with two missed cuts in his last two starts, and two top 10 finishes in the two start’s prior. He finished runner-up at the Genesis in 2019. He seems to be back on track this week at Riviera, and he may be one of the few challengers that could potentially pose a threat to Niemann if the 23-year-old were to stumble a bit.

The 2021 Players Champion has started 2022 in pretty fine form with a 5th (Sentry Tournament Of Champions), 20th (Farmers), and 8th (WM Phoenix Open) in his first three starts so far this year. He has had a solid start to the week across all strokes gained metrics and he will need to keep that up if he hopes to pose a threat over the weekend to Niemann.

(Cameron Young +650)

Young has been one of the more pleasant surprises to emerge this week, much like Sahith Theegala last week in Arizona. The 24-year-old turned pro in 2019 out of Wake Forest University and he would go on to win twice on the Korn Ferry Tour last year.

Camerons best finish on the PGA Tour to this point came at the Sanderson Farms in 2021 where he finished a surprise 2nd. He has made three consecutive cuts to begin 2022 after missing the cut at the Sony Open in Hawaii in his first start of the new year.

Winning the Genesis Invitational this week may prove to be a step too far for Young, but regardless of the final outcome, he has taken massive strides just by putting himself into this position heading into the weekend. He begins his third round just two shots back of Niemann at (-14) after a very impressive 62 on Friday.

(Jordan Spieth +1200)

Spieth came incredibly close to his first win of 2022 a few weeks ago at the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am and once again he finds himself in contention heading into the weekend. Jordan has some ground to make up over Saturday and Sunday however as he finds himself seven shots behind Niemann at the halfway point.

He opened his week with a 66 on Thursday and found himself just three shots behind Niemann going into Friday, flash-forward to the end of the second round and that deficit has gotten significantly larger.

Much like Thomas, Jordan has had a mixed bag of results at Riviera with a 15th place finish last year, a 59th (2020), and a 51st (2019). His best finish came in 2015 when he finished 4th here.

Jordan gained (+2.67) strokes around the greens on Friday while surprisingly losing strokes with his putter (-0.26). There is no doubt that he will need to improve in that department, and with his approaches, if he hopes to contend this week.  He remains one of the biggest threats to the young Niemann on the weekend, however.

Collin Morikawa and Adam Scott remain in the hunt at the Genesis Invitational this weekend

Morikawa (+1400) and Scott (+1750) are both within touching distance of the lead going into Saturday. The Open Champion, Collin Morikawa, finds himself eight shots behind at the halfway point. A 67 on Friday matched his score from the opening round and he is well-positioned to apply some pressure on Niemann this weekend should he falter.

Morikawa is making just his second PGA start of 2022 this week after playing two events in the Middle East on the DP World Tour. He recorded a 62nd (Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship), and 18th (Dubai Desert Classic) in two appearances. Collin has finished 43rd and 26th in two starts at Riviera prior to this week. It will take something special from Collin to find himself holding the trophy at the Genesis Invitational on Sunday, but we know he is certainly capable of producing that.

Adam Scott continues to impress at the Genesis Invitational and the 2020 Champion is doing so once again this week. He has four top 15 finishes in four of his last six starts at Riviera heading into the 2022 edition.

The Australian made the cut in his first appearance at the WM Phoenix Open last week, and he has two top 10 finishes to begin 2022. Both of his top 10’s came on the DP World Tour prior to coming over to this part of the world. He finds himself seven shots adrift after rounds of 68 and 65 to begin his week. The former champion will always be dangerous whenever he tees it up at Riviera and he will be ready to pounce should Niemann falter.

Pick to Win the Genesis Invitational: Joaquin Niemann

Niemann has been spectacular through both of his first two rounds and it is hard to see him slipping up enough over the weekend to let the rest of the field back into this. He has experience of contending in big events before with a 3rd at the BMW Championship in 2020, a 6th at the Memorial tournament in 2018, and a 5th at the Sentry Tournament Of Champions in 2020, just to name a few.

This experience should serve him well the rest of the weekend, and the fact that he is showing no cracks in his game, gaining strokes in every metric through two rounds, only amplifies how difficult he will be to chase down over the final two rounds. Niemann should secure his second win on Tour this week, and by far the biggest of his career come Sunday evening.