2023 Genesis Invitational: Top 10 Power Rankings at Riviera

Sam Burns is teeing it up at the Genesis Invitational for the fifth time this week. It’s tough to master Riviera on your first try, as he learned with a missed cut in his 2019 debut.

Hell, it’s not an easy course to play well regardless of experience. He missed the cut last year, too.

Burns has still found good success here. In 2020, he nearly MC’d again with an opening 73, but he flipped the script to go 68-69-70 to salvage T-23rd.

He came out red hot at Riviera in 2021, firing 64-66 to tie the then-tournament 36-hole record (-12). It gave him a five-shot lead heading into the weekend. Burns couldn’t quite finish the deal, recording 74-69 to miss out on a playoff by one.

For those out there setting DFS lineups or making bet slips, Burns says players who have success here are ones who hit lots of fairways. That’s not a groundbreaking revelation, but you don’t have to be a bomber to win here.

"“It’s a golf course where if you get the ball in the fairways, it’s going to go a lot further; if it lands in the rough, it’s going to stop,” Burns was transcribed by Tee Scripts in 2021."

The LSU alum is playing solid golf coming into this week. He took T-11th last month at The American Express and T-6th last week at the WM Phoenix Open.

Burns was particularly strong on the weekend at TPC Scottsdale, finishing in 64-68. The 26-year-old was average or better in every statistical category, including ninth in strokes gained around the green (3.23).

He was also T-3rd in scrambling (82.61%), which is important this week as everyone’s going to miss at least some of Riviera’s small greens.