Genesis Invitational: Projecting Friday’s Cutline; Does Tiger Make It?
The 2023 Genesis Invitational delivered everything and then some on Thursday at Riviera.
The third elevated event on this season’s PGA calendar certainly lived up to the hype on day one with a host of the world’s best players making early charges up the leaderboard at Riviera Country Club.
This week’s Genesis Invitational marked the second consecutive week of elevated event action on the PGA Tour following on from last week’s WM Phoenix Open which was the Tour’s first full-field designated event of 2023.
23 of the world’s top 25 players per the OWGR are in action this week and if Thursday’s opening round is anything to go by; we are set for an enthralling weekend at the Riv.
Mr. California, Max Homa, who won the Genesis Invitational in 2021 and who has won twice in the Golden State this season on Tour already, got off to another fast start in Cali on Thursday with an opening round 64.
This year’s Farmers Insurance Open winner produced more magic on Riviera’s iconic tenth hole during his opening round en route to a share for the outright lead at -7.
Meanwhile, Jon Rahm, Collin Morikawa, and Rory McIlroy all find themselves within the top ten on the leaderboard after Thursday’s opening round; with other big names hot on their heels heading into Friday.
Tiger electrifies Genesis Invitational with late-round charge.
Tiger Woods continues to make the seemingly impossible a reality. In his return to action for the first time since last summer’s 150th Open and his first start in a non-major event since the 2020 ZOZO Championship, Woods looked incredibly sharp during his opening round.
The 82-time winner hovered right around even par for the majority of his round on Thursday until Tiger did what he has more often than not always done. Woods birdied his last three holes to completely change the tone of his round and send the fans at Riviera into a frenzy.
Tiger finished with an opening 2-under 69 which is good enough to see him currently T-27 alongside Adam Scott, Viktor Hovland, Will Zalatoris, and Sungjae Im, to name a few. So was his late-round charge good enough to leave him in good standing when it comes to Friday’s currently projected cutline?
2023 Genesis Invitational: Friday’s Projected Cutline
Data Golf has this week’s probable cutline currently at E par (39.5%) with that number more likely to move to -1 (32.9%) than regress the other way on Friday (+1, 15.6%).
That currently gives Tiger a projected two-stroke cushion heading into his second round on Friday morning. Of course, Woods will have his sights set on climbing the leaderboard on Friday, not looking back at the cutline.
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As it stands, players such as Jordan Spieth, Tony Finau, Jason Day, and Matt Fitzpatrick would all be set to miss the cut at this year’s Genesis Invitational.
Friday’s second round action is currently set to get underway at 9:40 am EST.