Torrey Pines and Clubs Hosting Multiple Events

The 2025 Genesis Invitational is on the move. Multiple sources, including Golfweek and Sports Illustrated, have indicated the PGA Tour will relocate the 2025 event 126 miles south to Torrey Pines Golf Course in the San Diego suburb of La Jolla.

Playing at another Tour venue, three weeks after hosting its usual event, The Farmers Insurance Open, Torrey Pines is the answer. The Signature Event passes over other Tour venues and lands on the two-time US Open venue.

Torrey Pines makes sense. The time between the two events allows Farmers signage to come down, and Genesis signage to go up. It also allows the course to recover from foot traffic from spectators, the wear and tear of a normal tournament week like greens getting double cut and rolled daily, but also not so long that grandstands get in the way of too much regular play.

Also, a bonus that Torrey Pines hosts the event, it stays in southern California allowing the Genesis people to sub the bright lights of Los Angeles for the views of the Pacific Ocean in the background.

TPC Scottsdale could have worked – one or two days to change out signage would have been awfully tough though. PGA West also could have worked – one more week to change out signage, and still in southern California. I suspect the Stadium Course could have been passed over due to being guilty by association of the low scores put up by its fellow American Express venues. 

In general, Torrey Pines works in the eyes of the players. 

As players are planning their schedules, they might decide to play or not play the Genesis or play or not play other events on the West Coast. Staying in southern California generally does not change much in the eyes of Tour players as much as changing to, say, TPC Sawgrass or somewhere cross-country.

What remains to be seen is if the tournament will follow the Farmers' lead and be played on both the North and South courses or just the South or, I think unlikely, the North course. With only sixty players in the field, due to being a Signature Event, it would look weird to have it split between two courses.

Torrey Pines, who also double dipped in the 2008 and 2021 seasons when it hosted the US Open, joins an interesting group of courses to host multiple Tour events with a short turnaround time.  Let’s look at a few other venues to host multiple events in a season.

Doral Resort and Spa (now Trump National Doral) in Miami. The Office Depot on the LPGA Tour’s 2001 schedule was played in late January on the Blue Monster course, won by Grace Park. Five weeks later, the PGA Tour came to town for the Genuity Championship won by Joe Durant.

Muirfield Village in Dublin, Ohio. The 2020 Tour schedule went through significant changes due to the Covid Pandemic. Without spectators, Jack’s place hosted the one-off Workday Charity Open in mid-July, and then hosted the Memorial Tournament a week later.

Pebble Beach on the Monterey Peninsula, California. Since 1947, Pebble Beach has hosted the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am in January or February each year.  It has also hosted six US Opens, three US Amateurs, a US Women’s Open, a PGA Championship, and the PURE Insurance Championship Impacting The First Tee on the PGA Tour Champions. The PGA Tour event was played in its usual spot on the schedule each year with the ‘extra’ event coming months later.

Riviera Country Club. Riviera Country Club hosted the 1995 Genesis Invitational and the 1995 PGA Championship. When Riviera hosted the 1983 PGA Championship though, the Genesis that year was played at Rancho Park Golf Course. It remains to be seen if the 2028 Genesis will be played at Riviera with the Olympics planned for later in the year.

With no disrespect to Muirfield Village in 2020, Pinehurst pulled off the ultimate double dip in 2014.  In the middle of June, the Number 2 course hosted the US Open, won by Martin Kaymer. The following Sunday, Michelle Wie won the US Women’s Open on the same course, lifting the trophy on the same 18th green as Kaymer.

Other notable examples are when St. Andrews hosts the Open Championship in addition to its annual duties of hosting the Dunhill Links Championship and Augusta National hosting the Augusta National Women’s Amateur, the Drive Chip and Putt finals, and the Masters all in an eight-day period.

An interesting note is when Quail Hollow hosted the 2017 PGA Championship, the upcoming 2025 PGA Championship, and the 2022 Presidents Cup, the Wells Fargo Championship was played elsewhere during those seasons.