The PGA season heads to California for the 3rd signature event of the Season. The Genesis Invitational will host a very strong field. Tiger Woods will also make his 2024 debut playing and hosting the event.

Tiger didn’t play much in 2023 outside of this event. He most recently played at the Hero World Challenge, and then the PNC Championship with his son Charlie. Oddly enough this is one of the very few places where Tiger has not won. Regardless at this point of his career a Tiger appearance is always a welcoming experience.

The previous two winners have since gone to LIV so any insights to who may be jumping ship could help reveal this year’s winner.

Jon Rahm won last year by two strokes over Max Homa at 17 under. He shot 65 on Thursday and Sunday and his irons were on fire gaining just under 12 strokes on approach. Homa continued his string of strong performances here as the runner up and now has top ten finishes in four straight years including his 2021 win. Notably Collin Morikawa came 6th following up his 2nd place finish from 2022.

In 2022 Joaquin Niemann went wire to wire to win the Genesis at 19 under par. He had a shaky start to his Sunday but chipped in from 45 feet for eagle on the 11th hole. Collin Morikawa and Cameron Young came in 2nd with Hovland, Scheffler, Thomas, and Rory all also in the top ten. In 2021 Max Homa won in a playoff over Tony Finau at 19 under par.

The Genesis Invitational is played at Riviera Country Club in Pacific Palisades, CA.

It is a 7,322-yard par 71 with Poa greens. Hole number one is a 503-yard par 5 that plays as one of the easiest holes on tour boasting a 60% birdie rate. The other two par fives are on the back nine and play as the 2nd and 3rd easiest holes in the course. Golfers will certainly want to take advantage of those three holes. There are six par 4s that are between 450-500 yards. Par is a good score on these holes since they are some of the hardest holes on the course. Especially the 479 yard 12th hole with a near 30% birdie rate.

Driving distance certainly comes into play at Riviera but driving accuracy not so much. Missing fairways isn’t the end of the world with the shorter rough, therefore, most golfers will be going for distance. With that being said, driving distance actually comes in slightly under the tour average at 282 yards. With less concern about missing fairways, Driving Accuracy comes in well under the tour average at only 54 percent.

Mid to long irons are a must with 27% of approach shots coming from 150-175 yards, 23% from 175-200 yards, and 23% 200 yards or more. Naturally, longer iron shots lead to one of the lower GIR percentages on tour coming in at only 57 percent. Simply hitting greens is not good enough considering the amount of 3-putts at Riviera. Similar to Torrey Pines and Pebble Beach, this course forces some of the most missed putts from inside five feet.

Missed greens require some finesse around the greens so bombers or long iron players with a short game should be the preferred profile. However missed greens aren’t a death sentence here with scrambling being slightly easier at Riviera. A lack of power can be mitigated by hitting fairways and having a solid week with those longer irons.

The field consists of 65 golfers in the field with a 36-hole cut to the top 50 and ties

The Genesis Invitational: Key Stats and Figures

• Approach
• Driving Distance
• Par 4s 450-500 yards
• Around the Green
• Proximity 150-200 yds

Historic Cut Line

• 2023: +2
• 2022: +1
• 2019: +1
• 2018: +2
• 2017: +1

Previous Winners

2023: Jon Rahm -17
2022: Joaquin Niemann-19
2021: Max Homa -12
2020: Adam Scott -11
2019: JB Holmes -14