The PGA Tour follows the excitement of last week’s WM Phoenix Open with its second successive elevated event, the Genesis Invitational at Riviera Country Club.
That status ensures the tournament will have another $20m purse and appearances from the world’s top players. However, despite most of the world’s top 10 participating, much of the attention will be on the man currently languishing at World No.1294. That player is 15-time Major winner Tiger Woods, who announced last week that he would appear in this year’s tournament – his first competitive appearance since last July’s 150th Open at St Andrews.
The tournament is organised by the Tiger Woods Foundation, meaning he would have hosted the event in any case, but to see him tee it up in Los Angeles only adds to the anticipation for one of the PGA Tour’s most attractive events on its calendar. If Woods upsets the odds to win the tournament, he could jump over 1,200 places in the world rankings to World No.54. To do so, though, he would need to finish ahead of plenty of the world’s best players.
Scottie Scheffler reclaimed the World No.1 position with his win at TPC Scottsdale, and he will be looking to build on that this week and prevent the chance for World No.2 Rory McIlroy and World No.3 Jon Rahm take his place at the top.
McIlroy will be eager to put the disappointment of last week behind him, where he finished in an underwhelming tie for 32nd to lose his place at the top of the world rankings. Meanwhile, after a breathtaking run of results, Rahm once again impressed in Arizona, finishing 3rd to suggest he’s still at the top of his game and hunting down the top spot.
Last year’s winner, Joaquin Niemann, is not back to defend his title as he now plays the LIV Golf. However, the two players the Chilean beat by two shots last year, Collin Morikawa and Cameron Young, do play. Morikawa, in particular, will be keen to bounce back in the most emphatic style possible following his missed cut in last week’s tournament.
As well as Morikawa, Scheffler, McIlroy and Rahm, other players in the world’s top 10 in the field are Patrick Cantlay, Xander Schauffele, Justin Thomas, Will Zalatoris and Matt Fitzpatrick. Of those, Thomas impressed the most last week, finishing fourth to suggest he’s not far from his best form.
Two years ago, Max Homa beat Tony Finau in a playoff and both players are back this week. With Homa’s most recent victory coming last month in the Farmers Insurance Open at…
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