The Genesis Invitational, the third 2024 PGA Tour season event, will be hosted at Riviera Country Club in Pacific Palisades, Calif., from Feb. 15 through Feb. 18. The Golf Channel will broadcast the first two rounds of the tournament with CBS airing the third and fourth rounds.
All groups will begin on the front nine, and below are some of the notable pairings for Round 1:
11:08 a.m. ET: Keegan Bradley, Tom Hoge, Harris English
11:44 a.m. ET: Cam Davis, Adam Hadwin, Cameron Young
12:01 p.m. ET: Nick Taylor, Viktor Hovland, Sam Burns
12:13 p.m. ET: Tom Kim, Patrick Cantlay, Jordan Spieth
12:25 p.m. ET: Justin Thomas, Tiger Woods, Gary Woodland
1:01 p.m. ET: Will Zalatoris, Matt Kuchar, Sam Ryder
1:25 p.m. ET: Jason Day, Tony Finau, Brendon Todd
1:42 p.m. ET: Lee Hodges, Brian Harman, Hideki Matsuyama
2:06 p.m. ET: Rickie Fowler, Mackenzie Hughes, Patrick Rodgers
2:30 p.m. ET: Sahith Theegala, Xander Schauffele, Tommy Fleetwood
2:42 p.m. ET: Collin Morikawa, Matt Fitzpatrick, Scottie Scheffler
2:54 p.m. ET: Wyndham Clark, Rory McIlroy, Max Homa
Preview
In last year’s Genesis Invitational, the player field featured 129 players, with each player averaging 71.071 through four rounds. Unlike the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am, there will be a 36-hole cut and only 70 players teeing up. Those who finish in the top 50 will qualify for the third and final round of the tournament.
Riviera Country Club will feature eighteen of the top 20 players in the Official World Golf Rankings. Notably, Tiger Woods will make his first start on the PGA Tour since last year’s Masters Tournament in April. The heavy favorite to win this weekend, according to the PGA Tour odds board, is Scottie Scheffler following the likes of Rory McIlroy, Viktor Hovland, Xander Schauffele, Justin Thomas and Collin Morikawa. Defending champion John Rahm will skip out.
Analysis
Scheffler held the lead last week at the WM Phoenix Open but slipped between holes 13-15, finishing in a tie for third. Most of his shortcomings came from poor putting, and he will look to turn things around to be in the mix this weekend. In the last four years at Riviera, the New Jersey native has finished in the top 30, including back-to-back top 12 finishes. He leads the tour in scoring average (66.87) and greens in regulation (88.38%).
Golf fans should also look out for veteran Adam Scott. The Australian golfer finished eighth at the WM Phoenix Open. Scott, 45th in the FedEx Cup, won the Genesis Invitational in 2020 and secured three top seven finishes since 2016.
Will Zalatoris finished in fourth last year but was sidelined for most of the golf season with a microdiscectomy. Sam Burns finished 10th at Pebble Beach this year and third at the WM Phoenix Open. Burns ranks fourth in bogey avoidance (6.30%) and fifth in greens in regulation (78.79%).
Schauffele’s drives and powerful iron play have recorded five top-25 finishes at the Genesis Invitational.
With 15 appearances, Woods’ best finish was second place in 1998 in a playoff loss at Valencia Country Club. The 48-year-old Woods played in the Hero World Challenge in December and has a chance to shake up the rankings against world No. 1 Scottie Scheffler. The 2022 Masters winner hasn’t won a tournament in 11 months, but he should be on the lookout to finish in the top 10 for the tournament. Young players like Collin Morikawa, Max Homa, Patrick Cantlay, Sahith Theegala and Xander Schauffele each seek to win the Genesis in their home state of California.
The winner of the Genesis Invitational will get 700 FedEx Cup points and a $4 million share from the $20 million tournament purse.