This week, the best golfers in the world make the last stop on their west coast swing in Pacific Palisades at Riviera Country Club for the Genesis Invitational. A few years ago, this became Tiger Wood’s Invitational event, and as you likely know by now, this also marks the first time Tiger’s teed it up for an official Tour event since last summer’s Open Championship. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Riviera is a classic course that tests a golfer’s all-around game. It often ranks as one of the 10-12 most difficult courses on Tour each season and features narrow fairways off the tee, with second-shot proximity to the hole more difficult here than your average Tour stop. Familiarity with the fast and firm greens is crucial, and around the green skills come into play more this week than most. A successful week will include scoring on the Par-5s and surviving the Par-4s whenever possible. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Riviera and San Diego’s Torrey Pines, host of the Farmers Insurance Open just a few weeks back, are the only courses on Tour that feature poa annua greens and Kikuyu fairways and rough, making Torrey a strong corollary course when capping this week. The poa\/Kikuya combination is native to both southern California and Australia, and past leaderboards at Riviera have been littered with golfers that call either place home. There’s also a notable leaderboard crossover between Riviera and Augusta National, which makes sense considering the commonalities around elevation changes and the shot-shaping skills required to win at both places.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Handicapping early-season events when we have less relevant form data than we do in the spring and summer is a bit more of a feel thing than I’d like it to be. I’d prefer to lean on as much data as possible, but we’re all in the same boat, so let’s work with what we have. For more course details, check out Ron’s<\/a> course preview<\/a>. It’s the best in the business, bar none. Here’s an important tidbit about :<\/p>\n\n\n\n Overall, there are very few statistical categories at Riviera that are easier than the Tour average. With the second-lowest Driving Accuracy\/GIR% combo, it is a true test of all-around golf. An amazing dichotomy that shows the difficulty of the course is that it has the second largest greens on Tour yet also has the toughest overall GIR rate at 56.7%. And because of the intricacies of the course, it usually takes years of experience for most players to master. 15 of the last 17 winners had played in at least four previous Genesis Invitationals, and DataGolf lists Riviera as having the 8th “stickiest” course history correlation.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n A staggering 75% of approach shots come from 150+ yards, with 47% coming between 150-200. Both are among the highest percentages on Tour. Even though the greens are huge in size, the GIR rate is only 56.7%. Along with firm greens that repel shots, poor drives off the tee lead to approach shots from bunkers or from locations that can be partially obstructed by trees. The greens also have sharp edges that lead to run-off areas if players get too aggressive on approach. Taking the conservative route and aiming for the correct tier or middle of the green is generally the best strategic play.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n My goal with this piece is to touch on the golfers I’m targeting this week. There are millions of ways to bet on this beautiful game, so I’ll share my opinion on the best way to bet on each golfer in my player pool at this week’s event. When pricing out finishing position bets (T5, T10, T20s, etc.), I’ll often lean towards BetMGM<\/a> even if there’s a better number elsewhere because of MGM’s advantageous dead-heat rules. So know the rules of the books that you’re betting on! <\/p>\n\n\n\n