{"id":9674,"date":"2024-02-12T07:40:56","date_gmt":"2024-02-12T07:40:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/api.betspertsgolf.com\/raw-forum\/?post_type=article&#038;p=9674"},"modified":"2024-02-14T07:50:01","modified_gmt":"2024-02-14T07:50:01","slug":"the-genesis-invitational-at-riviera-country-club-2024-preview","status":"publish","type":"article","link":"https:\/\/api.betspertsgolf.com\/raw-forum\/article\/the-genesis-invitational-at-riviera-country-club-2024-preview\/","title":{"rendered":"The Genesis Invitational at Riviera Country Club &#8211; 2024 Preview"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>Coming off the heels of Nick Taylor&#8217;s masterful performance at the WM Phoenix Open, the Tour heads back to California for the Genesis Invitational and the final event of the West Coast Swing. Completed in 1926 inside the Santa Monica Mountain Canyon just outside of Los Angeles, Riviera Country Club remains one of America&#8217;s iconic golf courses.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Not only is it iconic, but Riviera is always in the conversation among the best-designed courses in the country. Even as it approaches its 100-year birthday, most experts believe that it lacks any weak holes. While the scope and size of the course don&#8217;t stand out, it forces players to execute and commit to every shot in their bag. It&#8217;s a challenging layout that forces golfers to make strategic decisions. Designed and built in 1926 by George C. Thomas, Jr., it opened as the Los Angeles Athletic Club Golf Course and has been a fixture on the PGA Tour since 1973. The routing is near-perfect as Thomas utilized all the available natural features of the terrain in creating his masterpiece.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Riviera features tight driving corridors, erratic Kikuyu rough, and speedy greens with subtle undulations. It tests all aspects of a golfer&#8217;s game and requires players to hit specific areas on both fairways and greens to maximize their scoring opportunities. Being out of position creates extreme pressure to save par because the course is relentless. Shot-makers who can position themselves off the tee, who can shape the ball in both directions and scramble for par around these treacherous greens will have the most success.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Two of the greatest golfers of all time, Jack Nicklaus and Tiger Woods, never managed to win at Riviera. It has the universal admiration of Tour pros because it&#8217;s tough but fair. Speaking on the challenge that the course presents, Patrick Cantlay summed it up best. &#8220;The greens aren\u2019t overly firm and it\u2019s not crazy long. The golf course always defends itself. There\u2019s no tricks. There\u2019s no water on the whole golf course. There\u2019s no real goofiness. I just think, all in all, it\u2019s just the best test that we play.&#8221;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">The Field<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>As a &#8220;Signature&#8221; event, 50 of the top 60 players in the world will be in attendance for the Genesis Invitational. The only eligible golfers choosing not to play are Justin Rose and Matthieu Pavon. As anticipated, golf&#8217;s biggest draw, Tiger Woods, will make his return to action this week. Woods, the tournament host who gifted himself a sponsor exemption, will be making his first official PGA Tour start since the 2023 Masters. The 82-time PGA TOUR winner will headline a stacked field competing for 700 FedExCup points and a $20 million purse.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>With the field capped at a potential 80 players, only 70 actually qualified through the assortment of categories as set forth by the Tour. This includes the top 50 in last season\u2019s FedExCup standings, the Aon Next 10 (which for this event is Nos. 51-60 in the final FedExCup Fall standings) and the Aon Swing 5 (the top points earners not already exempt from the previous four Full-Field events). There are also five sponsor exemptions into the field, Adam Scott, Gary Woodland, Will Zalatoris, Chase Johnson (Charlie Sifford Memorial Exemption) and the aforementioned, Woods. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The Genesis is one of four &#8220;Signature&#8221; events that will maintain a 36-hole cut which includes the top-50 and ties and also every player within 10 strokes of the 36-hole lead.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"979\" height=\"869\" src=\"https:\/\/api.betspertsgolf.com\/raw-forum\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/image-1.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-9686\" srcset=\"https:\/\/api.betspertsgolf.com\/raw-forum\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/image-1.png 979w, https:\/\/api.betspertsgolf.com\/raw-forum\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/image-1-300x266.png 300w, https:\/\/api.betspertsgolf.com\/raw-forum\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/image-1-768x682.png 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 979px) 100vw, 979px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Riviera Country Club &#8211; History<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Sitting inside a small canyon, and tucked away in a residential area just south of Sunset Boulevard lies one of golf&#8217;s monumental courses, Riviera Country Club. In the 1920s, golf was becoming more popular in Southern California, and the Los Angeles Athletic Club wanted to build a champion course that was located away from the congestion of the city. About 20 miles to the west of downtown Los Angeles, a tract of land in the Pacific Palisades area was settled upon as the best location. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Tasked with the course design, George Thomas was familiar with the area having just finished Bel-Air Country Club which was only five miles away. One of the most underrated architects of his time, up to that point, Thomas had only been an amateur designer and agreed to take on the project free of charge. He was joined in the project by his &#8220;construction man&#8221;, William P. Bell, and Alister MacKenzie who helped in the course&#8217;s creation. Thomas initially despised the property&#8217;s location in the Santa Monica Canyon. It was a small, dreary, treeless, mostly flat piece of land that seemed far from suitable for building a premier golf course. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<div class=\"ast-oembed-container\" style=\"height: 100%;\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"History of Riviera Country Club - 2017 US Amateur Championship\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/Ja765Y8K_YY?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/div>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>It appeared that heaven and earth would need to be moved to construct a course from scratch in that canyon. But instead of moving tons of dirt and land, and because of financial constraints, Thomas took the naturalist approach and developed all sorts of holes that blended into the canyon and its surroundings. As renowned professional golfer, Hale Irwin attests, &#8220;The integrity of the course is influenced greatly by the fact that no two holes are alike and the course has been placed, rather than forced, into the land.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The course was developed over an 18-month span as Thomas put together 15 different versions of the design over this time period. It finally opened to critical acclaim in 1927 and remains a crowned jewel to this day. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Since it opened, Riviera has been an institution in American tournament golf currently serving as the annual venue for the Genesis Invitational. This event was originally known as the Los Angeles Open and was first played here in 1929. Since 1973, The Los Angeles Open has been played here every year except in 1983 and 1988. Riviera was one of Ben Hogan\u2019s favorite courses and it\u2019s sometimes referred to as \u201cHogan\u2019s Alley\u201d. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>It has also hosted a handful of majors including the 1948 U.S. Open, the 1983 and 1995 PGA Championships, the 1998 U.S. Senior Open Championship, and the 2017 U.S. Amateur. In 2028, Riviera will host the Summer Olympics.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The course itself has been relatively unaltered since its opening. It has held up magnificently over time as it has only undergone one major renovation back in 1992 when Ben Crenshaw and Bill Coore redesigned the bunkers to look as they did when the course first opened. In 2008, Tom Fazio completed a minor restoration of the 7th and 8th holes. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>We have partnered with&nbsp;<a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/www.vividpicks.com\/promo\/betspertsgolf\" target=\"_blank\">Vivid Picks<\/a>&nbsp;to bring you an easy way to claim a FREE, no-strings-attached 2024 season at Betsperts Golf, plus a 100% deposit match up to $250! Click&nbsp;<a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/betspertsgolf.com\/golf-betting\/free-2024-subscription-to-betsperts-golf-with-vivid-picks-deposit-and-play\" target=\"_blank\">here<\/a>&nbsp;to learn more!<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Finish Position and Strokes Gained Course History (2016-2023)<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p><em>This includes the average finish position and Strokes Gained per round for each of the categories. Players are sorted by SG: Total. Riviera Country Club is the 3rd (out of 44) most predictive annual course on Tour.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Genesis Invitational at Riviera Country Club &#8211; 2024 Preview<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":9691,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":""},"bs_types":[14,15],"bs_tags":[147,29,73],"class_list":["post-9674","article","type-article","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","bs_type-betting","bs_type-fantasy","bs_tag-genesis-invitational","bs_tag-golf-betting","bs_tag-golf-dfs"],"acf":false,"featured_image":"https:\/\/api.betspertsgolf.com\/raw-forum\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/gettyimages-1467066239-612x612-1.jpg","tags_list":[{"id":147,"name":"Genesis Invitational","slug":"genesis-invitational"},{"id":29,"name":"Golf Betting","slug":"golf-betting"},{"id":73,"name":"Golf DFS","slug":"golf-dfs"}],"types_list":[{"id":14,"name":"Betting"},{"id":15,"name":"Fantasy"}],"bs_author":{"name":"Ron Klos","profile_image":"https:\/\/api.betspertsgolf.com\/raw-forum\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/Ron-Klos-150x150.jpg"},"bs_term_name":null,"is_paid":"true","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/api.betspertsgolf.com\/raw-forum\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/article\/9674","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/api.betspertsgolf.com\/raw-forum\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/article"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/api.betspertsgolf.com\/raw-forum\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/article"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/api.betspertsgolf.com\/raw-forum\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/api.betspertsgolf.com\/raw-forum\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/9691"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/api.betspertsgolf.com\/raw-forum\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9674"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"bs_type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/api.betspertsgolf.com\/raw-forum\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/bs_types?post=9674"},{"taxonomy":"bs_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/api.betspertsgolf.com\/raw-forum\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/bs_tags?post=9674"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}