The PGA TOUR has reached the third of its eight Signature Events, as The Genesis Invitational will take place this weekend. It’s not at its typical venue, Riviera Country Club, which was affected by the devastating wildfires that hit Los Angeles last month, so instead, the Torrey Pines South Course will play host to a tournament for the second time in four weeks after chewing golfers up at the Farmers Insurance Open.
Among the 72-player field are six Asian players, including Japan’s Hideki Matsuyama — the first Asian man ever to win a major championship — and rising star Tom Kim. But of all the Asians in the field, South Korea’s Sungjae Im has been the most consistent, even though Matsuyama won the season-opening Sentry in record-setting fashion. I’m backing Im to be the top Asian finisher at The Genesis Invitational.
Best Sungjae Im Prop Bet on DraftKings Sportsbook
Sungjae Im Top Asian (+330)
Given that there are four Asian players in the world’s Top 30, becoming the continent’s top finisher in any given tournament is a challenge. The 21st-ranked Im faces a tall task even to become the top finisher from South Korea, which has the fifth-most golf courses in the world relative to its land area, given that Kim (#23) and Byeong Hun An (#29) also hail from there. But Im finished third behind Matsuyama and Collin Morikawa — who is of fully Japanese descent but represents the United States in competition — at The Sentry and, most pertinently, followed it up with a tie for fourth at the Farmers Insurance Open at Torrey Pines. That week, Im fired rounds of 69, 72, and 71 to finish at -5 for the tournament.
Of course, playing a course well one week doesn’t necessarily mean a player will do it once again later in the season, but history is on Im’s side. Torrey Pines South has only been played multiple times in the same season twice: in 2008 and 2021, when it hosted the U.S. Open. In 2008, Tiger Woods did the double, winning the Farmers Insurance Open by eight strokes over Ryuji Imada before topping Rocco Mediate in a playoff during the U.S. Open, but in 2021, eventual U.S. Open champion Jon Rahm finished in a tie for seventh. Im isn’t quite on the level of Woods or Rahm, and he’s coming off two rough weeks, but I trust him more than Matsuyama, who hasn’t finished in the Top 15 since his victory in Hawaii.
Plus, Im’s game is tailor-made for Torrey Pines South. According to Data Golf, Torrey Pines is one of the toughest courses on the PGA TOUR both on the greens and off the tee, while it’s easier than average both on approaches to the green and around the green. Im — who ranks 13th on the PGA TOUR this season in Strokes Gained: Putting and 29th in Strokes Gained: Off the Tee — should have no problem making his way around the course. Torrey Pines is relatively penal to those who miss the fairway, with an average difference of 0.27 strokes per hole, and he ranks 32nd on TOUR with a 64.4% fairway percentage. In such a competitive field, Im’s proficiency off the tee, combined with Matsuyama’s struggles in that aspect this season, will be the reason why he’ll be above his Japanese counterpart on the leaderboard on Sunday afternoon.
