The PGA TOUR is making the last stop on its West Coast tour. The Genesis Invitational tees off on Thursday from Torrey Pines Golf Course.
Genesis Invitational
The Genesis Invitational is typically played at the Riviera Country Club. However, due to the terrible wildfires in California, the tournament had to be moved from Riviera to Torrey Pines Golf Course. Torrey Pines hosted the Farmers Insurance Open just a couple of weeks ago, so a lot of these golfers have very recent experience at this course. During the Farmers Insurance Open, the tournament was held at both the North Course and the South Course at Torrey Pines. However, this tournament will be hosted solely on the South Course. The South Course is a par 72 golf course and ranges 7,802 yards. The Genesis is the third elevated event of the season so far. There is a field of 72 golfers, with a cut to the top 50, including ties and anyone within 10 shots of the lead after Friday’s round. The South Course is one of the longest courses that is played on the PGA TOUR and there is poa annua grass on the greens.
Here is a look at my two picks to lead after the first round of the Genesis Invitational:
Collin Morikawa FRL +2500
Morikawa has the third-best odds at DraftKings Sportsbook to win the Genesis Invitational, behind only Rory McIlroy and Scottie Scheffler. It can be nearly impossible to beat out those two over four rounds if they are on their A-game, but Morikawa can go lower for one round at the very least. Morikawa ranks first on Tour in total strokes gained and green in regulation percentage. If he can find fairways off the tee, he could go really low on Thursday and jump out to an early lead. Morikawa finished third at the 2023 Farmers Insurance Open, so he has shown how well his game translates to Torrey Pines. He is a California guy and he has always performed well on poa annua grass. It should be a great tournament for Morikawa and there is more value on him to be the first-round leader than to win the whole tournament.
Viktor Hovland FRL +4000
I already wrote up why Viktor Hovland is a good bet to finish in the top 20 this week. Hovland is a boom-or-bust player with the current state of his game. Hovland has only played two events so far this season, most recently the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am. At that event, Hovland shot a first-round 65, only one shot behind the first-round leader. Hovland had one bad round on Saturday of that tournament, which pushed him into a T-22 finish instead of contending at the top of the leaderboard. However, in that opening round, Hovland showed that he is still one of the best players on Tour when he’s dialed in. Hovland finished second the last time he played in a tournament at Torrey Pines, so he has shown that his game can translate well to this course. Last season, Hovland finished sixth in putting average and 13th in strokes gained off the tee. These are essential factors to success at Torrey Pines, so if Hovland can come out of the gates hot, he is more than capable of putting up the lowest score of the first round.
