First Look at the The Genesis Invitational

Tiger Woods and his Foundation are the tournament host but Woods will not be playing as he recovers from a fifth back surgery.

Tyrrell Hatton of England and Webb Simpson are the only players from the World Rankings Top 10 not playing at The Genesis Invitational. Hatton is prepping for the World Golf Championship next week in Florida, followed by his title defense at Bay Hill and then The Players Championship - an important and busy stretch.

Jordan Spieth was the co-leader and the leader after 54 holes at the last two PGA Tour events. He T-4 in Phoenix and T-3 at Pebble Beach.

Dating back to official start of the 2020-21 PGA Tour season (Safeway), the best finish for a defending champion has been Justin Thomas’ third place finish at 2021 year/season restart Sentry Tournament of Champions. Since then, Cameron Smith has T-62 at SONY; Andrew Landry T-64 at The American Express; Mark Leishman T-18 at the Farmers; Webb Simpson T-42 at WM Phoenix; and Nick Taylor T-39 last weekend at Pebble Beach.

Tournament Tee Times begin on Thursday at an early 6:40am (local)/9:40am ET. (link)

Charles Swartzel, Wyndham Clark and Sepp Straka will lead out first from No. 1 while Cameron Tringale, Joel Dahmen and Will Zalatoris have the early wake-up call to head out on the Back Nine.

Weather for Thursday: Sunny. 0% chance of rain. Temps in the 49-68-degree range with winds NE/SW 5-10 mph. Rest of weekend forecast is similar with exception of Saturday with increased winds, 15-20 mph with gusts to 30 mph.

PGATourBrunch will be serving an early “BRUNCH” and posting at 9am ET Thursday through Sunday. The Monday recap will be for your lunch snacking at Noon (ET) on February 22.

Next Week: “Let’s Play Two!” - World Golf Championship in Florida and the Puerto Rico Open.

Field Updates:

Daniel Berger (out)/ withdrew Tuesday. No replacement, reducing field from 121 to 120

Andy Ogletree (out/hip injury Tuesday) / Tim Widing (in)

THIS WEEK on the PGA TOUR: The GENESIS INVITATIONAL

COURSE: Riviera Country Club, Pacific Palisades, California

ARCHITECTS: G.C.Thomas, Jr. and W.P. Bell

YARDS/PAR: 7,321 yards/Par 71

PRIZE Money/First Place Winnings: $9,300,000/$1,674,000

DEFENDING Champion: Adam Scott (2020 Leaderboard link)

PAST RESULTS: (link)

PAST CHAMPIONS of Event: (link)

FEDEx CUP Winner Share for points: 550

SOCIAL MEDIA: #PGATour #FedEXCup @thegenesisinv

TV COVERAGE: Thursday, February 18: 12:00pm to 8:00pm (ET) on Golf Channel. Friday, February 19: 2:00pm to 6:00pm ET on Golf Channel. Saturday, February 20: 1:00pm to 3:00pm (ET) on Golf Channel and 3:00pm to 6:00pm (ET) on CBS. Sunday, February 14: 1:00pm to 3:00pm (ET) on Golf Channel and 3:00pm to 6:30pm (ET) on CBS.

STREAMING: PGA Twitter Live (free) will be streaming Thursday, February 18th from 12:00pm to 2:00pm (ET) and 6:00pm to 8:pm (ET). PGA Tour Live will offer streaming coverage of Featured Groups on Thursday and Friday from 9:45am to 8:00pm (ET); On Saturday (11:00am-3:00pm ET) and Sunday (11:30am-3:00pm ET), PGA Tour Live will stream Featured Groups. Featured Holes will be streamed only on Saturday (3:00pm to 6:00pm ET) and Sunday from 3:00pm to 6:30pm (ET).

PGA TOUR RADIO COVERAGE: Thursday, February 18 - Friday, February 19 - 2:00pm to 8:00pm (ET); Saturday, February 20 (1:00pm to 6:00pm (ET)) and Sunday, February 21: (1:00pm to 6:30pm (ET)) on Sirius XM Satellite Radio. PGA Tour Radio is available on Sirius 208/XM 92) or online on PGATour.com.

TOURNAMENT SITE (link)

Odds & Predictions:

A L👀K at the O👀S and A PREDICTION OR TWO for The Genesis:

2021 Genesis Invitational odds (via William Hill)

Dustin Johnson 6-1

Rory McIlroy 12-1

Jon Rahm 12-1

Justin Thomas 14-1

Xander Schauffele 14-1

Bryson DeChambeau 16-1

Patrick Cantlay 18-1

Brooks Koepka 22-1

Tony Finau 25-1

*Viktor Hovland 30-1

*Adam Scott 30-1

Collin Morikawa 30-1

Jordan Spieth 33-1

Hideki Matsuyama 33-1

*Bubba Watson 45-1

Joaquin Niemann 50-1

Scottie Scheffler 50-1

Marc Leishman 60-1

*Max Homa 60-1

Sergio Garcia 60-1

Abraham Ancer 60-1

Will Zalatoris 60-1

Matthew Fitzpatrick 66-1

Carlos Ortiz 70-1

*Matthew Wolff 70-1

Russell Henley 75-1

*Kevin Na 75-1

Gary Woodland 80-1

Cameron Smith 80-1

Matt Kuchar 80-1

Si-Woo Kim 80-1

Francesco Molinari 80-1

Jason Kokrak 80-1

James Hahn 90-1

Cameron Davis 90-1

Henrik Norlander 90-1

Rickie Fowler 90-1

Sam Burns 100-1

Corey Conners 100-1

Maverick McNealy 100-1

Cameron Tringale 100-1

Lanto Griffin 125-1

Kyoung-Hoon Lee 125-1

Adam Hadwin 125-1

Nate Lashley 125-1

Russell Knox 125-1

Brendon Todd 125-1

Luke List 125-1

Brian Harman 125-1

Alex Noren 125-1

Kevin Streelman 125-1

Brendan Steele 125-1

* Like ‘em!

TL’s Wedge Edge: For the PGA Tour Fantasy Game, my initial foursome will be: Bryson DeChambeau and Max Homa for sure. Next is a safe play on Kevin Na and Viktor Hovland. Back-ups: You can not ignore the prior play at Riveria by Adam Scott and Bubba Watson.

For PGA Tour One and Done? I’m on Viktor Hovland and his (30-1) odds for a big score.

Quick Look/Key Information:

Last Week’s Final Leaderboard from AT&T Pebble Beach (link)

2020 Genesis Results (Adam Scott was Champion) - (link)

Past Winners and Runners-Up at The Genesis (link)

What They’re Saying:

Last Week’s Winner, Daniel Berger, Withdraws (Golf Channel)

Horses for the Course (PGATourCom)

Long Journey of Willie Mack III (NY Post)

Genesis Collegiate Showcase (GopherSports)

#SportsBiz, Sporting Gambling and Golf Industry News

Mickelson Exploring TV Role (Front Office Sports)

Rory McIlroy to Serve on PGA Tour Board (Associated Press)

Action Net Fading the Favorites, Why? (Action Network)

CBS Sports Odds and Predictions (CBS Sports HQ)

Expert Picks (PGATourCom)

Sleeper Picks (PGATourCom)

February 17, 1974 - Dave Stockton won the Los Angeles Open with one of the greatest approach shots ever hit at famed Riviera Country Club. Stockton held a one-shot lead over Sam Snead on the 18th tee and Snead, in an act of gamesmanship, told Stockton that he had birdied the last two holes back in 1950 to defeat Ben Hogan. Angered at Snead’s behavior, Stockton mishit his tee shot, left and into deep rough, leaving him a 244-yard shot from the rough. “I remember he ball was about eight inches below my feet,” remembered Stockton in his book, “My Greatest Shot,” as Sam was standing out in the middle of the fairway with my caddie.” Still incensed at Snead, Stockton proceeds to hit a 3-wood approach shot to within 12 feet of the pin. After I hit it, Stockton wrote, “I walked past Snead and said, ‘I guess Hogan didn’t hit it that close.”Stockton won by two strokes. (Courtesy of Randy Walker), Author of On This Day in Golf History, available via Amazon.com and by clicking HERE

WHILE WE’RE YOUNG!

Be SURE to test drive the weekly Sunday Sports Notes Column, “While We’re Young (Ideas)” by @TerryLyons. Sent once a week for your (late) Saturday night or Early Sunday morning entertainment. You can sample and subscribe HERE

Parting Putt:

The Genesis Invitational @thegenesisinv

Rise and shine, Riviera

February 16th 2021

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