This article is part of our FanDuel PGA DFS Picks series.
The Genesis Invitational
Course: Riviera Country Club (7,322 yards, par 71)
Purse: $12,000,000
Winner: $2,160,000 and 550 FedExCup points
Tournament Preview
Last week's WM Phoenix Open was one of the best tournaments in recent memory. With football now over, golf is primed to take center stage for the final event of the West Coast Swing. This year's Genesis Invitational received a big purse increase from $9.3 million to $12 million, which has in turn attracted an incredible field, including all top 10 players in the Official World Golf Ranking.
The event formerly known as the Los Angeles Open dates back to 1926 when it was held at Los Angeles Country Club, the site of the 2023 U.S. Open. Riviera Country Club hosted its first L.A. Open back in 1929 and has been the host course of the event for 45 of the last 47 years. Riviera is also set to host the Men's and Women's Olympic Golf Competition in 2028. The George C. Thomas Jr. and Williams P. Bell design is annually ranked among the best courses in the United States and is a favorite of the players. Riviera Country Club has been nicknamed "Hogan's Alley" due to the success of Ben Hogan at the course in which he won two L.A. Open's and the U.S. Open in 1948. Riviera has seen a number of other iconic champions, but two notable omissions are Jack Nicklaus and Tiger Woods. The Genesis Invitational is now organized by the Tiger Woods Foundation and was given invitational status back in 2020, which reduced the field size to 120 players and allowed the event more freedom in deciding which players are eligible to participate. The Arnold Palmer Invitational, RBC Heritage, Charles Schwab Challenge, and the Memorial are the other four tournaments which have invitational status giving the winner a three-year exemption, rather than just two years.
California native Max Homa was able to break through for what was at the time his second career PGA Tour victory in a playoff over Tony Finau in last year's Genesis Invitational. Homa kicked off this season with his third career win at the Fortinet Championship in Napa. World No. 1 Jon Rahm will be looking for his first win since last year's U.S. Open, while World No. 2 Collin Morikawa makes his return to the PGA Tour after playing in the European Tour's Desert Swing. New PGA Tour winner Scottie Scheffler will be looking to go back-to-back after finally breaking through in Scottsdale. Potential new star Sahith Theegala will also be teeing it up at Riviera after coming up just short at the WM Phoenix Open on a sponsor's exemption. Last week's runner-up and reigning FedExCup Champion Patrick Cantlay is looking for another standout performance in California. Bubba Watson will be gunning for his tournament-record tying fourth victory in this event after winning in 2014, 2016, and 2018. Jordan Spieth, Rory McIlroy, Brooks Koepka, Justin Thomas, Dustin Johnson, Hideki Matsuyama, Xander Schauffele, and Viktor Hovland are just a few of the other notables in what will be a truly incredible field teeing it up at Riviera.
It should be yet another fantastic week of weather on the PGA Tour. Temperatures should top out in the low-70's for the first three rounds, then may cool off a bit for the final round with a few more clouds as well. Wind is not expected to be a huge factor and should be sustained around 5-10 miles per hour throughout the week. Riviera is always one of the most challenging courses on the PGA Tour when it plays firm. It's unlikely we see anyone challenge Lanny Wadkins' tournament record of 20-under-par.
Recent Champions
2021 – Max Homa (-12)
2020 – Adam Scott (-11)
2019 – J.B. Holmes (-14)
2018 – Bubba Watson (-12)
2017 – Dustin Johnson (-17)
2016 – Bubba Watson (-15)
2015 – James Hahn (-6)
2014 – Bubba Watson (-15)
2013 – John Merrick (-11)
2012 – Bill Haas (-7)
Key Stats to Victory
- SG: Approach
- GIR Percentage
- SG: Off-the-Tee
- Scrambling
Champion's Profile
Riviera is a ball striker's paradise. It is annually one of the toughest courses on the PGA Tour to hit fairways and greens in regulation. It is also extremely difficult to putt from close range. Sticky kikuyagrass blankets the entire property with the exception of the greens. Despite the rough being just an inch and a half tall, it still can make controlling the ball into very firm greens quite difficult. Chip and pitch shots around the greens will also be quite difficult because of the unpredictability of the kikuyagrass. The putting surfaces are poa annua which get notoriously bouncy in the late afternoon, making keeping putts on line quite a challenge. All players will miss their fair share of putts inside of 10 feet this week. The more fairways and greens you can hit this week, the easier it will be to keep bogeys off the card. The most elite ball-strikers in the world have a way of covering the top page of the leaderboard year in and year out at Riviera.
FanDuel Value Picks
The Chalk
Patrick Cantlay ($12,000)
Cantlay has been a factor in all four of his starts in 2022, going 4-9-T4 before falling in a playoff at last week's WM Phoenix Open. The former UCLA standout loves the West Coast Swing and finished top-20 each of the last four years at Riviera. Cantlay has no weaknesses and ranks fourth in birdie average and second in scoring average this season.
Xander Schauffele ($11,600)
Schauffele picked up his first top-10 since the TOUR Championship at last week's WM Phoenix Open, where he led the field in SG: Tee-to-Green. He was really a decent putting week away from running away with it. Schauffele has finished top-25 in all four of his appearances at Riviera. The San Diego native ranks 12th in SG: Tee-to-Green for the season and 15th in birdie average.
Dustin Johnson ($11,500)
Riviera is usually a big "horses for courses" place, and nobody has been a consistently bigger threat at this place than Johnson. He has scored a whopping 10 top-10 finishes in 14 career starts, including a win back in 2017 and a pair of runner-ups. Johnson notched a T25 at Torrey Pines and a T8 in Saudi Arabia in his only two starts of 2022 to date.
Hideki Matsuyama ($11,400)
Matsuyama is coming off another strong showing in Scottsdale in which he posted four rounds in the 60s en route to a T8. It was the fifth top-15 in eight starts this season for the leader in the FedExCup Standings. Matsuyama ranks 11th in SG: Approach and 10th in SG: Tee-to-Green, but maybe more encouraging is the fact that he is 18th in scrambling. The reigning Masters Champion has four career top-11 finishes at Riviera in just seven starts.
Longer Shots with Value
Max Homa ($9,800)
Riviera is Homa's favorite course in the world. He grew up attending this event, which is why it meant so much for him to take home the trophy at last year's Genesis Invitational. Homa also flirted with the trophy the year before but ended up settling for a T5. The 31-year-old is coming off a top-15 finish in Scottsdale in which he ranked fifth in SG: Off-the-Tee and T9 in driving accuracy.
Thomas Pieters ($9,200)
After spending a decent chunk of 2021 outside the top 100 in the OWGR, Pieters is now back to No. 31 in the world. Over his last six starts, Pieters did not finish outside the top 25 and notched a pair of victories at the Portugal Masters and the Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship. The Belgian is a bomber who hits a ton of greens and has a runner-up finish at Riviera back in 2017.
Luke List ($9,000)
At a course that values ball striking so much, you can get the No. 3 player this season in SG: Tee-to-Green at just $9,000. List had a tournament to get his mind right again after his maiden PGA Tour victory at Torrey Pines. The putting surfaces are the same at Riviera as they were at the site of his win. List has tallied four top-30 finishes in six career starts at Riviera.
K.H. Lee ($8,400)
After beginning the season with a missed cut, Lee has now made his last seven. He has done a nice job in his last two tournaments, starting fast with a 64 and a 65, but he was unable to replicate that over the final 54 holes. Lee has made the cut in all three tries at Riviera, including a T25 and a T13. He ranks a solid 59th in SG: Tee-to-Green and 41st in GIR percentage this season.
Strategy Tips This Week
Based on a Standard $60K Salary Cap
It typically takes golfers awhile to get their bearings at Riviera. It's not a place where we see young winners, so I'd probably lean away from players with fewer than two starts at The Riv. If I haven't made it blatantly obvious by now, lean heavily on players who rank high in SG: Approach, SG: Tee-to-Green and GIR numbers. Predicting who is going to putt well will be very hard, especially given the unpredictability of the poa annua greens. There are really no options over $11,000 that would be poor selections, so the back end of the roster is where the difference will be made. Mito Pereira ($8,200), Doug Ghim ($8,000), J.J. Spaun ($8,000), and Aaron Rai ($7,900) are a few options further down the board that stand out this week.
