Genesis Open Recap: Woods, Holmes Put on a Show

With apologies to J.B. Holmes, who gallantly endured a grueling marathon Sunday to capture the Genesis Open, the highlight of the week at Riviera came the day before. In truth, it was more than a highlight. It will go down as one of the most memorable stretches of golf in the 93-year history of this venerable PGA Tour stop.

Naturally, it involved Tiger Woods.

The weather-battered tournament was plagued by a rain-filled Thursday and a howling wind on Sunday. But in between, late on a long Saturday, there was a relative calm over the course, at least until Woods began his third round at 3:40 p.m. local time.

Beginning on Riviera's iconic 10th hole, Woods banged in a five-footer for birdie, rewarding a gallery that was still many-people-deep some nine hours into the day's action. He was just getting started.

Then came the long par-5 11th, and Woods followed a 321-drive with 250-yard laser of a 5-wood to six feet. He sank the eagle putt, and the roar cascading across the grounds, not to mention Twitter, was unmistakable.

5-wood to 6 feet. 🦅@TigerWoods is bringing the noise.#LiveUnderParpic.twitter.com/llrFnUsvvT

— PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) February 17, 2019

On the par-12th, Woods rolled in a 21-footer for birdie … and another eruption.

🔥 @TigerWoods has started Round 3 of the @GenesisOpen 3-3-3.🐦-🦅-🐦 👀#LiveUnderParpic.twitter.com/090pN4dYDj

— PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) February 17, 2019

Finally, Woods sank a 14-footer on No. 13 and Riviera was in a full-fledged frenzy.

6-iron from 190 yards into the wind. 🎯@TigerWoods has started Moving Day @GenesisOpen birdie-eagle-birdie-birdie.#LiveUnderParpic.twitter.com/SmBEH6KDuZ

— PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) February 17, 2019

Birdie-eagle-birdie-birdie. Five-under in 4 holes. A Steph Curry-like display: 3-3-3-3.

Darkness soon hit, halting Woods' momentum. He delivered one more electrifying moment on Sunday with another 3 on the par-5 first, his first two-eagle round in seven years. Woods shot 6-under 65 for the third round, finishing with a 72 amid windy conditions and wound up tied for 15th. Few people will remember that. Everyone will remember the four-hole stretch.

Wearing his other hat as tournament host, Woods and his foundation put on a terrific show, along with the PGA Tour and Riviera Country Club.

The Tour and course organizers did a yeoman's effort under incredibly difficult conditions. They were dealt a bad hand with the weather, but managed to crown a winner on Sunday evening.

Based in Los Angeles, we head to Riviera every year, coming up on two decades now. As Southern Californians know all too well, but is kind of a secret to the rest of the country, nice weather is no sure thing in winter. Sure, it could be 90 degrees, but it also could rain for days on end. We've experienced both conditions many times through the years at the Genesis Open. Of course, we prefer the sunshine, but even in adverse conditions, it's a great sporting experience.

In the past few years, they've greatly expanded the amenities, dining and otherwise.

There was a fantastic TGR Learning Lab with hands-on STEM (science, technology, engineering, math) activities. Youngsters also were able to try their hand at a putting area. Plus there was a life-size Connect 4 game and a bean-bag toss, to name some of the fun family-friendly options. On Saturday, we saw multiple groups of kids on hand as part of organized outings.

Some of them stayed till late on Saturday. They got the sporting thrill of a lifetime.

J.B. Holmes
After rain prevented most of the golfers from hitting even one shot on Thursday, the final group of Holmes, Justin Thomas and Adam Scott had to play nearly half the tournament, 33 holes, in incredibly windy conditions on Sunday.

Holmes and Scott began the day four-shots behind Thomas, and you figured they were playing for second place. But Holmes was far steadier than his higher-ranked playing partners, parring the final seven holes to defeat Thomas by one stroke with a 1-under 70. Thomas shot 75 and Scott, 76.

At age 36, Holmes' game slipped last season, to the point that he fell out of the top-100 in the world. Now, with his fifth career win and first since 2015 in Houston, he's back up to No. 42. That qualified him for the WGC-Mexico, but Holmes said he already had a family vacation planned and will skip it, the latest rejection for the elite tournament.

Holmes also qualified for the Masters. We believe he'll be at Augusta, not to mention most if not all of the big events the rest of the season.

MONDAY BACKSPIN

Justin Thomas
There's no way to phrase this, even in the difficult playing conditions, other than to say Thomas kicked this tournament away. He bogeyed three of first five holes and his four-shot lead was sliced in half. On the back nine, he had two three-putts and an incredible four-jack for a double-bogey 6 on No. 13. That he still went to 18 with a chance speaks to Thomas' fortitude. Thomas remains winless on the season. It's only February, but he had victories the past three years by January. You wonder whether Thomas can regroup, and get enough rest, in time for Thursday in Mexico City.

Si Woo Kim
We wrote last week that Kim had finished outside the top-150 in strokes gained: putting the past two seasons, and how he was ranked 22nd after last week, when he led the field in putting and tied for fourth at Pebble Beach. At Riviera, Kim was third in putting and finished solo third. We all marveled how Webb Simpson became an elite putter last season; Kim's metamorphosis is even greater. He's now ranked seventh on Tour in putting. Remember, he's still only 23. This could be his new norm.

Rory McIlroy
McIlroy has played three events on the PGA Tour in 2019 and finished top-five in all of them, including T4 at Riviera. He hasn't won anywhere in the world since last year at Bay Hill, but all indications are another victory is coming soon.

Kyle Jones
The 25-year-old with only 10 career PGA Tour starts coming in, including four missed cuts to start 2019, got into Riviera on a sponsor exemption. For three and a half rounds, he had made the most of it and was looking at top-10 finish. But Jones bogeyed five holes down the stretch to tumble to 33rd place. Really, a shame. But all was not lost. Because they did not re-pair after the third round, Jones got to play his final 36 holes with McIlroy and Jordan Spieth, quite a thrill/learning experience for such an inexperienced player. We should also mention that Peter Malnati and Cody Gribble were the lucky winners in the Tiger Sweepstakes, paired with Woods over the final 36 holes and recipients of front row seats for that surreal stretch of golf.

Jordan Spieth
It was a grueling week for everyone, with all the stops and restarts, and the early wake-up calls. But Spieth noted during the week that he "should have an advantage, being 25, over most of the other guys, so it's nothing to complain about." Oops. Spieth began the final round on the fringe of contention, but endured a surreal round of 10-over 81 that included double-, triple- and quadruple-bogeys. He fell from T4 to T51. It's the second freefall in two weeks for Spieth, who was tied for the lead during the third round at Pebble Beach, which also was plagued by weather issues. Spieth has shown flashes to his former self the past two weeks, but he has yet to string together four rounds. Is he close? He appears to still have a ways to go.

Bill Haas
It was a year ago at Riviera that Haas was injured in an accident that killed a friend who was driving the car. Haas wasn't too seriously hurt, but the rest of the season was pretty much a washout for him. Earlier this season, he barely missed fulfilling his medical exemption. So it was nice to see the 2012 Genesis champion in the field on a sponsor exemption. Even better, it was nice to see Haas make the cut. And better still, finish in a tie for 51st. Haas will continue to struggle to get into fields the rest of the season, but more weeks like this one could help.

Louis Oosthuizen
Oosthuizen has to be one of the quieter of the high-ranked golfers. He's not U.S.-based, he doesn't play a ton. But he nonetheless crept his way back into the top-25 recently with a string of good finishes. He had five top-10s in his six previous starts entering Riviera and, almost as impressively, he hadn't missed a cut in nine months. But Oosthuizen did miss the cut. Maybe we have to consider that his recent tournaments weren't in the strongest fields, or maybe that he had been idle in four weeks. We should know more next week at this time, after the 36-year-old South African gets in four rounds at the WGC-Mexico.

Sungjae Im
The top player coming out of the Web.com Tour from last season has shown great promise, with five top-25s already this season. But his nonstop pace caught up with him last week, his fifth straight event, when he missed the cut at Pebble Beach. And then he MCed again at Riviera. Im is only 20 and probably has oodles of stamina. But, Sungjae, take a break! Watch some TV, read a book! Regardless, Im gets a built-in week off ahead, as he failed to qualify for the WGC-Mexico. It would be mighty impressive for the top-25s to continue at the previous frequency, now that most fields will be stronger, but either way Im should return for his next tournament quite refreshed.

Jim Furyk, Ernie Els, Davis Love III, Fred Couples, Vijay Singh
It was great to see this, um, experienced quintet out at Riviera. Els and Couples are former L.A. champs and big fan favorites. It was the 34th start there for Couples, a two-time champion. Alas, he missed the cut, along with Singh. Notably, Furyk, the "youngster" in the group at 48, tied for 37th, his second made cut in two weeks. After largely putting everything on a back burner to prepare for his Ryder Cup captaincy, Furyk is showing he still has value, both in real golf and fantasy golf. Els tied for 56th and Love, 70th.